Pocky is awesome and delicious!!!
Mac's is usually listed as a "D Best" for barbecue according to D Magazine, so I thought I'd see how it measured up. I happily and hungrily ordered their Three Meat Plate: pork ribs, sausage, and beef brisket with potato salad and barbeque beans on the side.
The potato salad was nice and creamy, with plenty of mustard to boot. I also found a good amount of crunch from all the veggies. The beans came out piping hot. There was a pleasant sweetness to them, with a nice hit of spice on the back end. No canned beans here.
Apparently Mac's brisket comes chopped by default. There was lots of smoke, both visibly and to the taste. It was moist and juicy without being overly fatty. The brisket didn't really need any sauce, but I tried it anyway just for grins. It was definitely a winner.
My combo plate came with a generous helping of sausage, which is always appreciated. It had a nice crispness to the casing and quite a bit of pepper and assorted seasonings beneath. Just like the brisket, the sausage paired very nicely with the barbecue sauce.
I finished things off with the ribs. Surprisingly, the meat was a little dry and tough. The ribs also could have used more spices (especially salt) on the crust. Most disappointing, they were a little skimpy on their meatiness.
This place would be 5-star barbecue if they could get the ribs on par with the rest of their food.
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There really isn't much to this place in terms of being an actual restaurant. The interior is rather small, maybe a dozen or so tables. It looks like a significant portion of their business stems from catering and to-go orders.
After a quick perusal of the menu, I decided on a 2 Meat, 2 Side Combo of smoked pecan baby back ribs and sliced brisket, with their Southern potato salad and honey spiced baked beans on the side. When my order came out, I wasn't really expecting it to be slathered in sauce. The menu didn't specify, and I failed to ask.
The baked beans had a great texture and some definite spice to them. All that honey gave the beans a nice taste, but added a little too much sugar to the already sweet baked beans. The potato salad had a high volume of hard boiled eggs and onion. The flavor was good, and I appreciated that it wasn't overrun with mustard. It had a nice spice it too.
The brisket was juicy and moist, and had a great amount of bark on each slice. The fat was beautifully rendered, and added to the overall moistness of the brisket. I can't really comment on the smokiness of the meat because the dominant flavor was definitely the vinegar-tomato barbecue sauce. I liked the taste of their sauce just fine, but I wish it had come on the side.
I really wanted to sample the advertised pecan smoke on the ribs, but that wasn't happening. Just like the brisket, my ribs were drenched in sauce. They were very meaty. A few bites were a little on the dry side, but the majority of it was fairly tender. The meat stayed put, waiting on each individual bite before it slid off the bone. Given the heavy dose of sauce, the flavor was almost identical to the brisket.
Their website boasts the slogan: "It's as good as it looks." That's certainly true, although it's not really as positive an attribute as one might think. I'd like to go back and eat my combo sans sauce so that I can get a true grasp of their smoking abilities.
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I know what you're thinking, but I honestly didn't come here for the girls. Apparently Thursday night is barbecue night at 3rd Base. I didn't have anything better to do, so I drove on over.
The waitresses are basically walking around in underwear and bikinis. I only came for the barbecue, but I certainly didn't mind the view. Some of them were at least smart enough to wear comfortably shoes.
Unbeknownst to me, the Babes and BBQ thing is just a lunch special, at least according to my waitress. She looked pretty confused by the whole thing, so I didn't press the issue. I ordered a half rack of BBQ Baby Back Ribs (at least those are a regular menu item), which automatically comes with fries and coleslaw on the side.
What I ended up with were frozen school cafeteria crinkle fries. Seriously? Thanks, Ore Ida. There wasn't even any salt sprinkled on top. The coleslaw was ok, but probably came premade too.
My half rack amounted to 7 ribs. They didn't look smoked, so probably oven roasted and finished on the grill. The meat slid off the bone with almost no effort. Even more depressing, the whole crust peeled off my rack in one tug. Sigh. Even if they were overcooked, the ribs were actually decently flavorful. They weren't awful, but they also weren't real barbecue either.
This is a decent place to go for TNA, but definitely not for BBQ. 2 stars for the food, 5 stars for the scenery. Oh well. I'll just call 3rd Base a 3 and be done with it. #bigboobsbadfood
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If you're unfamiliar with Hard Eight, let me give you a brief rundown of the process. When you walk in, you go straight up to the pit (well, after about a 30 minute wait in line). You order your assorted meats by the pound, or fraction thereof. They weigh everything and slap a barcoded sticker on your tray. Once you're finished there, grab your grub and head inside to pick out your side dishes.
I ordered a meat-tastic smorgasbord: 4 pork ribs, 3 slices of ham, 1/4 link of regular sausage, 1/4 lb. of sliced brisket, and 4 shrimp poppers. I also added a side of fries just for good measure.
