A second opinion on the Posse's South of DFW BBQ Tour

Michael Meadows, left, and the Posse dig in at Pit Stop BBQ in Waxahachie. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Maybe there was a time, long ago, when I was surprised at how seriously people take barbecue. But certainly not anymore.

Take Michael Meadows, one of the Posse's newest members. He and his family were in Colorado skiing last week. They drove 900 miles Friday arriving back in Dallas just before midnight.

And yet Meadows made the starting gate with the rest of us Saturday morning at the first stop of our South of DFW Tour. During the day, we ate at four places and drove about 160 miles over about 8 hours.

"I wasn't going to miss our outing if I could help it," Meadows says.

I called the sausage at our first stop, BBQ on the Brazos, "o.k." Meadows liked it a lot. He sent me his impressions of the other joints we visited:

Pitmaster Terry Massey shows his new sign
at Lazy S&M BBQ. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins)

Lazy S&M BBQ: Terry Massey, the owner and pit master, could not have been a nicer or more humble chap.  He clearly works very hard and I really wanted to love his BBQ. However, his location is so far off the beaten path that it will be hard for him to ever have a lot of success unless he smokes the best BBQ in the area.  With Jambo's and BBQ on the Brazos in the area, he has some serious competition. Overall, the brisket and ribs were good but were overshadowed by our experience at BBQ on the Brazos.

Jambo's BBQ Shack: Clearly, this is a very popular place. It was packed when we arrived. All of the smoked meats were delicious. I LOVED Jambo's ribs and sausage! Best sausage I have had in North Texas so far. The brisket and pulled pork were good, too.  I was impressed that they won the top prize for their BBQ chicken at the Houston Rodeo but puzzled as to why they don't offer it on their menu. Personally, I think the Bologna needs to go away to make room for that award-winning chicken. My only real complaint is that the interior and exterior of Jambo's has no character. Nothing about the building says, "There is some great BBQ inside".  It is a basic beige Morgan building with some tables inside. That's unfortunate because ambiance does count (at least in my book, it does) when it comes to experiencing great Texas BBQ.  (Hard Eight has figured this out, big time!)

Pit Stop BBQ in Waxahachie: Hands down, this place had the most character and best overall ambiance of all of the places we visited. The exterior makes you believe this will be a fun place to enjoy some real Texas BBQ. When I got out of the car, I was really looking forward to the food. In addition, it was the only place where we had waitresses take our orders and deliver our food vs. order at the counter.

In contrast to the other places we visited, Pit Stop BBQ is a full-service restaurant not a stand. Very friendly people who seemed eager to please. Sadly, their BBQ came in a rather distant fourth place to the other three places we visited earlier in the day.  . .Quite frankly, I missed the bark and fat on the brisket. Instead, their brisket was lean, thinly sliced and rather dry. It needed sauce.  Although I voted against ordering the Bologna and became even more skeptical when it arrived on our table "blackened" (just as the jukebox blared out AC/DC's "Back in Black"), I have to admit that the flavor was the best of any of the barbequed Bologna we had on Saturday.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the peach cobbler, though I didn't try it. Despite their rather unremarkable BBQ, I still  believe Pit Stop BBQ would be a fun, family-friendly restaurant to enjoy on a Saturday night, especially when they have a band playing and games of horseshoes and dart competitions underway.  And based on what you reported back about the pit master's comments, it sounds like they are cooking BBQ exactly the way their customers like it so it doesn't really matter whether we loved it or not.

The South of DFW BBQ Tour

9am: Leave Dallas.
10am: BBQ on the Brazos, 9001 E Hwy 377, Cresson, TX. Open Mon-Fri 6:30am-3pm, Sat 9am-3pm.www.bbqonthebrazos.com
11:45am: Lazy S&M BBQ, 2008 Conveyer Drive, Joshua, 817-475-5687. Open Tues-Wed 6am-4pm, Thurs-Fri 6am-7pm, Sat 10:30am-3pm.
1pm: Jambo's BBQ Shack, 5460 E FM 1187, Rendon, 817-478.2277. Open Tues-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 11am-3pm. http://jambosbbqshack.com
2:30pm: Pit Stop BBQ, 3921 S Highway 287, Waxahachie, 972-923-8921. Open Mon-Tue 11am-9pm, Wed 11am-10pm, Thurs 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 11am-9pm. http://www.pitstopbbq.net
4pm: Back in Dallas.

 Pitmaster Steve Graham's cap displays Pit Stop BBQ's motto: "Meat So Tender You Can Leave Your Teeth at Home."
(Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Posse favorites: The Jambo Texan sandwich at Jambo's BBQ Shack

The Jambo Texan sandwich at Jambo's BBQ Shack in Rendon. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Every now and then you run into something so uniquely Texan that you stop in pure amazement. This is the case with pitmaster Jamie Geer's Jambo Texan sandwich at Jambo's BBQ Shack in Rendon.

The Posse hit Jambo's in force during their first week of business and was quite impressed.

It wasn't surprising. Jamie not only builds what many consider to be the best BBQ smoker the in the world, the Lamborghini-esque Jambo pit, but he is also a veteran pitmaster on the competition BBQ circuit with numerous championships under his belt.

I had seen a photo of the Jambo Texan sandwich before, but you must see it to believe it. Sandwiched between two pieces of Texas toast, the Texan has the following meats starting from the bottom: sliced brisket, chopped brisket, smoked bologna, pulled pork, smoked sausage & pork ribs.

6 things the Posse learned from its DFW Top 7 BBQ Tour

Lockhart Smokehouse, Dallas, Texas. (Photo ©Daniel Gonclaves/Fotobia.com)

1. Pecan Lodge, without a doubt, is the best joint in DFW. We already knew this, but it was reinforced as we toured the 7 area places that made Texas Monthly's new Top 50 list. There isn't a weak spot in pitmaster Justin Fourton's smoked meat lineup.

2. Bartley's BBQ in Grapevine and Cousin's Barbecue in Fort Worth don't belong among the Top 50, for food or atmosphere.

3. Call ahead to Meshack's to make sure it's open. We didn't and we paid the price when the place was closed. We wound up eating bad barbecue at a place we wish we had never tried.

4. Tim Hutchins of Hutchins BBQ in McKinney is the state's next hot pitmaster. He regularly benchmarks his food against the best joints and wants to constantly improve. "I'm trying to bring the level up across the board," he told us during our visit.

First Look at Jambo's BBQ: Great start for the new place from pit builder and competition pro Jamie Geer

Dining room at the newly-opened Jambo's BBQ Shack in Rendon. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Jamie Geer of Burleson is a big-time barbecue competitor and has been called the da Vinci of barbecue pit builders with his sleek-looking and good-cooking line of Jambo smokers.

Now, he is trying his hand at running a barbecue joint, called Jambo's BBQ Shack and Catering, located in Rendon, not far from his home.

We visited Saturday, the end of Jambo's first week in business.

"It's been crazy," Geer said as he cut orders for a steady line of lunch customers.

We sampled his brisket, pork ribs, sausage and a giant pork chop. All were moist and very tender. Posse member Jim Rossman easily cut the 3-inch-thick chop with a plastic knife and fork and handed samples to Posse members and friends, a dozen strong.

"That's cooked perfectly," Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins said of the chop. "I know what I'll be ordering the next time I come."