barbecue

Blue Ox Barbecue – Austin, TX

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Name: Blue Ox Barbecue
Date: 11/1/13
Address: 1505 Town Creek Dr., Austin, TX 78741
Order: ½ pound of pulled pork (link to menu)
Price: $7.65

Rudy: I’ve been putting off writing this review for a while, because I didn’t think it would be fair, but after my last review of Live Oak, I think I am ready. Blue Ox Barbecue is a new food truck that is located in the enclosed back yard of Buzz Mill Coffee off East Riverside in Austin. There have been lots of these barbecue food trucks popping up that are opening to great reviews. I’ve been trying to get to more of them, but the cold weather hasn’t made visiting a food truck a high priority (not sure the 100 degree summer will be any more appealing).  

The enclosed yard that Blue Ox is located in has a small stage where live music can be played as well as plenty of picnic benches for seating and even what looked like a homemade skeeball game. Lots of personality, a fun atmosphere, and pet friendly.  

Unfortunately when I went to order, they had already sold out of everything but the pulled pork. This seems to be a recent theme that I have run into lately, where I’m arriving after most everything is gone. I’ll freely admit that I have purposely avoided ordering pulled pork in Texas because I’m afraid it is not going to be NC barbecue. But since I was already there, and I had no other options, I figured I would give it a go. And in a word, it was…fantastic!  

Monk: Pulled pork? In Texas? Oh, this should be good…

Rudy: Well, they never tried to make it NC pulled pork. No, this was pulled pork Texas-style. The main staple of Texas barbecue is black pepper, and heavy doses of it. The outside of the meat has a bark that is built up and provides a tremendous amount of flavor in each bite. So, think NC pulled pork with a brisket bark, that’s what we were dealing with. They served it with a thicker tomato-based sauce which complimented it well, but wasn’t really needed because of the flavor of the seasoning.

I’m not quite ready to say it, mainly because it could be blasphemy, but this pulled pork could be the best I’ve had…  

Monk: Alright, alright, alright…I’ve let this go on long enough. While the idea of pulled pork with a brisket-y bark sounds intriguing, let’s not get carried away here. It may be good, but it can’t compare to Lexington Barbecue (aka the gold standard) can it?

Rudy: I have hesitancy with saying it, so I know you don’t want to hear it. Maybe being away from NC for a while has made me forget some of the gloriousness that is Lexington Barbecue. I definitely need to have it again before I could think of saying that, which leads me to my ratings. I have to give Blue Ox an incomplete, because I only had the pulled pork and wasn’t able to try everything (or at least as much as I wanted). But it was a very fortunate occurrence, because if they hadn’t been sold out of everything else, I never would have tried the pulled pork. Unlike Live Oak, where I felt confident giving it a rating, because I was also confident that I didn’t want to go back, I am giving Blue Ox an incomplete until I can return, which I hope to do shortly.

Ratings:
Atmosphere – 3 Hogs
Pulled Pork – 4.5 Hogs
Overall – Incomplete (for now)

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Blue Ox Barbecue on Urbanspoon

Linkdown: 2/12/14

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– Ed Mitchell disciple Tyson Ho is opening a “whole hog and beer hall” in East Williamsburg this summer that will specialize in “communal pig picking-style dining with swine they’ll smoke on-site”

– Ho will be using whole hogs from Chesire Pork Heritage Farms in Goldsboro, NC

– After Rodney Scott’s successful tour of the southeast, he headed out to San Francisco this past Sunday

– Jimmy Kimmel and Guillermo went on an Austin barbecue tour this past weekend

– A Washington Post writer’s “imperfect romance” with a barbecue smoker

My smoker keeps me up at night, which, frankly, is the least of my concerns about the rickety old Brinkmann that lives in our back yard, rain, shine or Snowmageddon.

– The three brothers behind Mighty Quinn’s BBQ

– Speaking of bros, we were fortunate enough to get a shoutout from Big Wayner’s latest Five for Friday. Thanks Wayne!

– True ‘Cue delivered certifications to a few Piedmont joints this past weekend


R&R Bar-B-Que – Concord, NC

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Name: R&R Bar-B-Que
Date: 1/31/14
Address: 755 Pitts School Rd NW, Concord, NC 28027
Order: Engineer’s BBQ Plate with red slaw, onion rings, hush puppies, Cheerwine and a Peppermint Patty (link to menu)
Price: $11

Yet again, we have another barbecue restaurant cooking eastern-style barbecue in Lexington country (in addition to Bill Spoon’s and Bubba’s). This time it’s R&R Bar-B-Que, a railroad themed barbecue restaurant in Concord.

And boy, do they keep with the railroad theme. The wood paneled interior is filled with railroad memorabilia, photos, paintings, and even a couple of tracks with electric trains hooked to the ceiling (a la the old Ham’s in High Point). A little kitschy, but endearing enough.

On this particular Friday, I arrived smack in the middle of the lunch rush and the restaurant was packed to the gills. It took a little bit for the waitress to finally come and take my order (though she was very nice and apologized for the wait) and to me, it looked like they could have stood to have another waitress or two working during lunch.

It also took a little while to get the food once I placed my order, again likely due to the lunch rush. The plate finally arrived and though the pork was tender enough it lacked smoke and bark on the pork, likely due to the use of a gas or electric smoker. The hush puppies came in a coffee filter and were more savory than sweet, but were well cooked. Curiously, both white and red slaw are available on the menu, so of course I opted for the red slaw, which was finely chopped and surprisingly good for a so-called eastern-style restaurant. The onion rings were pretty standard.

R&R Bar-B-Que has a sign off I-85 which I must have passed hundreds of times and noticed but paid little attention to it. I can’t recommend visiting during lunch unless you don’t have to get to anything pressing, as the meal took about an hour total from seating to paying the check. The staff was friendly, the food was decent, but if you are passing by the Poplar Tent Rd exit on I-85 looking for true barbecue feel free to keep on driving.

-Monk

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Pork – 2.5 hogs
Sides – 2.5 hogs
Overall – 2.5 Hogs 

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R & R Bar-B-Que on Urbanspoon

RandR Bar-B-Que on Foodio54