More evidence that Lockhart has lost its barbecue magic

Smitty's Market oak wood pile & the Caldwell County courthouse. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

On our way back to Dallas from our recent Houston-area barbecue tour, all 6 Posse members on the trip listed their top 5 joints in the state, in no particular order.

Specific criteria probably varied from person to person, but these would be places we'd drive across the state to eat at or recommend to good friends that they do the same.

Since then, we've been asked to run each person's top 5. Those lists are below.

Three joints mentioned by each of us: Killen's Barbecue in Houston, Pecan Lodge in Dallas and la Barbecue in Austin. Only 3 of us listed Franklin Barbecue in Austin, generally considered the best joint in the state.

Others receiving at least one mention: Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Miller's Smokehouse in Belton and Snow's BBQ in Lexington.

Reviewing the lists now, a bigger revelation than the lack of unanimity for Franklin, is the total absence of any joint in Lockhart. Five years ago, that wouldn't have been the case. Then, Smitty's, Black's and Kreuz Market demanded a pilgrimage.

That's more evidence that Lockhart is no longer the barbecue capital of Texas.

Behold the Fried Rib from Pecan Lodge -- You need to try one

The fried rib from Pecan Lodge in Dallas. (Photo by Jim Rossman/Texas BBQ Posse)

It’s not often that I’m surprised by the menu at a BBQ joint.

I’ve been to more than a few dozen places and didn’t think there was much else you could do to a pork rib, but I was wrong.

One day last month I was eating at Pecan Lodge in Dallas when I spied a new entry on their menu board. It was a fried pork rib and I had to have one.

The rib was a very large and meaty. It was lightly battered and then deep fried. The crust was crunchy, but not very thick. The fried rib was then dipped in BBQ sauce, plated and then topped with bleu cheese and some green onion.

It was a glorious mess.

I wanted to run back and order a second one, but the thought of my upcoming annual physical kept me in my seat. I’d really forgotten about the rib until the Posse’s recent Denton County tour, when I remembered and told the others.

I’ll have to get back and try the rib again. I asked Pecan Lodge if the rib was a regular on the menu and was told, “we have them on a pretty regular basis.”

Certainly worth a try if you see it on the menu.

Pecan Lodge, 2702 Main St. Dallas, 214-748-8900. Open: Tues-Thur 11am-3pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 11am-3pm. Website: www.pecanlodge.com

The Complete Idiot's Guide To Wine Tasting

Brisket and wine were on the menu for the Posse at Pecan Lodge. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com)

By Bruce Tomaso/Texas BBQ Posse

On Tuesday, the BBQ Posse was invited to join the Dallas Morning News Wine Panel for a tasting at Pecan Lodge. The mission: Find the red wines that pair best with Texas barbecue. (Look for the story in the July 30 Arts & Life section of The News.)

Diane and Justin Fourton served up platters of Justin’s other-worldly smoked brisket. Cathy Barber, the paper’s food editor, and Tina Danze, a Dallas freelance writer, served up 26 bottles of wine. The wines came from around the world: Argentina and Australia, France, Spain, and Portugal, California and Washington State.

The brisket was pure Texas.

The members of the Wine Panel sniffed and sipped and swirled.

The members of the Posse tried not to scarf down all the brisket.

Truly, this was a meeting of the connoisseurs and the goobers. The people on the Wine Panel are master sommeliers, well-known Dallas chefs and restaurateurs, people of rigorous training and refined palates. They’ve spent decades studying wines.

The BBQ Posse is a less exclusive society. To get in, you have to ask.

I know a great smoked brisket when I taste it, but if you put a revolver to my head, I couldn’t tell a Malbec from a Merlot, a Shiraz from a Petite Sirah. I don’t pretend otherwise.

Sometimes, the less you know, the easier it is to learn. If the gaps in your knowledge are the size of moon craters, it’s not hard for one or two small nuggets of insight to carom in there and settle.

Here, then, are six lessons that I learned from my first wine-tasting. (Once Cathy and Tina read this, I’m pretty sure it will also be my last wine-tasting.)

Pecan Lodge pitmaster/co-owner Justin Fourton delivers out first of two briskets. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

1. Use the spit cup

It seems counter-intuitive to put wine in your mouth and not swallow it, especially when it’s good wine and you’re getting it for free. But there’s a reason that experienced tasters spit out each sample.

If you’re tasting 26 wines in two or three hours and you take one small sip of each, you will be inebriated by the time you stand up to leave.