The fries were really good and pleasantly homemade. They were crisp, but certainly not hard. I found just the right amount of seasoning here. Although, their side of fries is probably large enough for 3 people to share.
With the ham, I didn't find quite as much smoke as I was expecting. The crust was nice and crispy though. There was a lot of salt, but the ham lacked any other seasonings. As for the sausage, it had a fairly pale color, suggesting that it needed more time in the smokers. The flavor of the sausage was good overall, and it did have plenty of pepper. Flavor aside, something was just a bit off about it.
The brisket had a nice amount of smoke, with a decently pronounced smoke ring. It was also pretty tender and juicy. The only thing I found lacking was the presentation. I wish the pitmaster had cut it properly so I could have gotten some actual slices rather than a stringy chopped mess.
Their shrimp poppers are basically shrimp and jalapeno wrapped in bacon. They look bitesize, but leaving the tails on makes that a little difficult. The bacon was tough, and I think it had been warming on the pit for quite a while. One of my 4 poppers was actually of the chicken variety by mistake. Surprisingly, this was the only one that had any actual spiciness to it.
I left the ribs for last. They had a good crust and a decent red smokey hue on the edge. I didn't find much flavor other than salt and smoke. The meat was nice and juicy, but to the point that it fell right off the bone with nothing more than a gentle tug. Overcooked ribs strike again.
Sorry Hard Eight, but you crapped out.
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The first thing I noticed upon entering the fairgrounds was the abundance of wenches all around me. It probably had the highest concentration of gravity-defying cleavage per square foot anywhere I've seen in quite some time. There was an interesting mix of cute families and costumed fanatics, and even a few hipsters who seemed to be wearing chain mail ironically.
This was a much larger ordeal than I originally assumed it would be. We quite easily spent 7 hours wandering around and enjoying the somewhat historically-inaccurate festivities, including: mermaid lagoon, jousting, turtle races, belly dancers, carnival games, axe throwing, monster museum, and much much more.
While there was certainly a lot to do and see, there was also a lot to eat. For lunch, we stopped at the Royal Kitchens. My wife had a hankering for a giant turkey leg, while I naturally gravitated toward beef ribs. I wasn't expecting just one rib and some Ruffles chips for $6.00. It took significant effort to bite off the meat, which was extremely tough. There were bone fragments jutting out everywhere. The fat was already solidified into a chewy mass. I found only minimal seasoning, though not nearly enough to salvage the leathery meat.
After a few more hours of walking about, we stopped for a late afternoon snack. By this point, we were near the Crown Kitchens. I had worked up a decent appetite, so I ordered a Rogue Sandwich. This was basically just a sliced brisket sandwich. I'm guessing it had been smoked a day or two earlier, judging by the general taste. The brisket was fairly dry, while the bread was greasy and soggy.
I certainly didn't anticipate world-class barbecue at the Renaissance festival. That being said, I did expect better food for the price. If we go again next year, I'll have to rethink my meal choices.
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An amazing smokey aroma hits you as soon as you step within 50 feet of this place. The exterior looks like a shady nightclub, while the interior has more of a diner feel to it. I dig it.
I was pretty hungry by this point, so I ordered a 3 Meat Platter: brisket, St. Louis ribs, and jalapeno bratwurst. For my sides, I settled on sweet potato casserole and mac n' cheese. They were also kind enough to toss on a few hush puppies for good measure.
Their sweet potato casserole was absolutely delicious: creamy whipped sweet potatoes with a streusel-like crust mixed in. It was more like a dessert than anything. My mac n' cheese was covered in several varieties of gooey cheese. The chives and other goodies mixed in reminded me of a loaded baked potato. This definitely didn't come from a box. The hush puppies were nice and flaky, with a cornbread-esque interior. There wasn't as much spice as I was expecting, but they were still very tasty.
The brisket looked amazing, and had a very pronounced black crust. I dug in, and it was like manna from heaven! Great seasoning, perfectly rendered fat, and plenty of smoke. Every bite was juicy and tender. This was easily some of the best brisket I've had in the Big D, or anywhere else for that matter.
Once I broke free from my brisket trance, I moved on to the jalapeno bratwurst. There were big visible chunks of jalapeno throughout each slice. The casings had a good amount of snap to them, and a nice smokey flavor just below. It had a nice amount of heat. Spiciness aside, the bratwurst left an interesting, sweet aftertaste. Beautifully done.
Already thoroughly stuffed, I finished things off with the ribs. They were cooked perfectly, and I got a good hit of spices with every bite. The meat had lots of staying power, none of this "falling off the bone" nonsense. I could taste plenty of smoke, although it's hard to say the ribs had a smoke ring when the red hue goes all the way to the bone.
The Slow Bone is on the fast track to becoming the new top dog of Dallas barbecue.
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