Barbecue isn't something I have often, but occasionally I crave it like a fiend. Just reading a barbecue menu will make me salivate. I'm not exaggerating.
Since I can't make true barbecue at home (I've made some tasty slow-cooked, pressure-cooked and oven-roasted approximations), when I get it, it's a real treat.
I find Texas barbecue to be particularly satisfying. As good as DC's Hill Country is, I find you gotta go to the source to get the real thing. Which is why upon landing in Texas recently, I headed straight for the Lockhart Smokehouse and enjoyed the best barbecue of my life.
Wanting a little bit of everything, we ordered brisket, ribs and sausage. The brisket was amazing: intensely smoky, perfectly seasoned and fairly lean. A squirt of the house barbecue sauce goes great with it. The tender dry-rubbed spareribs were my favorite. We also loved the grilled sausage, based on a recipe from Kreuz Market in Lockhart, Texas.
The sides offer something special too. The baked beans were perfectly balanced: a little smoky, a little spicy and not too sweet. I also loved the house coleslaw, which came with a spicy kick. The potato salad was our least favorite, but it wasn't bad; first potato salad I've had with meat in it.
We ate a lot of other great meals during our long weekend in Dallas, but this one was the best. We're still talking about it actually. Clearly, we're not the only ones who love it. When we showed up on a Saturday 15 minutes before their 11 a.m. opening, there was already a line down the block.
Our bellies full from Lockhart Smokehouse, we headed over to the Southfork Ranch, famous as the home of Ewing family from TV's Dallas. You can read about our visit there on Dallas Decoder.
Lockhart Smokehouse, 1026 East 15th Street, Plano, Texas (downtown). (972) 516-8900.
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