And if you drain your glass 26 times, you’ll be picking fights afterward with bikers coming out of tattoo parlors.

2. Don’t use your fingers

When the platter of beautifully smoked, expertly carved brisket arrives at the table, you should resist the temptation to reach in, grab a blackened, juicy bit with your hand and stuff it into your mouth.

This is perfectly acceptable, even customary, on a barbecue tour. Among people who know where the butter plate goes, you will be regarded as a cretin.

3. When you sip, stick your nose in the glass

This is to experience the wine’s aroma as well as its flavor. I was surprised to discover that wine smells just like wine.

4. Assume the authoritative voice

After tasting each wine, listen to the experts before you fill out your evaluation sheet. They will use phrases like “subtle spice notes,” “dense, peppery palate,” “hints of courant,” “dense tannins,” and “elongated finish.” Write these down.

Don’t worry if you don’t know what they mean. At any given moment, half the people on Earth who are speaking have no idea what they’re talking about. Bill O’Reilly knows no more about immigration policy than I do about Côtes du Rhône. That hasn’t shut him up. My three nephews know more about sports than Skip Bayless, and ESPN pays him $500,000 a year. If you write that the Merlot “displayed aromas of dark stone fruits,” who’s going to argue with you?

Four Seasons master sommelier James Tidwell pours wine at the tasting. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com)

5. After a while, you’re faking (and you’re not the only one)

The BBQ Posse once hit eight Central Texas joints in just over 24 hours. (We were young and foolish back then.) By the time we got to our last stop, the mere sight of ribs and brisket – the mere sight of a guy in a greasy white apron with a carving knife in his hand – was enough to make us queasy. I’d have rather eaten a small box of paper clips than that eighth barbecue meal.

The gross overload not only killed our appetites; it blunted our ability to distinguish one brisket, rib, or sausage from the next. The same was true with the wines. Twenty-six was too many.

Halfway through the tasting, I found myself thumbing ahead through my stack of evaluation sheets to see how many more samples were yet to come – and softly groaning that the number wasn’t smaller. The people sitting across the table from me – not BBQ Posse goobers – were doing the same.

And even though I was dutifully using my spit cup and drinking water between samples, after 15 or 20 wines I was fooling myself that I could tell how the cabernet from Beckman Vineyards stacked up against the one we’d tried an hour earlier from Becker Vineyards.

6. Barbecue and wine might just be a bad idea

The consensus of our table – oenophiles and mooks alike – was that most of the wines paired poorly with Justin’s brisket.

Many of these vintages were good. A few were really good. They would have gone well with a medium-rare New York strip, or a thick slice of prime rib in au jus, or even a baguette and a wedge of aged Gruyère.

But thickly smoked, crusted, peppery brisket has an immense, forceful personality. It just steamrolled most of the wines we tried. Their subtle, supple, silky, luscious, sexy, opulent, complex, layered, textured, fresh, intense, pure, suave, ripe, rich, refined florals and truffles and mocha and herbs and spices and chocolate-coated dark cherries and velvet plums and black raspberry perfumes and hints of boysenberry liqueur didn’t stand a chance.

The wines were like Nanci Griffith trying to sing a duet with Janis Joplin. After Janis had drained about six bottles of wine. After swishing and spitting our way through 26 bottles, we did find a few that more or less held their own alongside the brisket. (I believe that I may have described one of them as having “balls.”)

But all things considered, a robust amber ale – or a big plastic glass of sweet tea – would have been better.

Members of the Texas BBQ Posse & the Dallas Morning News wine panel at Pecan Lodge. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves)

Take a number -- A different approach to BBQ lines

Posse members Jim Rossman & Gary Jacobson head up the line at Killen's BBQ. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com)

In our recent travels to Houston, part of the scheduling involved knowing that two joints – Killen’s and CorkScrew – were places that would require a wait in a pretty lengthy line.

We hit CorkScrew BBQ in  Friday for lunch and did the same Saturday at Killen’s. Each place opens at 11am. I volunteered to be the line sitter each morning, arriving at 8:30 a.m. each day to secure the first spot in line.

Note to our fellow line-waiters – I was alone in line each day until at least 9:30am if you’d like to gauge when to arrive. I don’t mind the line if the food at the end of the wait is as good as we knew it would be, but frankly standing in one place for two hours or more is nobody’s idea of a good time.

There is a line culture that forms each day – a brotherhood of sorts -- amongst the BBQ faithful. I enjoy the alone time early in the morning. I was greeted bright and early by the owners and employees of both joints and they were happy I was there.

