Monday, July 2, 2012

West Texas Style Bar-B-Q


SILSBEE: West Texas Style Bar-B-Q
3078 Us Highway 96
Silsbee, TX 77656
409-385-0957
Open M-Sat 10-8

It was getting late on a not so fruitful day of barbecue hunting. The sun was already down at 7:00 and the parking lot outside of West Texas Style Bar-B-Q was dark. The porch lights were on, so we walked on in to find a few customers. A couple of employees behind the counter didn't seem too pleased to have to serve another customer. They pulled a cold brisket from the fridge and unwrapped the plastic before hacking chunks of it into a bowl ready to be nuked. I quickly realized this was not going to make for a happy ending to an already long day.

Photo by Nicholas McWhirter

















As you can imagine, the chunks of beef were horrendously bad. The microwave had seared the brisket to lip-burning levels. At this point I’d encountered microwaved barbecue about three or four times EVER. In the previous three days in East Texas, I’d seen it a total of five times. It was starting to feel personal, and here especially the dismissive service and awful food seemed like a big middle finger from the staff.

















I’ve had pork cracklin’s with less crunch than the edges of the ribs that looked like they’d been sliced hours earlier. The cross section looked more like unsanded lumber instead of the desirable rosy hue of a well smoked rib. The smoke was non-existent and the flavor was more akin to rancid pork fat than smoked meat. Dessert couldn't even lift this experience from the barbecue basement. Banana pudding was a gritty warm mess of sickening sweetness, worse than even the many poor renditions of the dish made with banana-flavored pudding. Of the many items in our order, only the cabbage was worth eating.  Even the owner’s family had chosen takeout from Whataburger which they ate at the table next to us. I wish they'd have clued us in before we ordered, because a #1 combo with cheese and grilled onions would have been a much better way to finish off the day.

Rating: No Stars

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buddy ...I've been following your site from Australia for ages...and my heart is breakin' for ya at the lousy run with Q joints you've had lately. Really enjoy your work though. Hilton. Adelaide, South Australia

Anonymous said...

A zero star reminds me of National Lampoon's Animal House when Flounder received a zero point zero GPA from Dean Werner ....

Chris said...

You have to make the Zero Star reviews searchable. What a tragic story.

Anonymous said...

I feel both sadness and anger for the cow and pig that gave up their precious lives for such horrible Q. What a waste.

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