Lamberts Downtown Barbecue – Austin, TX

July 29, 2013August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Name: Lamberts Downtown Barbecue
Date: 7/5/13
Location: 401 West 2nd Street, Austin TX 78701
Order: Beef Brisket with Fried Okra (link to menu)
Bill: $30

Before we started this blog and started reviewing barbecue, I had eaten at Lamberts Downtown Barbecue and thought it was the best brisket I had ever had, so I was excited to go back and try it again.This time it was on the record.

Lamberts describes themselves as ‘fancy barbecue’ which causes some people to question if they should be really be considered as a barbecue “joint”. Texas Monthly Barbecue recently ranked Lambert’s in their Top 50 and two years ago it was ranked as one of the top 100 most important restaurants in the US (I can’t find the link to this anymore, but Darren Rovell had this year’s rankings, and I looked at the past ones at the time). So needless to say, while the barbecue may be called fancy, it also is called good.

Lamberts uses a coffee and brown sugar rub which gives the meat, and especially the bark, a tremendous amount of flavor. The only problem with this is that pieces of the brisket that don’t include the bark seem like they are missing flavor, when it is only because it is being compared against other bites. Some of this is also a result of the fact that Lamberts uses a gas smoker instead of wood, so the meat doesn’t have that full smoky taste. That being said, it was still tender and wonderful, however it was not as good as I had remembered it to be.

For a side I had the fried okra, which was hand-breaded and came with a spicy remoulade dip. It was fantastic and a welcome alternative to the weak sides that often plague barbecue joints around here.

Lamberts is located in an old historic warehouse in downtown and has a great feel to it. There is dining indoors and on a patio, plus live music upstairs. While it is a great atmosphere, it doesn’t scream barbecue, but it’s a great place to enjoy a meal. The barbecue was great, the side was great, and the atmosphere was fun, but my only complaint was the price. The menu says fancy barbecue, and I think the only thing that made it seem fancy was the high price. $18 for less than half a pound is more than twice the price of brisket almost anywhere else. Fried Okra and a small amount of brisket costing $30 is pretty ridiculous. So far it seems like you pay a price for great brisket in Austin. It’s either a 3 hour wait at Franklin’s or a $30 tab at Lamberts, but at least it’s great when you are eating it.

-Rudy

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 Hogs
Brisket – 4 Hogs
Sides – 4 Hogs
Overall – 4 Hogs

Wilber’s Barbecue – Goldsboro, NC

May 31, 2013August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Name: Wilber’s Barbecue
Date: 5/24/13
Location: 4172 U.S. 70, Goldsboro, NC 27534
Order: Chopped barbecue pork plate with coleslaw, potato salad, and hush puppies, sweet tea (link to menu)
Bill: ~$10

In addition to being a must-stop if you heading east on Highway 70 towards the beach, Wilber’s Barbecue in Goldsboro, NC is a pretty celebrated barbecue joint in its own right. It’s the type of place where presidents tend to stop by and rub shoulders with the locals if they are campaigning in the area (both Presidents Clinton and HW Bush were known to frequent). Heck, supposedly you might even hear folks refer to eastern NC barbecue as “Wilber’s barbecue.” Wilber Shirley began smoking whole hog over hardwood coals in 1962 and my understanding is that it continues in the exact same way today as it did 51 years ago. So yeah, it was a no-brainer for my wife, baby, and I to stop here on our way to Atlantic Beach this past Memorial Day weekend.

Wilber’s is located in a plain rectangular brick building situated right off of Highway 70, with the smokehouse where they smoke the whole hog for 12 hours over hickory and oak logs located behind it. Sadly, as we pulled into the parking lot at dinner time there wasn’t any smoke going. But I did confirm after our meal that there were stacks of logs out back, presumably waiting for smoking early the next day.

As soon as we sat ourselves, we were immediately presented with a basket of hush puppies – always a good sign. There was also a pitcher of sweet tea already on our table, so our visit started off very strongly. Wilber’s serves barbecue chicken and several seafood items, but neither my wife nor I messed with that and ordered a barbecue plate that came with slaw and potato salad.

The chopped pork had visible red pepper flakes and a pleasant aroma of smoke. And it was very good, albeit a little too coarsely chopped for my liking. But still, the texture and taste was outstanding. There are two table sauces – a Wilber’s and a vinegar sauce (both vinegar-based with I believe one being milder in terms of spice). I tried both and while both accentuated the pork I didn’t have a favorite.