But both places have instituted a number system for those waiting in line and I think it really makes the wait a much better experience. At CorkScrew, there’s a three-ring binder with 20 numbered pages inside. As customers arrive, they remove their number from the binder and find a table to wait.

There’s no standing around. You’re free to wander, run to the bathroom, go sit in your car or whatever you like, as long as you don’t leave (although I doubt anyone would even know you’re gone if you had to run a quick errand). Once the numbers are gone, the line forms under some umbrellas, but those folks have to stand (or sit) in line.

Customers stand in line as CorkScrew BBQ in Spring opens on a Friday. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

When 11 a.m. comes, holders of numbers 1 through 20 line up at the window and the rest of the line falls in behind them. It could not have been a smoother process. A word of warning for CorkScrew customers – at 11:45 a.m. when we were leaving, they were only serving number 15. But don’t worry, the food is worth the wait.

At Killen’s, it’s a different sort of line. When I visited on Father’s Day, the line was the traditional “snake around the sidewalk” version with folks just standing in one place. Last weekend, Killen’s introduced a “take a number” dispenser just like you find at the grocery store meat counter.

The number dispenser is put out around 9:45 a.m. when there were about 6 groups of people lined up. We each took a number (mine was 21, which was the first number available) and again once you pulled a number you were free to go find a shady spot under one of the dozen picnic tables and wait. Myself and the others who showed up early found adjacent tables and continued our conversation about where we’d eaten good BBQ lately and other important topics.

Killen’s has recently started offering free beer to people waiting in line. The keg of Lone Star was wheeled out about 10 a.m. and it was tended by employees who dispensed the beer and even carried some full cups around on a tray to offer up to the guests. There were also large decanters of ice water available.

Not everyone is ready to drink beer at 10 a.m., but I have to say it was damn good. Everyone seemed to be putting a dollar or two in the “donation” jar, which I hope ends up paying for the keg each Saturday.

Once the beer was flowing and as the last hour of waiting ticked away, the place took on a really relaxed feeling – more like a backyard gathering of friends and not at all like a long line of people waiting in the sun (or rain). I even saw owner and pitmaster Ronnie Killen manning the keg as I returned for a refill – talk about a good way to connect with your customers.

Pitmaster/owner Ronnie Killen mans the keg on a Saturday morning at Killen's BBQ. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com)

There was no limit on the numbers at Killen’s, but once everyone lined up at 11am, I have to figure people stopped coming up to the front to take a number and just joined the end of the line. As a point of reference, when we were leaving shortly after noon, the number coming through the front door was 75, so they’d run through 54 numbers in just over an hour.

Overall, I really liked the number system, but probably a little more so because I was first in line each day. I tried to think about which other joints have a daily line, like Franklin or Pecan Lodge and wonder if a number system could work at those places.

Both Corkscrew and Killen’s have quite a few outdoor picnic tables in the shade, which gives number holders a place to enjoy the wait. Franklin and Pecan Lodge don’t have near that type of room outside, although Pecan Lodge does have a patio with a dozen or so tables.

I’m not convinced either of those places would benefit from numbers, but I could be wrong. As the Posse waited at Killen’s Saturday morning, the talk turned to what would happen if someone arrived early and grabbed half a dozen numbers and sold them quietly to late arrivers?

We agreed this (hopefully) wouldn’t be too big a problem, but other questions did come up. What’s the etiquette for showing up at 10:59 a.m. and joining someone already in line? The Posse did just that each day, but I‘d warned the group behind me that six other guys would be joining me, but I’d only be placing one order for all of us.

I’ve often arrived at Pecan Lodge when someone else had arrived earlier and joined them in line with no issue, but I have to wonder if there’s a limit to the number of people you can have join you in line without raising the ire of the rest of the line.

Of course, there’s always the Pecan Lodge express line…

CorkScrew BBQ, 24930 Budde Rd., Spring, 832-592-1184. Open Tues-Sat 11am-til the meat runs out. Website: http://www.corkscrewbbq.com (Texas Monthly Top 50)

Killen's BBQ, 3613 E. Broadway, Pearland, 281-485-2272. Open Tues-Sun 11am-until they run out of meat. Website: http://www.killensbarbecue.com

Posse member Jim Rossman was first in line at CorkScrew BBQ on Friday and first at Killen's BBQ on Saturday.
(Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Killen's in Pearland might just be the best BBQ joint in Texas

Customers wait for the 11am opening of Killen's BBQ in Pearland on Saturday morning. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Even before we had finished eating at Killen's Barbecue in Pearland on Saturday, the great debate began.

