Pecan Lodge: The Review

[Boots]

Ok, so I have been a customer and a fan for several years, and Justin and his wife are very nice people. But I had never been to the new location yet, so I went today with a big group. Got there at 10:45, line was not bad, probably a 20 minute wait. We zoomed through the handy Express Lane because we had a group of 8 (threshold is 6) and were ordering The Trough plus extras. Place is cool and a good bit bigger now, decent for a date without going highbrow, and great music too (REK, Howlin' Wolf, you get the idea). Justin was there, more than happy to spend time talking to a customer and explaining how the new place was set up. Three pits working now instead of one, basically tripled their capacity. More sides, a separate bar (great beer selection with locals on draft, try the Boss Lady Red, which is brewed locally for PL and features Justin's wife on the front, realllly good with the barbecue).

Today is a special day on the Boots Calendar of Life. A good day. A great day.

In a phrase, PL is even more "all that". Worth every bit of the hype. EVERY...LAST...BIT.

SIDES: All were very good, especially the Mac and the Collards. But who really cares about sides...

RIBS: Justin has always had a good pork rib, so I had low expectations about him raising the bar here. In a word, I was astonished. This is a premier rib. They were instantly the best barbecue joint ribs I ever had. Great flavor, very Texas flavored, dry rubbed with just a little sauce glaze, lots of salt and pepper but lots more beyond that, tender but not mushy or falling off the bone, bite tender, and wonderfully smoked. Not over smoked or under, but beautifully balanced. Guessing it is about a 6 hour rib. First time ever I peeled the entire bone clean, fat, meat, everything. Actually gnawed the bone like a rottweiler. All good. Smoke tasted of both hickory and mesquite, I thought, sweet and peppery but absolutely no bitterness at all. Boots' gives the 5 star rating.

BEEF RIB: Wonderful, tender, not all eaten up with fat and gristle but enough to give it really good flavor. Again, wonderful smoke balance, no bitterness, and tasted of mesquite and probably pecan or post oak (?). Probably an 8ish hour rib, strikes me as very much a low/slow method execution. HEADLINE? IT...BLEW...LOUIE...MUELLERS...AWAY. Or maybe a better way of putting it is, if you like Mueller's but want something more in flavor beyond simple salt and pepper German Market method, and less smoke burpage afterward, this is definitely your huckleberry right here. Boots' five star rating.

BRISKET: Again, Justin's brisket has always been good, so I had low expectations for improvement. But HOLY MERGATROID, BATMAN. First off, I am a lean guy, if I really want a lot of fat, I can just chew on raw bacon. So it was all flat (lean) for me. The key descriptor would be Juicy. Succulent. Tender. Smokey. All of the above. Wonderful, smokey bark, not crispy but a nice chew, again with that great smoke balance likely with pecan and mesquite, and just amazingly juicy and exceptionally tender and well rendered. I bet this is an 18-20 hour brisket, the method was very similar to what I do so I came in pre-disposed to like it. First brisket I ever had in a joint that I liked (possibly) better than my own (we all have that stubborn pride factor). Boots's five star rating - no, now there is a new category...6 star.

The rest is really better explained in the photos. Great food, great place, really nice staff, no big wait on a Tuesday....don't get much better than that.

I will be going back. A lot. Old Charlie Goodnight would be very proud.

My name is BOOTS, and I approved this message.

[Boots]

Continued...

[Boots]

Final...

[NDN98]

I have hit the new location twice so far and it is fantastic. I also agree that it has improved from the Farmer's Market Location. The brisket has been a thing of beauty each time, but the pork ribs are the best I haver ever had. If you are ever there when they have burnt ends as a special, I highly recommend those as well. The meat that Justin is turning out at Pecan Lodge these days rivals or surpasses anything that Aaron Franklin is turning out.

[erbeman]

Dangit Boots!!!! I had made up my mind that I was fine not going to PL anymore because the line is ridiculous and I hate that they will allow someone to order all the beef ribs they have for the day as soon as they open, so nobody gets them after waiting for hours. It sounds like the line may not be as long any longer and the amount of beef ribs will be way more than before. I've always thought they had the best pork ribs that I've ever tasted. I don't know how it's possible to have a better beef rib than Muellers as I think that was the best piece of meat that I've ever eaten was from there. So now I feel like I must give the PL beef rib a shot for that title. I guess I need to find a buddy to go with some Saturday morning and try it out.

