Louisiana Barbecue

We prefer Texas barbecue to Louisiana barbecue, but we love Louisiana barbecue too. One of the delightful aspects of Louisiana barbecue is the liberal use of red pepper. We love plenty of spice! Louisiana does not have dry rubs. Instead there is barbecue sauce put on afterwards. Louisiana ribs tend to be served wet and juicy. Most of the Louisiana barbecue we have is sweeter than the Texas barbecue. Louisiana beans tend to be cooked down and thicker with sweet syrup instead of the spicy beans that are often served like soup in a bowl in Texas. Salads and potatoes topped with brisket are popular in the Louisiana barbecue places. Although the Texas meat is tastier, Louisiana potato salad is much better.

When you go to a barbecue at somebody’s house in Texas, you can expect barbecue. In Louisiana, you can expect anything that can be cooked on a grill to be served at a party meal called a “barbecue.” Frequently Louisianans cook a whole pig (cochon du lait) in a pit to celebrate a special Louisiana occasion.

Slayden’s Barbeque, 1401 N Washington Street, Bastrop, LA 71220 (318-281-3926), has chicken, ribs, burgers, sandwiches, wings, and turkey breast. We had turkey breast. The sauce was all right, but not very memorable. The waitress was delightful.

Hot Rod Bar B Que, 1911 Farmerville Hwy, Ruston, LA 71270 (318-254-8010), has some good typical Louisiana barbecue. We like their brisket and loaded baked potatoes. The chicken is yummy, and so is the sausage. There are daily specials that make this a good place to eat lunch day after day.

JR’s Restaurant, 2721 Martha Street, Simsboro, LA 71275 (318 247-6007), has some of the best brisket anywhere.

Podnuh's Restaurant, 810 Splane, West Monroe, LA 71291 (318 388-0559) is one of several Podnuh’s places in Louisiana, along with others in Shreveport, Monroe, and Baton Rouge. Podnuh’s has good consistent Louisiana barbecue with sweet thick beans and a good house sauce.

Texas Barbecue

Are you ready to go eat on a rough table perhaps on a bench picnic style? Maybe you’ll have a plate or eat on paper. Would you like jalapenos, dill planks, slaw, thick white bread, and banana peppers with your lunch? Come to Texas, where the folks know how to cook barbecue right. Let me tell you about some barbecue we've been enjoying.

Hard-Eight Barbeque, 1091 Glen Rose Rd, Stephenville, TX 76401 (254- 968-5552), has a fancy website: www.hardeightbbq.com but it takes too long to open. Entering the Hard-Eight, which is a large place with plenty of Texas barbecue décor, the customers walk near the racks of meat cooking over huge fires. There is a large selection of choices – brisket, chicken, turkey, sausage, ribs, rib eye, sirloin, pork chop, ham, turkey. Hard-Eight is a popular restaurant with a big parking lot full of pickup trucks and tables full of customers. The food is good.

Hammond’s BBQ, 1106 NE Big Bend Trl, Glen Rose, TX 76043 (254-897-3008), is a serious barbecue place. Their website is http://hammondsbbq.com. We went there once, and the next time we were in that neck of the woods we made sure that we would be passing through Glen Rose at lunch time. Y’all, this place has got barbecue going on! It’s just a regular Texas place with a long history of family business and plenty of smoke to sting the diners’ noses, but it’s the best barbecue we’ve eaten in Texas lately. (My friend Paul says that he has had better barbecue in Bastrop and Houston years ago, but I haven’t been to those places. He says that the barbecue in Lockhart is his favorite delicious Texas barbecue, but I’m still cheering for Hammond’s.) I like the sauce flavor at Hammond’s. The meat menu includes sliced or chopped beef brisket, sausage, ham, turkey, bologna, hot links, and pork ribs.

Daniel Boone's Grill and Tavern, 1920 E SE Loop 323, Tyler, TX 75701 (903-595-2228), has two big pots of some of the best beans ever. They allow the diners to east all the beans they can hold for free! Here is the website: http://www.danielboones.com. It is really a place with all-American food, but the free barbecue beans make them a memorable Texas place with something barbecued.

Hutchins BBQ & Grill, 1301 N. Tennessee Street, McKinney, TX 75069 (972-548-2629), is a small barbecue place with typical Texas atmosphere. This place is a tiny hole in the wall, but there is nothing small about the taste of the food. A unique feature is that upon entering the door, the customer finds himself in the buffet line instantly. The food looked so good that it was difficult to decide what to eat. I had a brisket sandwich, which was tender and juicy but not swimming in sauce. The barbecue sauce is added separately, along with a splendid display of condiments and side dishes. The beans were memorable. The sliced beef and sliced sausage were tasty with plenty of flavor. The potato salad was rather bland. It would be possible to eat here every day and enjoy the food.

Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q , 3771 W. I-40, Amarillo, TX 79109 (806-677-7452), was so good that we had to take some of the barbecue sauce home. Each item is priced individually, and consequently the food is pricey. We like the fresh-tasting cream corn and bland potato salad, although we are accustomed to more lively flavor. Our group tired the brisket, pork ribs, chopped beef, and pork loin. The chopped beef was about half the price of the other meats, and it was twice as good. Next time, I’ll have the chopped beef again. A unique feature is the presence of gas pumps, which are for decoration and also for filling a gas tank for about ten cents per gallon more than the price down the road. The atmosphere is genuine Texas-style. There’s a generous share of hospitality at Rudy’s. (More Amarillo places: Mike, my son-in-law, also likes Cattle Call inside the mall and Robinson’s on the corner of Bell and Hillside; but he likes Rudy’s the best. That’s where he likes to go.)