"When you factor everything in, this is the best barbecue place in Texas," declared Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins.

We ate brisket, pork ribs, pork belly, beef ribs, turkey and sausage. Everything was excellent -- moist, flavorful and nicely cooked.

On a scouting mission in May, Posse member Jim Rossman called the food at Killen's, which opened in a permanent location early this year, "spectacular." Allison Cook, the restaurant critic at the Houston Chronicle recently gave the joint that newspaper's highest rating, four stars. We wouldn't argue.

Wilkins also pointed out that on a warm, humid, rainy Gulf Coast morning, we were sitting comfortably inside an air conditioned restaurant. Trailer joints, charming as they can be, lose some attraction when it's very hot or very cold or raining.

There were six Posse members on our 35-hour, 610-mile barbecue tour to the Houston area. While a couple of us agreed with Wilkins about Killen's, a couple others urged more restraint before making such a declaration.

We continued our debate on the drive back to Dallas. Each of us rated, in no particular order, our five favorite places, joints that we'd drive across the state to visit, or recommend to good friends to do the same.

Three places made everyone's list: Killen's, la Barbecue in Austin and Pecan Lodge in Dallas.

Four other places received mentions, but weren't unanimous: Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Snow's BBQ in Lexington, Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor and Miller's Smokehouse in Belton.

Franklin, run by now-celebrity pit master Aaron Franklin, is often mentioned as the best place in the state, but it made only three Posse members' lists. Daniel Goncalves said he would never recommend to anyone that they go there because of the long lines.

Every meat we tasted at Killen's BBQ was perfectly cooked. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) 

Phil Lamb, who included Franklin on his list, noted the barbecue renaissance in Texas.

"It is an important factor that enough people caught up to Franklin that you don't have to put them on your must-go-to list," Lamb said.

And Wilkins, so adamant in his initial support of Killen's, came up with a different No.1 when he altered his criteria a bit.

"If there's one place in the world I would send someone so they would understand Texas barbecue, it would be Snow's on a Saturday morning," he said.

Let the great barbecue debate continue.

Houston Redemption BBQ Tour

Friday 6/27
7:45am: Leave Dallas

10:30am: CorkScrew BBQ, 24930 Budde Rd., Spring, 832-592-1184. Open Tues-Sat 11am-til the meat runs out. Website: http://www.corkscrewbbq.com (Texas Monthly Top 50)

1pm: Virgie's Bar-B-Que, 5535 Gessner Dr., Houston, 713-466-6525. Open Tues 11am-2pm, Wed-Fri 11am-6:30pm, Sat 11am-5:30pm. Website: http://www.virgiesbbq.com (Texas Monthly Top 50)

3pm: Brooks' Place, 18020 FM 529, Cypress, 832-893-1682. Open Wed-Sun 11am-til the meat runs out. Website: Website: http://www.brooksplacebbq.com (Texas Monthly Top 50)

7:10pm: Detroit Tigers @ Houston Astros, Minute Maid Park.

Overnight in Houston, Club Quarters Houston hotel

Saturday 6/28
10:30am: Killen's BBQ, 3613 E. Broadway, Pearland, 281-485-2272. Open Tues-Sun 11am-until they run out of meat. Website: http://www.killensbarbecue.com

1pm: Ray's Real Pit BBQ Shack, 4529 Old Spanish Trail, Houston, 713-748-4227. Open Mon-Sat 11am-8pm. Website: http://www.raysbbqshack.com

3pm: Brisket House, 5775 Woodway, Houston, 281-888-0331. Open Mon-Sat 11am-9pm, Sat 11am-6pm. Website: http://thebriskethouse.com

4:00pm: Head back to Dallas

The Posse enjoys an incredible spread of smoked meat at Killen's BBQ. L-R: Phil Lamb, Tom Fox, Daniel Goncalves, Jim Rossman, Gary Jacobson & Chris Wilkins. (Photo by Bryan Norton)

Stellar preview for the new Pecan Lodge in Deep Ellum, Dallas

Owners Diane & Justin Fourton address the crowd at Pecan Lodge's preview party. (Photo by Jim Rossman)

All right. The new Pecan Lodge will open Friday, May 23, ending nearly a couple weeks of Dallas barbecue drought since the original joint last served at the Farmers Market on May 11.

That's the grand opening target for the new place on Main Street in Deep Ellum, according to owner/pitmaster Justin Fourton, who with his wife, Diane, hosted a preview party Thursday attended by about 200 guests.

The new space is wonderful. And the food won't miss a beat, according to many who attended.

"I love it," said Cathy Barber, food editor of The Dallas Morning News, as she sampled brisket, sausage and a bit of beef rib.

"We gotta come out here and drink on Friday nights," said Texas BBQ Posse veteran Jim Rossman, referring to the nice patio area outside the main dining area and bar.

Brian Luscher, owner of The Grape restaurant, and Jay Jerrier, owner of Cane Rosso, agreed that the patio was stellar. Every new restaurant has its own personality, they said. And, the new Pecan Lodge will probably change over time, but they liked their initial introduction.

Robert Wilonsky, The News' super blogger, loved the Lodge's fried chicken, which he had never eaten before, and predicted that the joint would would be standing room only when it officially opened.

Justin Fourton gave the Posse a short tour of the place before the crush of guests arrived Thursday. At the Farmers Market, all the meat was cut out of view of customers. In the new place, some of the meat will be cut in plain view of everyone.

"It won't be like Franklin," Fourton said of the legendary Austin joint, Franklin Barbecue. But customers will get to see at least some of the cutting.

One pit was working Thursday. Fourton eventually hopes to have three in operation.

At the Farmers Market, he said, his capacity was about 40 briskets a day. When the new place opens, he said, he will be able to do 90 a day and that could increase eventually to about 130 a day.

In remarks to the crowd, he recalled the early days of Pecan Lodge when the place sold half of a brisket on Fridays and two briskets on Saturdays.

"This is the tip of iceberg of the revitalization of Deep Ellum," Fourton said.

The preview party also included the debut of a brand new beer, Boss Lady Rustic Red, named for Diane Fourton.

It was good.

"It's super exciting because, you know, we have beer and wine now," the boss lady told those attending.

The Posse couldn't agree more.

Pecan Lodge, 2702 Main St. Dallas, 214-748-8900. Open: Tues-Thur 11am-3pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 11am-3pm. Website: www.pecanlodge.com

All photos by Jim Rossman

Soft on gassers? Not so says Posse member Bruce Tomaso.....

Snow's BBQ pit boss Tootsie Tomanetz tends the pits as the sun rises over Lexington. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

By Bruce Tomaso/Texas BBQ Posse

Gary Jacobson is a friend of mine. He’s a gifted writer, an extraordinary journalist with a sharp wit and a sharper mind.

And he knows his barbecue. He’s been riding with the Posse longer than just about any of us.

So it pains me to say this:

On the subject of gas-fired smokers, Gary Jacobson is full of gas.

A few days ago, he wrote on this blog that “perhaps we have mellowed a bit” on the question of whether meat cooked with gas is worthy of consideration alongside true, wood-smoked Texas barbecue.

“We're just not as militant about using wood as we once were,” he said.

I still haven’t figured out how to leave a comment on this damned blog, even though I’ve been contributing to it, off and on, for a couple of years now.

If I had, Gary and his pro-propane pals would have read this comment from me:

“Speak for yourself, homes.”

I like my gas fireplace at home, because I don’t have to clean out ashes and I can turn it off when I leave.

I like my barbecue cooked with wood, because that’s the way you do it.

Gary’s flawed conclusion was based on Posse visits to a couple of joints that cook with gas and turn out good food. (He actually wrote “damn good” food, a difference that may not be worth quibbling over, even though he’s wrong. It was good.)

Here’s what I say: Scroll back to the top of this page and see what’s written there, plain as a hickory log. The mission of the Texas BBQ Posse, its very raison d’ être, is to travel the state “in search of the greatest smoked meats.”

It says nothing about “good.”

Is it possible to turn out decent barbecue using the same fuel that powers forklifts, Zambonis, and hot air balloons?

I guess it is.

Is it possible to turn out world-class barbecue on a gasser? Divinely inspired barbecue? Smoky, flavorful, perfectly crafted barbecue? The kind that conjures up daily lines at the doors of Franklin, La Barbecue, Pecan Lodge and Hutchins? The kind that devotees gladly drive hundreds of miles to enjoy at Snow’s in Lexington, or Louie Mueller in Taylor, or Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton?

If so, I’ve yet to find it. Until I do, I remain as militant as ever.

In the meantime, I’ll regard my friend Gary’s lapse in judgment as evidence that sometimes even brilliant people can be spectacularly wrong. (Want more evidence? Check out this video.)

Hutchins BBQ in McKinney can hang with Austin's best and it's open all day

(L-R) Jim Rossman, Kathy and Steve Hunt, Gary Jacobson, Michael Landauer, Bruce Tomaso and Gary Barber at Hutchins BBQ. (Photo by Tom Fox)

For quality, the barbecue benchmarks are clear for Tim Hutchins, owner of Hutchins BBQ in McKinney.

"We're shooting for those guys in Austin," Hutchins said during the Posse's recent visit to his joint. He said he and his crew regularly travel to the new BBQ Capital of Texas to sample the fare at places like Franklin BBQ, la Barbecue and John Mueller Meat Co. They also visit Pecan Lodge in Dallas.

But Hutchins is even more ambitious. Many of the top joints in the state are open only a few hours a day. They close when they run out of meat.

"We want to serve great barbecue10 hours a day instead of just 2," Hutchins said. His place, which made Texas Monthly's Top 50 list last year, opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Hutchins BBQ won The Dallas Morning News' recent barbecue poll of readers. The Posse went there with Steve and Kathy Hunt, who live in McKinney and are regulars at the place. Steve won a meal with the Posse. He was randomly selected from among those who Tweeted a link to the poll.

Kathy ordered brisket and chicken. The rest of us -- we totaled 8 -- ordered the all-you-can-eat $16.59 special, which may just be the best barbecue value anywhere.

Everything -- brisket, pork ribs, turkey, chicken, pulled pork, sausage -- was good. The ribs were tremendous.

"These ribs are meat candy," Posse member Tom Fox said.

"This is just too pretty to eat," Posse member Jim Rossman said.

"The rub they apply is ridiculously good," Steve Hunt said.

Rossman and Hunt said they were the best ribs they had eaten in a long time.

Just before cutting and serving, general manager Dustin Blackwell applied a glaze to the ribs. When he stopped by the table, we asked Blackwell the ingredients.

"A real simple sweet glaze," he said, without elaborating.

Trade secret?

Blackwell nodded, smiling.

When Hutchins stopped by our table, he said that his goal is constant improvement. That's why he and and his crew regularly make pilgrimages to other top joints.

"We're trying to be cool," Hutchins said. "We're trying to get into the fraternity."

Hunt, who works for Dell, told Hutchins that he was moving soon to Austin.

"If you ever get ready to open there, I think you can give them a run for their money," he said.

Hutchins laughed.

"I think we've got a little more training to do," he said.

The Posse agrees with Hunt. Hutchins can hang with Austin's best right now. Make room in the BBQ Fraternity.

Posse member Bruce Tomaso nominates Justin and Diane Fourton of Pecan Lodge as Texans of the Year

Diane & Justin Fourton, owners of Pecan Lodge. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Note: The Dallas Morning News editorial department selects a Texan of the Year. Posse member Bruce Tomaso recently nominated Diane and Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge for the honor. With permission, we are reprinting Bruce's Viewpoints column from The News.

By BRUCE TOMASO

Wendy Davis can talk on her feet. Ted Cruz can talk with his foot in his mouth.

But neither of them can cook a world-class smoked brisket. Neither of them helped change the public face of Texas cuisine.

The people who did that are Justin and Diane Fourton, my nominees for 2013 Dallas Morning News Texan(s) of the Year.

Justin and Diane own Pecan Lodge at the Dallas Farmers Market. If you like barbecue and haven’t eaten there, go.

It’s open Wednesdays through Sundays, lunch only. They start serving at 11 a.m. The line starts forming before 10.

The Fourtons have dazzled culinary high priests near and far. In 2010, the year Pecan Lodge opened, D magazine named it one of the city’s best new restaurants. (This floored Diane, who remembers thinking, “How does D magazine even know who we are?”)

Guy Fieri, the overloud Food Network guy with the blond spiked hair, featured Pecan Lodge on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives. Daniel Vaughn, Texas’ most influential barbecue writer, gave the joint a rare 5-star rating, saying, “There isn’t much that Justin can’t successfully transform under a bath of mesquite smoke.”

Even more prestigious: The Texas BBQ Posse, of which I am a proud member, chose Pecan Lodge as one of its six favorite joints statewide. The posse, for those few who don’t know, is a distinguished and exclusive gastronomical society that grants membership only to those who ask.

Then, this past May, the Fourtons got the barbecue equivalent of a predawn phone call from Norway’s Nobel Committee: Texas Monthly, which issues its celebrated list of “50 Best BBQ Joints” once every five years, had placed Pecan Lodge in its top four.

