Sunday, April 19, 2009

Dallas Green Arrested!


UPDATE: Dallas Green speaks! Well, not to the BBQ Snob, but there's a new story in Saturday's Star Telegram where Mr. Green tells his side of the Cowboys BBQ saga. It seems that Mr. Green is the one who feels wronged in the situation, and claims that he is owed a pile of money by the Gabricks. More interesting is the possible beginnings of a North Texas BBQ fued not seen since Lockhart in 1998. Dallas Green plans to open his very own joint on the other side of Ft. Worth in tiny Hudson Oaks by June 1. While these two joints are in existence, they will no doubt be linked, and you can bet the BBQ Snob will be headed to Hudson Oaks in June.

DEVELOPING STORY: From a local news website - "DALLAS GREEN, Colleyville PD - Unlawful Carrying Weapon on Alcohol Premises. Charged at 8:13 PM on 4/03/09 by Officer Amy Van Zandt. Tarrant County Appearance Bond; released at 11:35 AM on 4/04/09."

You might be wondering how exactly the snippet above applies to a blog about Texas BBQ. Two months ago I wouldn't have paid any attention to this, but the oddities that have ensued since then have peaked my interest significantly.

Six short weeks ago, I read about a new BBQ joint that had just opened in Colleyville called Cowboys BBQ & Rib Co. From reading the preview articles, it seemed that a competition winning Texas BBQ legend named Dallas Green had offered his name and barbecue expertise to a local proprietor named Mark Gabrick. As part of my 'cue eating duties I decided to go try it out and get a preliminary review. Just one day after reporting my mediocre findings, a mysterious comment from "Anonymous" was posted on the review that read "I am sure this Dallas Green is the same Dallas Green that was convicted of Fraud in Sangamon County, Illinois. He did the same thing there to a family, said he would help a person open a new business and then did not do what he said he would do and did not have the necessary experience to help the owner. The owner had to go to court and there is over a $400,000 judgment for Fraud against him in Sangamon County." However intriguing the claim, I didn't pay much attention to what I thought was some fool trying to cause trouble by using my blog as a vehicle for his far away grudge.

Later that week, the court records of the case referenced above were forwarded to me by the jilted party in Springfield, Illinois. A summary of these court documents shows that Dallas Green entered into a business relationship with ZAM Enterprises in Springfield, Illinois in November of 1998. This relationship quickly soured, and Dallas Green was sued by ZAM for fraud. He was essentially sued for breach of contract. More specifically, the "Defendant misrepresented to Plaintiff and concealed from Plaintiff material facts relating to Defendant's prior experience and ability to perform the promises made in the contract entered into between the Parties." He was then found guilty in 2003, and Mr. Green was asked to pay the defendant more than $400,000 for his troubles.

Fast-forward six weeks from my initial visit, and I was reading the review of Cowboys in the Star Telegram which reminded me that I needed to head back out to Colleyville for a second try now that the kinks had probably been worked out. Considering that reviews as late as March 26th mentioned Dallas Green's involvement with the restaurant, I didn't expect to see Dallas Green's name now missing from the signage when I arrived at Cowboys on April 5th.

February 2009 photo with "Great Food by Dallas Green"


April 2009 photo sans Dallas Green's name


Also gone were all of the newspaper clippings of Dallas Green's BBQ conquests that had previously decorated the walls. I wrote an update to my previous report but remained confused about Dallas Green's recent departure. As I perused a local website, I found that Cowboys had not only had the unfortunate occurrence of a recent theft, but I also found a brief police report about Mr. Green's arrest (quoted above) that showed him being arrested at Cowboys BBQ on April 3rd, just two days before my most recent visit. The Colleyville Police Department provided that a call was placed to the police on April 3rd where a complainant stated that Dallas Green was on his way to Cowboys to cause some trouble. A squad car was sent, and Mr. Green was arrested for carrying a weapon into a bar.

The current owner of Cowboys BBQ wishes not to comment on the subject, and Dallas Green is also mum, but there can no doubt be a connection to his recent arrest and the removal of his name and associated paraphernalia. It is unknown if the there will be a name change to the establishment considering the current owner's affinity for the name Hogfather, but I do know that a less pricey lunch menu has already been implemented. If you'd like to help fill those newly empty walls, you can answer Mr. Gabrick's call to interested artists on Craigslist.

- BBQ Snob

A few more details can be found in today's article in the Star Telegram.

13 comments:

Scott--DFW said...

Nice item, BBQ Snob!

Anonymous said...

I have been doing business with dallas green for 20 years and all though the lawsuit is real from illinois...dallas is a great bbq-er and this new guy is a real joke too...some people don't want to listen and they will fail everytime.Dallas's problem is he has a huge heart and trys to help people and then they screw him.. out of the money they owe him and what could have been a longtime friendship and bussiness partner,hints almost the 80,000 dollars mark gabbrick owes dallas and refuses to pay,and the royalty fees that haven't been paid as part of the contract.Just thought I would shed some light and truth to this story

BBQ Snob said...