The hush puppies (or “bread” as the waitress referred to them when asking if we wanted another basket) were golden brown, oblong-shaped, and great tasting (though not quite as sweet as I would prefer). The slaw was mayonnaise-based and slightly tangy and I didn’t feel the need to finish it. I don’t necessarily think of potato salad with my barbecue, but what was served was mustard based and reminded me of my grandmother’s so I dug it.

When I posted a photo from Wilber’s on social media after our visit, it received a lot of comments and likes because people just plain love the place and have fond memories of stopping here. And while I will always be a Lexington barbecue guy, I can say that I can see exactly why. The food is great and the service is quick and friendly (although I can’t take credit for all of that since waitresses seem to love our little girl). Wilber’s is an eastern NC barbecue institution and well worth a stop on your way to the beach or if you are within shouting distance in the eastern part of the state.

-Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 4 hogs
Pork – 4.5 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs

Smiley’s Lexington Barbecue, Inc. – Lexington, NC

November 2, 2012August 1, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / 1 Comment

Name: Smiley’s Lexington Barbecue Inc.
Date: 10/20/12
Location: 917 Winston Rd., Lexington, NC 27295
Order: Chopped BBQ plate with hush puppies, slaw, fries, and Cheerwine (link to menu)
Bill: $12

Monk: Recently, Speedy and I made a decision to try to visit as many barbecue joints on the NC Historic Barbecue Trail that we could over the next year or so (hopefully one or two with Rudy in tow when he is back in NC for the holidays). So with an engagement party for a friend of the blog held in Greensboro a few Saturdays ago, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check out Smiley’s in Lexington on our way up.

Smiley’s is less than a half mile from Speedy’s in one direction and not too far from Lexington #1 (aka the promised land) in the other, so it’s in pretty good company. And they do things the old school way, cooking barbecue low and slow over a wood pit for several hours (hence why they are on the NC Historic Barbecue Trail in the first place). But oddly enough, on a Saturday night at 6pm it was damned near empty.

Speedy: Pulling in – Smiley’s looks exactly like you’d expect an old school ‘cue joint to look like. One twist I did like – as we pulled into the parking space, a waitress started to come up to the car. Apparently they have curbside to go service – bonus. However, we were there to dine in, so we went inside and sat at a table of our choosing. There’s not much to say about this place other than it looks the part. You could see scenes from Andy Griffith being filmed there. Nothing really stood out, but it was homely.

Rudy: Homely or homey? Because when a girl is described as homely, it’s usually not a good thing. Maybe it is for barbecue though.

Monk: Speedy, Mrs. Monk, and I all ordered the same thing – a chopped BBQ plate with hush puppies, slaw, and fries. Although, to try it out for the first time (and to make me feel more like a local), I ordered it with extra outside brown. And it was very, very good. I enjoyed having the extra bark in the barbecue, and will probably order it this way at the next Lexington joint I visit. One thing for me, however, was I felt like I noticed that the barbecue dip was a little sweeter than the other Lexington-style spots that I have been to. Not a deal breaker or even a bad thing by any means, just something that I think I noticed.

Speedy: I didn’t really notice too much extra sweet, but I do think a lot of these places add sugar to the dip to taste, so I imagine it’s not always the same. Monk may have a more sensitive palate than I do. But I thought the ‘cue was really, really good. The portion was pretty big (probably enough for two meals), the pork and (red!) slaw were great, and it was just a great meal. There is quite a bit of variety of food on the menu, but we paid it no attention – a decision I’d make again and again.

Rudy: You guys tend to get a sampling at most places. Why not here? Sounds like it wasn’t a mistake though, with the chopped BBQ being good.

Speedy: Well, most of the other stuff wasn’t barbecue. The rest of the menu had burgers, sandwiches, chicken tenders, and other diner type food. Frankly, I just don’t have time for that garbage.

Monk: Agreed – definitely made the right call. So, one more notch on our NC Historical Barbecue Trail belt (note: this belt doesn’t actually exist, but it would be cool if it did). We had a solid plate of barbecue at Smiley’s, but it’s hard to imagine we’d choose this over Lexington #1 in the future.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance: 3 hogs
Pork – 4 hogs
Sides – 4 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs

The Pit – Raleigh, NC

September 17, 2012September 9, 2014 / Barbecue Bros / Leave a comment

Name: The Pit
Date: 9/8/12
Location: 328 W. Davie St., Raleigh, NC
Order: Appetizer: Sampler plate with chopped pork, pulled pork, baby back ribs, spare ribs, beef brisket, barbecue chicken, mac & cheese, collards, hush puppies, biscuits. Main course: Family style meal with fried green tomatoes, BBQ soul rolls, chopped pork, baby back ribs, sweet potato fries, black eyed peas, and some sort of dessert (link to menu)
Bill: ~$20/person

