My second trip to H-E-B in Melissa, TX.

[realdocBBQ]

Man, do I love this place.



My first trip. I bought a bunch of meats, mainly sausages, a few packs of cheese. No big cuts like brisket or anything, but also picked up several packages of their tamales (passable) and on advice from here, a number of packages of their fresh butter tortillas.

I'll be honest - we weren't big fans of the tortillas. I'm not sure what the deal was, they just seemed doughy to me, like... I dunno, did they not cook them? Was I eating these wrong? Was I supposed to cook them? Actually I DID heat some up in a skillet, and they were better, but I just didn't care for them. Wife really didn't, she said she wanted her tacos made with the Great Value tortillas from WalMart. Sorry, Texas. <shrug>

But THIS time, I decided to try their tortillas from the shelf in the bread aisle rather than from the bakery. Now, THESE tortillas I can get behind! The butter tortillas, they looked more like what I am used to with the whiter color and they felt cooked when I got them out of the bag, and they definitely TASTED buttery. Very much a choice we will make again in my household. Love 'em. But not the 'fresh' ones from the bakery - I dunno how to describe them other than... just almost tasted raw, like. And I tried a couple different packs, but those fresh ones are more yellow/brown than the whitish looking ones on the shelf. Not sure if I was missing something here, like LBJ eating a tamale? I dunno...

Anyways, I got about 4 more jars of their chile verda enchilada sauce. Super good stuff. I like.

Also several packs of their buns. Now this is interesting... there are two brans I think are local, one is labeled H-E-B brand and the other is... Texas Hill Country brand or something? Not sure, but I got some of each and holy smokes, these things are GOOD. Bigger burger buns than I see from what we have around here mostly of the mainstream brands at Wally World. Wonder, Bimbo, Great Value, ummm... can't remember 'em. But these H-E-B and THC (lol) are freaking GREAT! I really like these! Larger, soft, nice flavor, but feel substantial at the same time. I can't wait to do some LARGER SIZED smashburgers JUST for these buns! W00T!

Got some more of their pepper jack cheese - they call it jalapeno Monterrey Jack, I think, and the slices are pretty darn good. I could stand a little hotter, but unlike most mainstream brands, I can actually taste a little heat when they're on a sammich or something.

On the way there, it was early, like 10AM, and I was wanting to stop somewhere like a taqueria or something, but I didn't know where to go, what was any good, etc., so I wandered inside H-E-B getting hungrier and HONGRIER until it was time to leave and hit the road to head back home and I decided to just stop at the BBQ place at the entrance to the store. Now... I don't usually buy BBQ out. For one thing, I don't want to pay the prices you have to pay these days, especially when I can make better at home for the most part. I haven't found many places out there that really impress me, but I will admit, I'm not hitting up Texas Top 50 joints on the regular - again, see pricing concerns above. So, obviously, I haven't tried the best there is out there.

But this... this is the real reason I put together this post.

The place in the H-E-B I visited was just called... I think Texas Best Barbeque or something? <edit> Ok, I just looked it up and then checked the cup I bought, it's called True Texas BBQ:



So I decided to just get a sandwich and I was perusing the menu when I decided upon THIS thing:


Now... as you can guess, I'm not talking about the "La Hefa" sandwich.... no, I went for the "El Jefe". Of course. Yeah, yeah, 1700 calories, I know, but this, the chips and drink I got were all I ate the entire day. Nothing else. So there. Blah.

Anyways, this sandwich was a beast. A monster. HUGE. So good, too! Man, I was impressed!

Now, keep in mind, this pic I am about to show you was AFTER I ate a big ol' burnt end of brisket that had fallen off it, probably another ounce by itself. And it was so good... I immediately decided to take pics to share here. Damn.





Now... after a number of years of doing this, and owning numerous smokers, cookers and other accoutrements of outdoor cooking, having cooked dozens of briskets and innumerable other BBQ items... I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on brisket, as a whole. Of course, once in a while, you can always get one that humbles you, but overall, I have my brisket game down pretty good. Offset smoker, pecan wood usually, mostly S&P, maybe some garlic powder, occ some seasoned salt, whatever. Many people have raved over my brisket, even my wife, who really isn't a brisket fan, per se, has piped up and told me, "Yeah, you really broke your foot off in that one, babe." I know, sounds weird, but this is the South - trust me, that's a compliment.