This is not to say that Justin, who runs the pits at Pecan Lodge, has broken new ground in the craft of slowly cooking meats with wood. Or that other Texas pitmasters — most famously, Austin’s Aaron Franklin — aren’t turning out great barbecue. Justin’s methods, like those of his peers, are as old as Texas itself.

What separates the Fourtons, and qualifies them as Texans of the Year, is that they’ve earned respect in a city whose most-talked-about cuisine is normally served in five courses on white tablecloths.

In the heart of downtown Dallas, they’re flourishing with the same classic barbecue usually associated with the Texas Hill Country.

No longer must one trek to Lexington or Lockhart or Luling (or even Austin) to experience state-of-the-art Texas barbecue. An office worker in a high-rise on Pacific Avenue can do it. A conventioneer visiting from Ashtabula, Ohio, can do it. A family from Plano can do it.

The Fourtons have opened a big window through which countless thousands of visitors have gladly reached for a platter of Texas culinary culture.

“All the publicity that we’ve been getting becomes, in a way, publicity for Dallas,” Justin said. “As Dallas residents, that’s something we feel really good about.”

In early October, Notre Dame’s football team played Arizona State University at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. My son, a Notre Dame junior, came home for the game and brought along a couple of buddies from the Midwest. Wishing to treat our guests to an authentic Texas dining adventure, I drove to Pecan Lodge that Saturday morning to grab a takeout order of brisket, ribs and sausage.

Almost everyone in line was wearing either Fighting Irish or Sun Devils gear. These were clearly out-of-towners. Through word of mouth, or TV, or Google, they’d discovered that Pecan Lodge at the Farmers Market was the place for barbecue in Dallas.

Money can’t buy that kind of publicity. And it hasn’t. The Fourtons have no advertising budget.

If one needed a second reason to consider them for Texans of the Year — and one shouldn’t, after tasting their food — there’s this: Almost single-handedly for the past three years, they’ve kept the Farmers Market from turning into a ghost town.

The city, after years of annual operating losses, has sold most of the property to private developers who promise the standard “showcase,” “vibrant urban center” and “anchor destination.” There will be shops and restaurants. Apartments. And of course, farm-fresh fruits and vegetables.

Whether any of that gets built — and whether Pecan Lodge will be part of the vibrant urban center anchor showcase destination — remains to be seen.

I’m skeptical. I may end up eating my words. But I’d rather eat a plate of the Fourtons’ barbecue.

Bruce Tomaso, an assistant Metro editor at The News, once ate at eight barbecue joints in seven Texas towns in just over 24 hours. He can be reached at btomaso@dallasnews.com.

Making the most of the 'golden hour' at Texas Monthly's BBQ Fest

Pitmaster Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge in Dallas shows off his brisket at the 2013 Texas Monthly BBQ Festival.

Note: Posse members Libby and Mike Gagne, who live in Austin, attended Sunday's Texas Monthly BBQ Festival (TMBBQ Fest 2013), which brings together many of the best joints in the state. Libby and Mike were guests of Phil Winters of FoodyDirect, an Internet food site that advertises on this blog. Here is Libby's report from the event.

We queued up at about 11 a.m. and were admitted to the festival at noon, and enjoyed a “Golden Hour” of reduced lines and access to 21 of the best BBQ places in Texas. During our wait in line, we formulated a strategy to maximize our hour before the doors opened to general admission at 1 p.m. Three places were at the top of our collective lists because at least one of us had not tried them yet: Opie’s BBQ, Pecan Lodge, and La Barbeque Cuisine Texicana.

“It’s like speed dating but with food,” Phil said.

A definite festival find was Opie's (Spicewood), which delivered on brisket, sausage, and turkey.  It was the only participant rated 4.5 or higher by Texas Monthly that all three of us had not previously tried and it's good to know it's practically in Austin's backyard.  We each got fattier pieces of brisket, which were moist, with good texture and good smoke.  Phil was lucky enough to get an end piece and couldn't believe how moist it was.

There was some good heat on the jalapeno cheese sausage, although no noticeable snap.  But it definitely delivered on taste and texture, so it was two out of three and was among the top sausages of the day. Turkey is an often overlooked or minimized protein, maybe because when it's bad, it can be very bad. But I really appreciate when it's done right.  Opie's did it right and offered up turkey with a tasty rub that was still moist and had a very good overall texture.

Pecan Lodge (Dallas) was popular from the beginning of the festival, and immediately drew a line of people. Only Franklin Barbecue (Austin) had a more consistently long line, which deterred us, for fear of wasting the precious golden hour on one place that we have been to many times before.  Justin Fourton was slicing the Pecan Lodge brisket for each visitor and offering up smiles as well as some delicious smoked meats.  The sausage had a great snap and spicy flavor.  The smoke was more pronounced on the brisket, which the Posse appreciates, but the meat was not as falling-apart moist as some other places.