Speedy: As Monk mentioned in the previous post, we were in Raleigh for the weekend, so of course we had to stop by The Pit for lunch. I feel like the first thing I need to do is explain the order, as we ate A LOT of food. Well, here’s how that went down:

We were joined by our buddies Sus (who previously ate with us when we reviewed Mac’s Speed Shop and Bill Spoon’s) and J-Twice (who accompanied me on my visit to Smoke on the Water). As we like to do, Monk and I took control of the order, telling the waiter we wanted to sample a bunch of different types of meats. He told us he could put together a sampler platter, even though it wasn’t on the lunch menu, allowing us to try everything we really needed to sample. Now the sampler had a good amount of food, but not enough for four grown ass men to feel satisfied, so when we finished that, our other waiter (The Pit serves tables in teams) told us about the family style option – which, for $20 per person, gives the table two appetizers, three sides, desserts for everyone, and an unlimited amount of two meats. This caused my jaw to drop and to say, “Woah woah woah! Why didn’t anyone tell us about this earlier? DON’T YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE? WE’RE THE BARBECUE BROS!” (OK, I didn’t say that last part.) Well, the waiter then said the best thing anyone has ever said to me by telling us that he would just consider our sampler as part of family style meal.

Rudy: I feel like this lack of attention to detail should be a knock against them. How do you later say “oh yeah, if you wanted we could have given you as much meat as you could shove down your throats… if you would be interested in that at all.”

Monk: Talk about coming through in the clutch. Clearly, we would have gone family style if we knew that was an option. Once the family style portions came out, we dug into the unlimited pork and baby back ribs. The pork was whole hog, eastern NC style and was definitely above average. The ribs were probably the favorite at the table (or maybe it was just J-Twice, who was a fiend for these guys), but overall I preferred the pork.

Speedy: I actually also thought the brisket was very good, and was disappointed that we couldn’t have a third meat for family style. It was a good mix of lean and fatty, sliced just right, tender, and flavorful. No sauce required for this meat – as the tangy flavor rose from within. The chicken was fine, but I wouldn’t ever order it here – there’s just too many better options.

Rudy: I see this alot here in Texas, where places offer chicken. I like barbecued chicken just fine, but rarely would I ever ever order it at a barbecue restaurant. I feel like it is a waste of an item. I pretty much rule that out as soon as I see it on the menu.

Monk: I’m not sure I even tried the chicken. One great thing about family style at The Pit is unlimited hush puppies and biscuits (though I didn’t try the biscuits either). Our three sides were heirloom cabbage collards, black eyed peas, and sweet potato fries. The collards were really quite good but I didn’t really partake of the others. If you are noticing a trend here, it’s that we ordered a crap ton of food and by the end I was super stuffed. OH, and I haven’t even mentioned the appetizers we got as part of the family style deal! One of which was fried green tomatoes served with goat cheese and a red pepper vinaigrette. These guys were legit, but I’m of the mindset that there’s not too much that goat cheese can’t improve.

Speedy: There’s one more thing I really need to talk about here: the BBQ Soul Rolls. Basically, what these are are oversized egg rolls stuffed with chopped pork, collards, and candied carrots and they are AMONG THE BEST THINGS I HAVE EVER PUT IN MY MOUTH.

Monk: *resisting urge to make the easy joke*

Speedy: Seriously – these Soul Rolls are not invented by man – they are invented by God through man. If you go to The Pit and don’t order the Soul Rolls, not only are you missing out on a little piece of heaven, you’re kind of dumb.

Rudy: I have never heard of anything like this, but I am automatically jealous. It sounds amazing.

Monk: The Pit is part of the Empire Eats restaurant group in Raleigh, and for that reason is frankly a little swanky for a barbecue spot. It is located in a huge, modern space in an old warehouse that has several large dining areas as well as a bar upfront. We got there a little early for lunch on Saturday, and by the time we left the place was pretty packed. In any case, my first trip to The Pit was a great success. Although they no longer have the famed original pitmaster Ed Mitchell (they parted ways in early 2011), they still cook pretty legit eastern NC style ‘cue.

Speedy: Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to The Pit – a place I hadn’t been to in over a year. I loved being to sample such a variety of food and I LOVE the family style option. If I lived in Raleigh, I think this would be my go-to barbecue place. My only regret was that I didn’t have room in my stomach to eat more.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 4 hogs
Ribs – 3 hogs
Brisket – 3.5 hogs
Chicken – 2 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
BBQ Soul Rolls – 5 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs