I am so excited to share my first barbecue post with y’all. The tasting was a collaborative effort from all of the writers at From Texas To Beyond. We had a little outing over to Deep Ellum Dallas and knew we needed to try Pecan Lodge. We had heard a lot of good things and we were not disappointed.
Coming from Central Texas, my standards for barbeque is quite high. I love the traditional German meat market style where the pits are visible to all and the walls are stained in smoke. Many places you have to go through two lines to get your meal: one line for meat and one line for everything else. I even grew up eating my cousin’s homemade deer and pork sausage which will always be my favorite. When I moved up to North Texas, we found some good BBQ joints, but Pecan Lodge has come the closest to Central Texas BBQ! I would go quite often if it wasn’t an hour away from my home. Maybe that is a good thing.
Atmosphere: 4 The atmosphere was eclectic and smelled amazing when you walked in, as you would hope a good BBQ joint would possess. There was indoor and outdoor seating. You go through the line first, then secure a seat. The only drawbacks were that the restaurant was incredibly loud where you almost could not enjoy the good company you came with and you could not see the pits where that magnificent meat was being smoked.
Brisket: 4 Now brisket is not my control item for BBQ, so I am going with the group’s opinion on this one. The taste and seasonings were great. Most of the slices were moist but some were a little on the dry side. Matt ordered the burnt ends of the brisket and those were quite tasty. It is hard to find a place that serves the burnt ends, so Matt was very excited.
Sausage: 5 This sausage was fantastic and everything about it was as sausage should be! I know these are strong words, but so was the sausage. The flavor was so great, there was no need for sauce. Just the sausage with some onion and pickle, or enjoying the sausage on its own was perfect. Not too mild and not too spicy, just right. Even the texture was great. Sometimes sausage can be ground too fine, making it taste really processed, but this sausage had a great consistency. There was not one thing I would change about it.
Ribs: 5 We had the pork ribs when we visited and they just about perfect. Not all the meat fell off the bone right away, but when ribs taste that good, who cares. I’ll do a little work to make sure I get all that tastiness off the bone. The spices were a perfect balance of sweet and pepper and cooked with just a thin layer of crust. So good.
Sauce: 4 The sauce was peppery and sweet and served at room temperature. The color of the sauce was inviting. The consistency was great, smooth but thick enough to stick to your meat. It had just the right amount of vinegar to it as well. Overall a great sauce.
Sides: 5 No question for me. The group thought the sides were a 4.5…so I rounded up….The coleslaw was not swimming in mayonnaise and chopped up too finely, but fresh, light and coarsely chopped, the way my mom makes it. With bacon and jalapeños, the mac and cheese was decadent and absolutely delicious. I also had the collard greens which were slightly sweeter and meatier than I hoped for but still unique and tasty.
Service: 4 We have no complaints about the service. Everyone we encountered was friendly and helpful. But the way the restaurant is set up, you really do not interact with the employees that much. The tables were cleaned quickly and were tidy and the cashiers were helpful, answering any questions we had.
Notable Items: Something that really shocked us is that white bread was not even offered. You could buy Hawaiian bread rolls for $0.50 each. That is just crazy talk. But the other items that is very notable is the menu item called “Hot Mess.” We did not order one, but saw them on other people’s trays. Holy Cow it looked good. It is a giant baked sweet potato topped with barbecue and all the fixin’s.
The lines are long so just get prepared. During the week, they are only open for lunch. And if you are prepared to purchase more than 5 pounds of meat, you can bypass the regular line and proceed directly to the express line.
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