Best (I mean worst) BBQ in Dallas

I never thought I'd say this but.....

I found bad BBQ in Texas.

I'd had sub-par BBQ at one of the Sonny Bryans chain locations, and at Red Hot and Blue, but I never thought I'd go to an authentic homestyle BBQ place and have bad q. I was terribly wrong..

The February issue of D Magazine featured The Best BBQ in Dallas- 16 of the best Q joints in the DFW area. I always love having a reason to go out and search for new restaurants to try, so this article really excited me. I'd heard of a few of the places, and one of them really stood out because I'd see it on the Food Network- North Main BBQ, #15. North Main BBQ's ribs were featured on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate", and Food Network generally doesn't steer you wrong. So, now I had 2 reasons to go try the BBQ at this restaurant.

Last Saturday I made a lunch date to drive out to North Main BBQ in Euless, TX, which is about halfway between Dallas and Ft. Worth. We pulled up and the parking lot was absolutely packed...which started the beginning of our frustrations because the parking lot was extremely hard to navigate. There was a large pig statue out in front of the restaurant, and there were signs all over saying they weren't open any day but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I thought, man if they're only open 3 days a week, their business must sustain them the rest of the week.. which means it's good BBQ!

There was another sign in the front saying "World's Best Ribs", which up to this point, I believed! I walked in, and there were 2 choices on the menu- a sandwich platter (black plate) or a buffet plate (white plate). We chose the buffet so we could taste more varieties of the meat.

Here's where the disappointment started:

1. The food on the buffet was lukewarm..

2. There was no dessert... Come on!!! You can't have a real BBQ place without peach cobbler or pecan pie for dessert!! What state do you think this is?!

3. The BBQ sauce tasted like fruit. Disgusting.

4. There wasn't anything to drink besides Iced Tea and Sweet Tea (fine with me, but pissed Bobby off). And at that, it was served out of giant garbage cans... see picture.

5. The sausage wasn't crispy or smokey or tasty. It was straight up tasteless and rubbery.

AND THE WORST OF THEM ALL....

6. THE RIBS!! They weren't smokey, didn't have a smoke ring, looked very fabricated, and came straight out of a hot hold.

One bit of good news was that their beans were pretty good, although they tasted like chili powder. Different, but good. And their brisket wasn't bad, either... But, their crowning glory, what they're known for, what has been broadcast all around the US that they're good for, what I drove all the way to Euless for, and Ted Allen's favorite BBQ, was B-A-D.

Hopefully the next of the Top 16 BBQ Places in Dallas is better, but I have a feeling that the original Sonny Bryan's on Inwood will always be my favorite. I heart you Sonny.

Louie's Dallas- Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives

I never would've gone in this place had I not seen it on tv. It's off the beaten path of the trendy Knox/Henderson crowds, and looks like it was built in an old oil station or something. There is one sign out front with a martini glass on it, and shows no signs of life or food inside. All windows to the outside are covered up, and overall just looks like a really shady place.. that is, until you open the front door.

Upon opening the door to enter, we are bombarded by loads of people waiting to be seated. This indeed is a bar, with only about 7 tables for people to sit. You see, the food at this bar is so good that people come to a bar to eat, instead of going to a restaurant to eat and drink. There are games on the flat screens, people with drinks in hand, and lots and lots of ambiance.
Bobby and I are hungry, and grumble a little when they tell us that it'll be a 45 minute wait, but we go to the bar to get a drink and deal with it. When we got to the bar, we saw two stools open and asked if they were taken- NO! We're in luck. We decided to eat at the bar, as that is what we prefer anyways. Have you ever eaten at the bar? You get MUCH better service, it's OK to split meals, and you can talk to the people next to you and have a great time. We sat down and ordered a cosmopolitan and a beer. On Diners Drive Ins and Dives, I'd seen the bartender shaking up a cosmo at this bar and it looked great, so I had to have one :) We looked at the menu and noticed that it was very limited- a few salads, pizza, appetizers, and some desserts.. definitely bar food. But, it had to be good! So, we ordered the sauteed crab claws for appetizer (I know what you're thinking...crab claws? At a bar? YES! FANTASTIC!), and a medium pizza with pepp, onion, and green pepper for our entree (ordered EXTRA crispy, as recommended by the couple next to us). The pizzas were very easy to order, as you choose all of your own toppings. You pay a base price for a cheese pizza, and then you're charged for every additional topping.. I think it was like $.50 per topping.

The crab claws came out first. They were so good that we'd eaten half of them before I remembered to take a picture! All I can say is that this is the best way to eat crabs! The shell is already taken off for you, and all you have to do is pick it up by the claw and bite the meat off. And because the meat is cooked in a garlic butter sauce, the meat absorbs all of that great flavor. This appetizer was served with toasted french bread, which is a PERFECT mop for that garlic butter crab sauce. Yum. Onto round 2.

Ahh, pizza. My favorite. Again, it looks so good we just dove into it, and a couple slices were gone before I could take the picture. By the way- everyone in this dark bar kept staring at me and giving me weird looks everytime I took a picture haha. I guess it's just the price I have to pay to document my food! Anyways, as you can see in the picture, the onions are sliced extremely thin, and the crust is very thin. It's run through a sheeter until it's paper thin and see through (as shown on DDD) and then baked in a pizza oven. I liked the onions sliced thin, because I don't like too much onion flavor, so this was just the perfect amount in every bite. I'm a HUGE fan of thin crust, and with this pizza ordered extra crispy, the crust was so thin and crunchy and was delicious! After about 5 minutes, we'd inhaled the pizza, and the bartender asked if we were interested in dessert. Dessert?? At a bar? So we asked what kind of desserts they had. He said they were all handmade by the owner's mother (extra point!) and that one of the desserts was cherry cream cheese pie (SCORE!!!!). It sounded like cherry cheesecake, but I needed to make sure.. :-P

As you can see, the cherry cream cheese pie was hidden by a massive blog of whipped cream...ahhh, heaven! Yes, this little square of heaven tasted just like cherry cheesecake, but WAY better. This $4.95 bar dessert killed The Cheesecake Factory's cherry cheesecake for $8.00. It was creamy and cheesy and light and sweet.. mmmmm. I'd go back there just for a piece of this honestly.

So, after sharing an appetizer, a pizza, and a dessert, I left satisfied, but not overly stuffed. It was perfect!

As the second place in Dallas I've visited that I've seen on Diner's, Drive-Ins, and Dives, I can say that I'm really looking forward to visiting the 3rd. Both of these spots have been great, with a great ambiance, great people, friendly owners, and fabulous food. Nice work Food Network, nice work.