So... all that being said, this brisket was freaking GOOD. I mean, on a par with just about any brisket I've made. Salty, peppery bark, and a GOOD bark, like, a REAL bark. This tasted real wood smoked, not sure if they use offsets or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if they use some large rotisserie with racks or something, but seriously - this was REAL Texas brisket. I was IMPRESSED. Sausage was darn good, too, but the brisket took the cake. The slaw on it... eh, was ok. Not totally my style, but overall, this was one Killer. Freaking. Sammich.

I've tried the brisket sandwich at Buc-ee's, and one bite didn't impress me at ALL. I took a second bite and confirmed it wasn't a fluke - and I threw my $8 or $9 sandwich in the trash. Ugh. Never again. Covered in a sweet BBQ sauce to try to pump it up, and it just wasn't good. No thanks.

But Texas Best BBQ at H-E-B, at least on the day I was there, absolutely impressed me. Give it a try if you're heading through.

<edit>
Oh, and the other major thing I came home with...


Yeah, for whatever reason, we just can hardly EVER find any Buffalo Trace here in OK, so when I go, I usually get 2-3 bottles of it. This time, I stopped at SPEC'S (liquor store, another must-stop) and if I bought a case (6) I got like $5 off per bottle, of the LITER bottles (NEVER seen in OK) which were only $35 - so... essentially I got one of my six for free! W00T! Man, what a score!

I am an Okie, and have been for most of my life, but I have to say, I freaking LOVE TEXAS. <sigh> At least H-E-B and SPEC'S! lol

[Mosca]

The fresh tortillas ARE doughy. They’re cooked just short of done. You heat a skillet to about 400° and flip them back and forth until they puff up each side, about 60-90 seconds each side depending.

Im killing it with the regular flour tortillas. I love the butter ones, too, but the regular flour tortillas are just as good.

[realdocBBQ]

OK, so this makes more sense to me now. I don't think I cooked them 'enough' when I tried heating them. I heated them just to warm and maybe a tiny bit of browning - I guess I didn't realize they were not fully cooked, though that is what they tasted like to me.

Maybe I'll try a pack or two again sometime.

[Panhead John]

Yeah, like Tom said ya gotta heat em up to where they puff up a little and just slightly brown. 👍

[Panhead John]

Really glad you liked the H‑E‑B, now everyone knows we’re not just a bunch of blowhard Texans tellin’ tall tales. 😂 Anyway, I’ve been thinking about trying the True Texas BBQ served at “some” HEB’s. There’s only 3 in my area and they’re all on the outskirts of Houston, the closest one to me is about 40-45 minutes away. Gonna have to try em soon after reading your review. The brand of buns you’re trying to think of is called Hill Country Fare, they actually make a lot of different products exclusively for H‑E‑B. Nice write up!

A little explanation of H‑E‑B’s store brands,,,,,,


Both Hill Country Fare (HCF) and H-E-B brand are owned and distributed by H-E-B, but they serve different tiers of quality and price.

• Hill Country Fare (HCF): H-E-B’s entry-level value brand. It is designed for maximum savings (often 40% cheaper than national brands), acting as the equivalent of Walmart’s Great Value. [1, 2]
• H-E-B Brand: H-E-B’s primary store brand. It is formulated to be equal to or better than national name brands (like Kraft or Hellmann's), offering higher-quality ingredients and better recipe formulations

[Panhead John]

Spec’s Liquor Store actually started here in Houston in 1962. They’re the largest privately owned liquor store chain in Texas, over 210 locations. Along with Total Wine, they have the best prices I’ve found anywhere.

[texastweeter]

Short solution, move to TX

[Alan Brice]

It all sounds very appealing to me, but I love my change of the seasons here in the river valley. I will just look forward to visiting. I feel I already live there thru the Pit!

