Junior's Bar-B-Q

RED OAK: Junior’s BBQ
251 E. Ovilla Rd
Red Oak, TX 75154
972-617-5362
Open M-F 11-8

Bubba Q might get all of the attention from passers by coming off the highway just up the street, but Juniors seemed to have a good share of the local crowd at lunchtime on a recent Friday. The parking lot was full of trucks bulging just beyond the painted yellow lines beneath them, and the booths inside struggled to contain some of the bulging customers voraciously enjoying their meals.

My sister and I shared a generous two meat plate of brisket and ribs with a decent version of potato salad and crisp, lightly crusted okra. Hunger overcame us before I remembered the camera in my pocket, so the photography did suffer. The brisket slices we dug into first had a good crust, a handsome smokeline, and well rendered fat. A smoky flavor permeated deeply beyond the crust, but there were crustless slices that tasted a bit roast-beefy. The overall flavor was pleasing, but not overwhelmingly good.



On the other side of plate sat ribs with a hefty rub providing a bold flavor to the meat. Despite the heavy rub, a decent crust was allowed to form which provided a good level of smokiness to the reddish hued meat. Layers of well rendered fat made for moist tender ribs worth savoring, but again our hunger didn't allow us to savor. The ribs were gone in a flash, almost as quickly as the okra disappeared. For all of you who usually stop in at Bubba's on your way to Austin, do yourself a favor and head up the road to Juniors for some quality protein.

Rating ***