brisket

Q – Houston, TX

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Name: Q
Date: 4/6/18
Address: Terminal E International Departures (Upper Level), Houston, TX 77032
Order: Smoked Sausage and Brisket combo with coleslaw (link to menu)
Price: $17

Monk: Ideally, my first taste of barbecue on a Texas trip wouldn’t be airport barbecue. But the newish Q, a Texas BBQ Smokehouse collaboration with famed Houston pitmaster Greg Gatlin, is far more authentic than your average airport barbecue restaurant. Instead of smoking offsite and trucking it in daily, they have two onsite Oyler smokers with a fancy ventilation system that they are able to keep going 24 hours a day.

Now, I know what you might be thinking – did Monk route his flight to Austin through Houston just for barbecue? While I appreciate that you might have thought that, it wasn’t so pre-planned as that. While Mrs. Monk’s flight was paid for by her job (the impetus for this trip), I went a cheaper route which included a layover and it just so happened to have a stop in Houston. I honestly didn’t realize what was where I was passing through until the morning of my flight, but luckily my 2 ½ layover would allow me plenty of time to check it out once I got to Houston.

If you are not ordering your ‘cue to take back to your gate or onto your plane to taunt your fellow travelers, there is both bar seating and some high top tables around the backside of the to-go counter and kitchen. This being a fancy OTG restaurant, I ordered via iPad at the bar and the food was brought out shortly after.

And my first taste of brisket in Texas in nearly 6 years at an airport joint was…not actually bad at all! The smaller brisket slices (the two meats totaled ½ lb total) had the peppery bark I would expect and was not the least bit dried out. Guess they have started to get the hang of those Oylers.

The all beef sausage passed muster as well, and had a nice little kick to it due to jalapeños. I’m sure there are better sausages out there, but this wasn’t half bad at all. In trying to keep it light, I opted for just one side and ordered the coleslaw which was standard.

When passing through Houston, you could do a lot worse than finding yourself at Q near gate 2 at Terminal E (just follow your nose to smell of smoke). Despite my first barbecue meal of this trip being in an airport, my Texas trip was off to a good start.

Ratings:
Atmosphere – 3 hogs
Brisket – 3.5 hogs
Sausage – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 3 hogs
Overall – 3.5 hogs

Myron Mixon’s Pitmaster Barbeque – Alexandria, VA

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Name: Myron Mixon’s Pitmaster Barbeque
Date: 3/31/18
Address: 220 N Lee St., Alexandria, VA 22314
Order: Speedy: 3 meat plate (brisket, pork, sausage, fried, collards); the Bro: 2 meat plate (pork, pork belly, collards, baked beans) (link to menu)
Price: $24 (3 meat) / $19 (2 meat)

Speedy: Recently, I was in DC visiting my (literal) Bro, and while his wife and kids were out running errands we snuck away for a meal. As the Bro and S-I-L are changing their diet to eat less meat, naturally, I suggested to the Bro that we find a local ‘cue joint. A quick Google search pulled up a name I recognized – Myron Mixon. Well, after great experiences at Aaron Franklin’s and Tuffy Stone’s joints, it was time to round out the BBQ Pitmasters trifecta and check it out.

Monk: Congratulations, Speedy! Turn in your punch card on your next visit and the next meal’s on us. But for real, I’m curious to see how his place actually stacks up.

Speedy: Myron Mixon’s Pitmaster Barbeque is a little different than the other two, as it’s a sit down joint with a wait staff, but it still had a nice, rustic feel and a great (but expensive – this is DC) beer list. The Bro and I were seated immediately and wasted no time ordering – pulled pork and pork belly for him, and pulled pork, brisket, and sausage links for me.

The food arrived fairly quickly, and the portions were quite large. Frankly, we could have split a three meat place between the two of us, but that’s not the Barbecue Bro way. The meats all looked great, and I could tell I was in for a treat.

Monk: Not the Barbecue Bro way…unless one of those bros happens to include Monk and his tiny stomach.

Speedy: I first dug in to the brisket. Not living in Texas, I am used to very mediocre brisket and nothing I’ve had outside of Texas has even come close to what I’ve had in the state. However, this was pretty good. I definitely got the fatty part of the brisket, and could have used a little more bark, but it was not overdone and had good flavor. A solid effort.

While I was trying the brisket, the Bro dug into his pork belly. Upon the first bite, his eyes rolled back into his head and it was clearly an out-of-body experience. I think he could’ve died right there and been OK. Naturally I reached my fork across the table to see what the fuss was about, and oh my – that pork belly was really, really good. Perfectly smoky with a little crispiness, it’s salty flavor was perfect. Definitely the highlight of the meal.

The sausage was my second favorite meat. It had great smoke and snap, and just a really solid flavor. I did use a little of the provided mustard sauce fo the sausage, and it was a great compliment. This is another meat I would order again.