[texastweeter]

realdocBBQ not to get all Tony Robinson, but first thing you gotta do is change that thinking, then set a goal, then drive towards it. Not gonna get into it here, but I've come a LONG way in my life; and I ain't done yet.

[realdocBBQ]

Yeah, no, I'm pretty done. Oh well.

[barelfly]

That’s quite the score on goods!

[Mosca]

I wanted to take a moment to revisit this, in reference to the tortillas, and how to get the best out of them.

They come out of the pack chewy, and doughy. Get a hot, dry skillet, griddle, or comal. If you’re using an IR gun, 425°-450°. Put one in the skillet. When it softens up, flip it. Then flip it every 30 seconds or so. You can use your fingers for this, just move quickly and only touch the tortilla! After a few flips, this happens:



Flip it once more, let it puff again, then remove it and put it between the folds of a warm towel to steam itself. If you’re up for spending a couple dollars, one of these is nice to have, but it isn’t essential:




That’s how I reheat any tortilla, whether it be wheat or corn. The one I took the photo of is a butter tortilla that I brought home from the last Meat Up in April. They freeze perfectly.

After a couple dozen of both butter and regular wheat, I prefer the regular wheat. I think they’re more versatile, and go well with everything, whereas the butter tortillas are best with breakfast. A butter tortilla brisket taco doesn’t work for me. H-E-B also has a wheat-corn hybrid; I got some last year, but didn’t find any on my most recent trip. Those are excellent, IMO, with the taste of corn and the pliability of wheat. I just finished a dozen that I had frozen since 04/2025, they were excellent. To vac seal, freeze them first, in a loose vac bag, then transfer that to the vac, and seal. They’re easiest to work with in batches of half a dozen, I think, but adjust for your family size if there are five of you freeze them in multiples of 5. We don’t want to create a hot-dogs-to-buns problem on purpose.

[tstalafuse]

Not sure who it would have to be, but I would kill to get an HEB within driving distance. The closest is Lubbock, which we stop at on the way home and load up the ice chest, but that is an 8hr drive.

[realdocBBQ]

Not sure who it would have to be, but I would kill to get an HEB within driving distance. The closest is Lubbock, which we stop at on the way home and load up the ice chest, but that is an 8hr drive.

IKR??? Sheesh!

I feel stupid now, I actually tossed 2 or 3 big packs of the fresh butter tortillas after I went through the first pack and didn't realize they needed to be cooked! SHIT! I now have several packs of the non-fresh butter tortillas in the freezer. I will say, even the non-fresh version are EXCELLENT tortillas, much better than the Mission or Great Value ones we usually eat. I love them. Next time I'm down there, I'll get some more of the fresh ones and try cooking them first. I just didn't realize they were uncooked or only partially cooked. I guess I should have really tried this, as they tasted somewhat uncooked to me, so I should have known. <sigh> Oh well, you live and you learn, right? Right.

I wonder how this would work with enchiladas... I mean, I'm going to be cooking them in the oven or toaster oven - but they're still not nearly as pliable as I'd like to roll up, so I'd still need to heat them in a skillet or microwave first. I don't think I'd like to do the microwave method and then roll and make into tortillas because I'd worry they wouldn't 'cook' evenly and I'd end up with tortillas doughy on the bottom half.

But either way, I'm encouraged to know this, and now I'm looking forward to trying them again.

[Mosca]

I’ve bought the bread-aisle H-E-B tortillas from Amazon (people resell them illegally) and they’re still better than anything I can get in the stores locally. But they’re expensive that way, and usually near or past the sell by date. They’re still good, but what the heck, y’know?

[Dan Deter]

When my wife makes enchiladas she does not cook the tortillas first, and she's the one who taught me they need to be cooked. She's a native Texan, from HEB's hometown, as my MIL tells me on a regular basis. And actually, my SIL was head of HR for the Butt family's charity organization for a while.

[realdocBBQ]

Well, I might give it a try both ways. But I'm liking the shelf version anyways. Still better than most any retail places here.