Joel's BBQ

11/11/2012

This was my third trip back to Joel's Bar-B-Q. I was eager to score this barbecue because it was at Joel's that I got the inspiration to create a scoring system for Texas Barbecue. Excellent every time. This is benchmark Texas barbecue.

Overall I gave Joel's a score of 96 out of 100. This is Grand Champion Texas Barbecue.

Real Pit smoked barbecue with mesquite.

Brisket: Excellent. Unbelievable 3/8 to 1/2 inch smoke ring! The slice brisket was a thing of beauty. Nice dark bark, big bright pink smoke ring, and lean smoked beef. Snap apart very tender but not quite fall apart tender. Full mesquite flavor! Why can't all brisket be this smokey good. Overall flavor was excellent. The bark was so delicious. I got lucky and got a burnt end. Either is was sweet smokey mesquite or a faint mop sauce flavor. Heaven. No sauce needed.

Ribs: Great. These ribs are so tender. Not only are they a soft clean bite off the bone, but they melt in your mouth like cake! You do not need teeth to eat these ribs. The overall flavor was pleasant. Could not detect a rub or spices. It had a nice natural salty pork flavor, like a good ham. Could not detect any smoke flavor. No sauce needed.

Sausage: Great. Nice coarse ground lean beef sausage. Overall flavor was mild with little garlic and black pepper. After taste started out mild but finished strong. I could not detect any smoke aroma. Little to no grease, I always like that. No sauce needed.

Sauce: Excellent. Funny they only give you small amount in a tiny plastic container. You have to ask for more. In comparison, you get more ketchup at a Whataburger. Maybe its so little because it is so not needed. However, this sauce rocks. It was tomato based with nice spicy vinegar tang and good smokiness. This best part of all, it enhanced the already awesome flavor of the meats. Took the flavor to a whole other level

Hint: there is no AC so get it to go or dine there between October and March