Monk: Any idea if its made in house or imported from somewhere in Texas?

Speedy: I don’t know, Monk, and I didn’t ask. My (hot) gut would say it was imported, only because the casing was so perfect.

Monk: I see what you did there…

Speedy: The pulled pork was also solid. It had good bark and was nice and tender. I did feel the need to add a little vinegar sauce to it, but it was still enjoyable.

The sides were above average – particularly the collards, but with so much meat, I honestly didn’t eat too many of them there.

Overall, this was a very solid barbecue meal. The Bro says it’s the best ‘cue he’s had in the DC area (though I don’t think that’s a high bar), and I was not disappointed at all. In terms of the BBQ Pitmasters trifecta – I think Aaron Franklin’s and Tuffy Stone’s places are a little better, but you can’t go wrong with any of them.

Ratings:
Atmosphere/Ambiance – 3.5 hogs
Brisket – 3.5 hogs
Pork Belly – 4.5 hogs
Sausage – 4 hogs
Pulled Pork – 3.5 hogs
Sides – 3.5 hogs
Overall – 4 hogs
Myron Mixon's Pitmaster Barbecue Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Linkdown: 3/14/18

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– Just a few more items from the #BrooklynBBQ controversy last week

– A Brooklyn paper defends Brooklyn barbecue; so does The Houston Chronicle‘

– Attention Nashville:

– Ribs from Big Bob Gibson was a favorite dish at SoBe Wine and Food Festival in Miami earlier this month

– Evolution of a Filipino Barbecue Cookbook

– [thinking emoji]

– Damn, the food in the Bomb-Ass Biscuit Pop-Up at B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque does indeed look bomb-ass

They opened B’s doors at 9 a.m. on those days (the Riverside restaurant usually doesn’t open until 11 a.m.), slinging Council’s biscuits stuffed with country ham and apple butter or Furman’s fried chicken or sausage gravy. “If you come to a barbecue joint looking for a healthy breakfast, you’re in the wrong place,” Furman says. “We do not do gluten-free here!”

At some point, they added brisket hash to the menu. Then, they started selling beignets. And almost every morning, they sold out.

– WSOC-TV, the local ABC affiliate in Charlotte, has an odd “Best and Cheapest Barbecue in Charlotte” list that almost seems to start like an alphabetical list before stopping after 5

– Congrats to Our State Magazine, writer of some of my favorite barbecue articles

Maverick’s Smokehouse and Taproom – Durham, NC

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Name: Maverick’s Smokehouse and Taproom
Date: 2/24/18
Address: 900 W Main St, Durham, NC 27701
Order: 2 meat combo with brisket and smoked jalapeno cheddar sausage with hush puppies, collards, and cole slaw (link to menu)
Price: $16

Monk: Maverick’s Smokehouse and Taproom opened in September in a space in downtown Durham that formerly housed Alivia’s Durham Bistro for 10 years. The owners of Alivia’s closed that concept and opened Maverick’s with a menu with an “international house of barbecue” bent to it – which in this case means pulling from Memphis and Texas in addition to North Carolina barbecue traditions.  

One thing that was apparently kept from Alivia’s was the outdoor patio which was perfect on an unusually warm February day. That, however, was the last of anything positive when it came to this lunch.

The first strike of the meal was a warm beer (curiously, Maverick’s had a special on non-NC draft beer which I don’t think I’ve seen at a NC restaurant – it’s usually the other way around). My speculation was that it was served in a pint glass that may have come straight out of the dishwasher but regardless, it was still an oversight. You just simply don’t want a warm-ish Shiner on a patio.

The next strike came when the platters of food came out. Mrs Monk and I got a two meat combo of brisket and sausage – for pork I was gong to sample some of it from our friend’s platter. The brisket and sausage both came out cool to the touch. The bark on the brisket was flavorful, but in addition to being cold it was fairly dried out. To me, it seemed liked it was likely leftover from the day before. I don’t know where the sausage came from but it had the texture of a slightly warmed hot dog – albeit with pieces of jalapeno and cheddar in it. The pork was a little better in terms of temperature but was quite greasy – my buddy didn’t finish his rather small portion of it.

Finally, on this day the sides weren’t going to save the meal. While the hush puppies and fried okra (also sampled from our friend’s plate) were freshly fried and actually decent, the collards could have use some more stewing and the mayo-based cole slaw was lukewarm. Temperature in general seems to need more focus at Maverick’s.

A charitable way to look at Maverick’s Smokehouse and Taproom is that they are still figuring things out. Let’s hope that is the case and that they do figure it out soon. If not, it seems unlikely that they will make it to 10 years like Alivia’s did in the same space before them.

Ratings:
Atmosphere – 3 hogs
Pork – 2 hogs
Brisket – 2.5 hogs
Sausage – 1 hog
Sides – 2.5 hogs
Overall – 2 hogs