Friday, December 10, 2010

Big Daddy's Roadhouse BBQ


LAVON: Big Daddy's Roadhouse BBQ
1000 Highway 78

Lavon, TX 75166

972-843-5200

Open M-Sat 10:30-8

www.bigdaddysroadhousebbq.com


Update: I was in the neighborhood, which doesn't happen often when speaking of Lavon, Texas, and I was hoping for the best since my visit to the much heralded Big Daddy's just two years ago left much to be desired. Both fatty and lean brisket are listed on the menu, so I felt confident that an order of the fatty stuff would bring me some BBQ joy on this day. Samples of their weak commercial sausage and what I think were Smokey Denmark's hot links convinced me to venture away from the tube steaks, so I rounded out the three meat plate with pulled pork and ribs.



Two potato salads are available. Both are mashed, but I found a mixture of the two worked best since the mustard version was too acidic and full of pickle flavor while the mayo version just tasted like mashed potatoes with too much mayo. A mish-mash of dry and moist meat, neither with much smokiness, was thrown together in my pile of pulled pork. The meat was too salty and contained too much unrendered fat. Ribs were the best item. They also needed a bit more smoke, but the meat was moist, tender and provided just enough give as it came off the bone. Brisket was just plain bad. The fatty slices were very much under cooked and contained so much unrendered that the slices were chewy. The meat didn't stay in my mouth long enough to pick up much of anything else. Luckily there was a good slice of buttered Texas toast. I piled some pork, sauce, pickles and onions on it for a filling end to the meal. It's too bad it took so much work to make it good.

Rating **

2008: Big Daddy's is on a lonely stretch of road on the outskirts of the Metroplex. This place was a new edition to Texas Monthly's Top 50, so we had high hopes. The lack of pungent smoke flavor as we entered tempered our expectations. We ordered brisket ribs and sausage. The sausage was just above grocery store grade. The brisket was tender, but it lacked strong flavor and smoke and was bone dry. The ribs matched the brisket in their mediocrity with no crust, little smoke, and no intense flavor.

Big Daddy's Roadhouse BBQ on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

Chris Wilkins said...

Daniel: Thanks for saving me the trip, was thinking of getting over there for a while but had my doubts, think I'll pass now. So much BBQ, so little time........

Ken said...

I have noticed several of your reviews mention MASHED "potato salad". Out of curiosity is that the typical serving style in Texas??? Here in the upper Midwest potato salad is always made with PIECES of potato in either a mustard or mayo dressing.

ian said...

Ken,

It really depends on the place. Some are mashed/creamy, others are chunky.

DISCLAIMER:

Each joint is judged on the essence of Texas 'cue...sliced brisket and pork ribs. Sausage is only considered if house made. Sauce is good, but good meat needs no adornment to satisfy. Each review can only be based on specific cuts of meat on that particular day. Finally, if the place fries up catfish or serves a caesar salad, then chances are they aren't paying enough attention to the pits, so we mostly steered clear.

-THE PROPHETS OF SMOKED MEAT