I'd be happy to report on the other side of this story. Can anyone other than "Anonymous" provide me with some credible facts? My e-mail address is in the right-hand column.

Big Country said...

While I understand there are two sides to every story; I don't think drunk and carrying a firearm is the way to get your money back unless this is 1888 and we are in Dodge City, Kansas.

Anonymous said...

Dallas Green is a wonderful person with an absolute huge heart. I also agree that the new guy is an absolute joke that has no idea how to run a restaurant and definitely is not true in business or polite to people who come through his restaurant. Dallas helped this new guy out tremendously. I believe the new guy needs to take care of his debt to Mr. Green and step up to the plate. I have met this new guy and he is not good people. I will definitely hold Mr. Green in my heart and help him out any way possible. People need to meet him before they judge him.

Anonymous said...

Dallas Green is a joke. I ate at his restaurant in Colleyville and told him I didn't care for the fatty ribs that had a horrible smokey taste and he threw the check back at my husband and told him he'd call the cops on him rather then ever adjust the ticket. We had no intention of getting a free item. I filed a formal complaint on him with the Better Business Bureau. Good luck to him on his new place.

Anonymous said...

Dallas Green is a joke. I ate at his restaurant in Colleyville and told him I didn't care for the fatty ribs that had a horrible smokey taste and he threw the check back at my husband and told him he'd call the cops on him rather then ever adjust the ticket. We had no intention of getting a free item. I filed a formal complaint on him with the Better Business Bureau. Good luck to him on his new place.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone confirm if Dallas' restaurant is going to open on June 1, as he was quoted as saying?

I hadn't heard of this Hudson Oaks location before.

My sources said he was trying to do something directly across from the Wells Fargo building at 900 Rosedale St. in Fort Worth. It's a dumpy little white building with a cracked back wall at the corner of Rosedale and Lipscumb. Anyone??

Also heard the name was going to be Weatherfords, not Cowboys, as he never had the Cowboys name registered in Texas.

Anonymous said...

the New COWBOYS BBQ BY Dallas Greene
opened this last Tuesday the 19 In Hudson oaks TX across from R&K cafe

Anonymous said...

Anyone got photos and reviews on Dallas' new restaurant in Hudson Oaks?

Curious how long this place with last too considering every restaurant he has done has gone out of business.

Unknown said...

R. H. Simmons, (Weatherford resident) in reference to "Cowboys Barbeque & Rib Co.", Hudson Oaks, TX.

I have just returned from a dining experience that "Cowboys Barbeque & Rib Co." that was poor enough to make me look it up on the web in an effort to contact a manager/owner. I subsequently found this web page/blog. I took my wife and three kids on Wednesday evening, 27 May 2009, at about 5:30pm.

I'll break it down by single bullets; you judge for yourself at the end:

-The beef ribs were excellent; juicy, falling off of the bone tender.
-The brisket was good.
-The BBQ sauce was very tasty.
-The baked potatoes (we ordered three) were cold; and I mean germ growing cold.
-The joint was out of butter, rolls, and ALL fountain drinks. They did charge us for our 5 "no selection" sweet teas, though...
-They served us on plastic plates with plastic dinner ware. One child cut her finger on the edge of the plastic plate. They were out of knives (which makes tackling a country fried steak--we ordered two--a little difficult).
-The potato salad, black-eyed peas, and country fried steak seemed to be store bought.
-They had a TV showing "COPs" in the dining room. I had the pleasure of having to ask the girl behind the counter to change the channel from people with bleeding heads, marti gras boob shots, and car wrecks...
-One of our meals was "forgotten", and thus, not served with the rest of the family for some time.
-We watched two separate people who had ordered carry out prior to us in line have to come back in for forgotten or incorrect orders.

The good news is that Weatherford has such a large selection of good home-grown restaurants that we will not be inconvenienced in the least by not returning. If I was to order there again, it would be a meat only to go order that I check thoroughly before leaving the store.

Maybe they are just new... If ol' Dallas Green wants to square things up with me, I'm at simmonsrh@gmail.com.

Anonymous said...

I worked for Dallas Green doing hurricane relief few years ago. One of the best men I've ever had the pleasure to encounter.Whatever the other persons complaint, I guarentee he is willing to make it right. He won't truck no bullsh*t from anyone who acts frivolous
JT St.Louis Mo

Anonymous said...

I would like to let you know that I found Dallas less than stellar with his online website service. I made a purchase from him that never arrived, I kept getting excuses that he was busy on the road, that his son had died? ( like I was suppose to know that and wait for how much longer??) After 3 weeks or so of these, I asked for a refund-more delays and excuses. I finally disupted the charges with PayPal and he never answered the challenge. They found in my favor and as far as I know, he is still forbidden to use PayPal as the means to pay on his website. I still never received my refund so...

Buyer Beware.

Regards,
Chris DeMille

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