[BluDawg]

Dangit Boots!!!! I had made up my mind that I was fine not going to PL anymore because the line is ridiculous and I hate that they will allow someone to order all the beef ribs they have for the day as soon as they open, so nobody gets them after waiting for hours. It sounds like the line may not be as long any longer and the amount of beef ribs will be way more than before. I've always thought they had the best pork ribs that I've ever tasted. I don't know how it's possible to have a better beef rib than Muellers as I think that was the best piece of meat that I've ever eaten was from there. So now I feel like I must give the PL beef rib a shot for that title. I guess I need to find a buddy to go with some Saturday morning and try it out.

I'll go with you of course you'll have to pay me to be your friend ( you know what they say about Buddies) and brunch is on you, want my number???

[bsooner75]

Dangit Boots!!!! I had made up my mind that I was fine not going to PL anymore because the line is ridiculous and I hate that they will allow someone to order all the beef ribs they have for the day as soon as they open, so nobody gets them after waiting for hours. It sounds like the line may not be as long any longer and the amount of beef ribs will be way more than before. I've always thought they had the best pork ribs that I've ever tasted. I don't know how it's possible to have a better beef rib than Muellers as I think that was the best piece of meat that I've ever eaten was from there. So now I feel like I must give the PL beef rib a shot for that title. I guess I need to find a buddy to go with some Saturday morning and try it out.

I'll go with you of course you'll have to pay me to be your friend ( you know what they say about Buddies) and brunch is on you, want my number???

I'll tell you what, and I only make this offer because I'm here to help. We can avoid the line this way. BluDawg & I will tag along as your BBQ buddies. Erbeman and BluDawg can go through the express line and pick us up a Trough (Erbeman is still paying of course). I'll swing by the bar and grab us a round of beers (because that's the kind of guy I am) and meet you guys at the table.......

What time should we meet?

[Boots]

Erbe, your true friends will always bring the "tough love" to help out. It does help with the lines that now they are open Tues through Saturday. I got in line at 10:45 Tuesday, and had my order in at the Express counter at 11:05, probably would have been about 11:15 in the regular line.

On the beef rib (and the brisket), I will make a clarification here: It is reallly good, but it is also different style than Mueller's, which is a distinction with a difference. I've always described it this way: Mueller's flavor is what I always called German Market method and Pecan Lodge is what I would describe as West Texas method (Dan Vaughn's book has similar descriptions, which I tend to agree with). German Market method is a strictly purist dry rub, and uses a salt/pepper/smoke-and-that's-all-folks flavor profile. West Texas method, in my mind, is a broader flavor profile with some red chile and other-secret-spices type of profile, still dry rubbed but styled more like you'd have cooked in an open pit method (though most commercial cooks have to use chamber smokers these days because it's either just economically prohibitive to cook open pit, or the fire marshall would drag you to the courthouse by the scruff of the neck for digging a big open pit and serving food out of it). Another way of describing it is if you went to Perini's out in Buffalo Gap and if they were going to cook barbecue, it would probably taste more like the way they would do it, versus getting German Market method down in what I call Barbecue Alley east of Austin in Elgin, Lockhart, Luling, etc.

So then it really comes down to personal preference: I just prefer Justin's flavor profile, and don't care for Mueller's, and no criticism of anybody that loves Mueller's (and tens of thousands do). Plus while smaller (but still big), Justin's beef rib was a lot meatier and much less fat than Muellers. Not being a snob or anything, I just really did not dig Mueller's rib, but other people will love it. Different strokes, different folks.

BTW, if the schedule works out, on any given day I could be persuaded to go tap PL and help fill out yer Express line minimum headcount.

Be well brothers.

[NDN98]

When did they change the express lane to where you had to have a minimum of 6 people? I went the first two weekends it was open in Deep Ellum and there was not threshold for minimum # of people. You just had to order 5 or more lbs of meat. We went with a group of four week two and were behind individuals ordering 5 lbs or more to go.

[Okie Sawbones]

Always good to hear a place is doing good.

[RWBTEX]

great report and pic, thanks for sharing Boots.

[bsooner75]

When did they change the express lane to where you had to have a minimum of 6 people? I went the first two weekends it was open in Deep Ellum and there was not threshold for minimum # of people. You just had to order 5 or more lbs of meat. We went with a group of four week two and were behind individuals ordering 5 lbs or more to go.

No change. Still 5lbs of meat.


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[erbeman]

Haha, you's guys! Lets figure out a Saturday or Sunday mid-morning and have a little meetup up there with some of you Dallas guys, or anyone who wants to drive in. Looks like so far it's Boots and I. Who's in?

[Raider18]

I'm in


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[bsooner75]

It would be nice to put some faces with screen names…and stuff my face w/ some bbq. If the schedule works I'd be interested.


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