A
Visit to the 2017 Houston Annual BBQ Festival (Houston, TX)
For the second year
BBQ Recon hit up the Houston BBQ Festival. A lot of popular Houston names were
there, and this festival truly shows that Houston has come into its own as a
BBQ destination spot.
One of the true joys
of a festival like this is getting to sample the creativity that people can
bring to BBQ. While we all love a well-prepared brisket or some juicy ribs,
there's something to be said for trying something a little different and
adventurous. Even if some of the experiments don’t work out that well, it's
still good to see people taking chances and pushing the boundaries a bit. After
all, places like Valentina's didn't get where they are by playing it safe.
Loni and I were here
last year, so we knew what to expect. Joining us was our friend Bryan (no, not
the excellent @bbqbryan), who was attending his first BBQ festival. And was he
in for a treat. While there was plenty of brisket and sausage to go around,
there were a lot of special treats to go with them!
What were some of
the high points?
Gerardo's came out
with some excellent Baracoa tacos. While this may seem basic, they were well
seasoned and show that Tex-Mex BBQ is here to stay.
Pappa Charlies had a
wonderful candied pork bite, along with a great sausage!
Corkscrew convinced
me that I need to smoke my next prime rib. Why would you do it any other way?!?
Louie Mueller
brought their beef rib (always one of the best around), and their lamb popper
was outstanding!
Spring Creek BBQ had
some really great glazed ribs and some excellent jalapeno poppers (and I say
that as a person who doesn’t normally like jalapeno).
Pinkerton's had some
great burnt ends (I got their late and missed the other good stuff). But they
also had some awesome shirts!
And there were quite
a few other good things as well that I may not have gotten pictures of. All of
it was good. But if I had to pick
my top two favorite things I tried, it's a tossup….
Roegels BBQ teamed
up with John Brotherton and was offering smoked pastrami that I could have
cheerfully eaten all day. Seriously, this needs to be a regular menu item if it
isn’t already!
Killen's had their
(always excellent brisket) and an excellent rib. But they also offered a pork
belly bite that probably needs to be classified as a controlled substance. In
other news, reports that a man in a BBQ recon was hitting people on the head and
taking their pork belly have been taken completely out of context!
Hats off to Houston
BBQ for throwing an excellent festival! Things went very smoothly, and I love
that they had us pre-banded before opening. It made getting much smoother. I
have a huge list of places we need to visit more formally, so better start making
plans!
-Tom
