Well no sooner had the ink dried on my last reported barbecue visit to Bird's in Bellville, my son calls me up and tells me there's a Terry Black's that just opened in the Heights neighborhood of Houston. For those not familiar with Houston, the Height's is one of the oldest neighborhood's just northwest of downtown. It used to be a rather affluent area back in the late 1800's with fine examples of Victorian houses abound. It fell into disrepair over the years as the city grew and folks moved further out into the suburbs. Recently over the past 25 years or so, it has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts with gentrification happening all over the area. TB chose one of the main drags, North Shepherd Drive to locate this store, with a lot of night life and restaurants abound. Anyway, I made the trek to catch lunch and was suitably impressed.
One thing TBs does well, whether it be in Austin, Lockhart, Dallas and now Houston, is to go all out with first class facilities. You first walk though a large outdoor patio area to the left and a ginormous pit room to the right (see below), then into this palatial restaurant. The thing that sets these guys apart from most other barbecue joints is their friendly attitudes and rapid assembly line speed. There had to have been close to 200 people there for lunch and I never saw a line longer than say 10 people. I got there about 11:45 am and had 2 guys in front of me.
They begin by having you grab your tray and sides (same as Lockhart) then move on to the meat counter. In most places there may be two or three cutters. This place had six cutting stations active and a couple more in reserve. Note the cambros in the background, they must have had at least 20 of them in double decker fashion. Meat just flew from them to the cutting board to your tray with military precision.
Again for those unfamiliar with the name, Terry Black's Barbecue was founded in 2014 in Austin, Texas, by twin brothers Michael and Mark Black (alongside sibling Christina and parents Terry and Patti) following a family split from the historic Black's Barbecue in Lockhart, Texas. Ironically just a few years ago, TBs opened a restaurant in Lockhart not more than a couple of miles form the original Black's in downtown.
Well, what was the result? How well did the rubber meet the road after all that fanfare?
Out of a scale of 1-10, 10 being Aaron Franklin's mama, here was my rating of the food and the place;
Ribs - solid 8.75 to 9 - They would have been higher but they seemed to be left in the cambro too long. When I picked one up it literally fell apart and the bone popped out. Good flavor and very tender otherwise, I just prefer bite through to disintegrate off the bone on contact
Sausage - 8.75 - I really like jalapeno cheese and these did not disappoint. Good snap to the casing as well.
Brisket -8.5 - I really struggled with this one. The brisket appeared stellar, perfectly rendered, great dark peppery bark. But when I popped a piece in my mouth I nearly spit it out. Seemed someone spilled an entire salt shaker worth on this brisket. I thought maybe it was just some end piece but unfortunately it was the entire half pound. I even tried making a sandwich with pickles and some bbq sauce but could still pick up heavy salt taste in the background. Too bad, it otherwise would easily have made it over 9 on my scale. .
Sides - 9.5.. The slaw and mac and cheese were excellent.
Bang for the Buck - solid 8. Given that I had about the same amount of food at Bird's BBQ for roughly $30, this place charged me $63. Granted I did take some of it home but only about a third of what I ordered. I remember pitmasters telling me they didn't think customers would pay much more than $32/pound for cooked brisket. Well this stuff was $38/pound with enough salt to sink a battleship.
Atmosphere - 9. Polar opposite of Bird's small trailer operation. This place was gorgeous as well as enormous, with a packed crowd. I also give them kudos once again for moving people through with assembly line speed.
________________________________________________
I still consider Terry Black's to be in the upper echelon of pedestrian barbecue joints, similar to say a Rudy's. Had they done just a little better job of paying attention to details, this place could catapult into a legit top 50 TM joint, but alas despite it's appearance it is not. . But I guess when you go through 250--400 briskets on a busy weekend, it's pretty hard to get them all perfect. If you come to Texas and just want to scratch that barbecue itch, this place is worth going to. That said, there are better choices in Houston (Truth for one), but the list is short.
One thing TBs does well, whether it be in Austin, Lockhart, Dallas and now Houston, is to go all out with first class facilities. You first walk though a large outdoor patio area to the left and a ginormous pit room to the right (see below), then into this palatial restaurant. The thing that sets these guys apart from most other barbecue joints is their friendly attitudes and rapid assembly line speed. There had to have been close to 200 people there for lunch and I never saw a line longer than say 10 people. I got there about 11:45 am and had 2 guys in front of me.
They begin by having you grab your tray and sides (same as Lockhart) then move on to the meat counter. In most places there may be two or three cutters. This place had six cutting stations active and a couple more in reserve. Note the cambros in the background, they must have had at least 20 of them in double decker fashion. Meat just flew from them to the cutting board to your tray with military precision.
Again for those unfamiliar with the name, Terry Black's Barbecue was founded in 2014 in Austin, Texas, by twin brothers Michael and Mark Black (alongside sibling Christina and parents Terry and Patti) following a family split from the historic Black's Barbecue in Lockhart, Texas. Ironically just a few years ago, TBs opened a restaurant in Lockhart not more than a couple of miles form the original Black's in downtown.
Well, what was the result? How well did the rubber meet the road after all that fanfare?
Out of a scale of 1-10, 10 being Aaron Franklin's mama, here was my rating of the food and the place;
Ribs - solid 8.75 to 9 - They would have been higher but they seemed to be left in the cambro too long. When I picked one up it literally fell apart and the bone popped out. Good flavor and very tender otherwise, I just prefer bite through to disintegrate off the bone on contact
Sausage - 8.75 - I really like jalapeno cheese and these did not disappoint. Good snap to the casing as well.
Brisket -8.5 - I really struggled with this one. The brisket appeared stellar, perfectly rendered, great dark peppery bark. But when I popped a piece in my mouth I nearly spit it out. Seemed someone spilled an entire salt shaker worth on this brisket. I thought maybe it was just some end piece but unfortunately it was the entire half pound. I even tried making a sandwich with pickles and some bbq sauce but could still pick up heavy salt taste in the background. Too bad, it otherwise would easily have made it over 9 on my scale. .
Sides - 9.5.. The slaw and mac and cheese were excellent.
Bang for the Buck - solid 8. Given that I had about the same amount of food at Bird's BBQ for roughly $30, this place charged me $63. Granted I did take some of it home but only about a third of what I ordered. I remember pitmasters telling me they didn't think customers would pay much more than $32/pound for cooked brisket. Well this stuff was $38/pound with enough salt to sink a battleship.
Atmosphere - 9. Polar opposite of Bird's small trailer operation. This place was gorgeous as well as enormous, with a packed crowd. I also give them kudos once again for moving people through with assembly line speed.
________________________________________________
I still consider Terry Black's to be in the upper echelon of pedestrian barbecue joints, similar to say a Rudy's. Had they done just a little better job of paying attention to details, this place could catapult into a legit top 50 TM joint, but alas despite it's appearance it is not. . But I guess when you go through 250--400 briskets on a busy weekend, it's pretty hard to get them all perfect. If you come to Texas and just want to scratch that barbecue itch, this place is worth going to. That said, there are better choices in Houston (Truth for one), but the list is short.
Comment