We tried to visit Lockhart Smokehouse (Dallas) at this point as well but they were not yet serving food so we moved on down the line.

Pitmaster John Lewis of La Barbecue in Austin cuts brisket.

The brisket from La Barbecue (Austin) put the other briskets that we tasted in perspective.  (Remember, we avoided Franklin because of the long lines.) It set the gold standard for us - perfect texture and fantastic smoke.  Plus, pitmaster John Lewis offered up the best sausage of the day with excellent snap, possibly the most important element to us when it comes to sausage.  It was less spicy than most of the others we tried, but still had a lot of flavor.  It was so good several of us went back for seconds, and even thirds.  We had the opportunity to meet LeAnn Mueller, co-owner of the joint.

According to one yearly festival attendee, Snow’s (Lexington) brisket has not traveled well in the past or lived up to expectation in this setting.  But this year it more than redeemed itself and arguably served one of the top three briskets we had all day.  The sausage had good snap but not a lot of flavor compared to others.

Stanley’s (Tyler) consistently has one of the best ribs and this year was no exception.  Absolutely fantastic.

Overall, the festival had a great layout with the higher-ranked places situated at the end of each segment of tents, and the lines directed away from the middle walkway and seating area.

Oh, we do have another suggestion about how to make the most out of the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest. At one point, we made a crucial custard run across the street to Sandy's Hamburgers. Although the festival had some good looking pie, that custard really hit the spot. And the walk freed up some space for a few additional barbecue samples when we got back. It was the cherry on top of a very delicious Sunday.

Pitmaster Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin works the serving line.

Left to right, Kerry Bexley & Tootsie Tomanez of Snow's BBQ with Libby Gagne & Phil Winters

Brisket, turkey & sausage from Opie's BBQ in Spicewood.

Brisket & jalapeno beef sausage from Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor. 

Left to right, Mike Gagne, Libby Gagne and Phil Winters at the 2013 Texas Monthly BBQ Festival.

Mayor Rawlings said he wants Pecan Lodge to stay … in Dallas

Pitmaster Justin Fourton holds the infamous Slim Pickins sign given to the last person in line at Pecan Lodge.
(Photo@Daniel Goncalves/Fotobia.com)

There's a follow-up to our earlier item on the strange behavior of the new owners of the Dallas Farmers Market as they try, supposedly, to work out a deal to keep Pecan Lodge at the market.

Robert Wilonsky of The Dallas Morning News reports that on Friday – the day our item appeared – Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings stopped by Pecan Lodge for lunch and a chat with owner/pitmaster Justin Fourton.

Afterward, Rawlings made his position clear:

While he can’t control what the Farmers Market does -- earlier this year, the city sold the downtown landmark to private developers -- he’ll do whatever he can to make sure Pecan Lodge remains somewhere in Dallas.

“Let me say, as the mayor of Dallas and a big fan of Pecan Lodge, we’re not going to lose them to a different city,” the mayor told Wilonsky.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?

Pitmaster Justin Fourton works the pit during the early days of Pecan Lodge. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Will Pecan Lodge stay at Dallas Farmers Market?

I have no idea. And neither does anyone else writing on the subject.

My guess is there are two people on Earth who know the answer: Justin and Diane Fourton, Pecan Lodge’s owners.

Even they might not be sure.

As we’ve written before, the Fourtons have kept their cards close to their butchers’ aprons as they weigh their options. They say they’d like to stay at the downtown Dallas market where, in just three years, they’ve built one of Texas’ great barbecue joints. At the same, they know there are landlords all over town, including the suburbs, who would love to have them and the long lines of satisfied customers they attract every day.

Here's how you can beat the long lines at Pecan Lodge in Dallas

The legendary Trough at Pecan Lodge, with a side of mac & cheese. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

We just got this note from Diane and Justin Fourton, owners of Pecan Lodge, detailing some big changes at one of the great BBQ joints in Texas:

Dear Friends,

Just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know that we've been working on a few things to help make it easier for those coming down to eat with us. Starting today, we are happy to announce that the following options are now available:

1. A second cash register has been added that will primarily serve as an "Express Line" for those ordering 5lbs or more. This means at any time (without notice) you can walk up and place your order without waiting in the main line.

2. Pre-Orders can be made with 2 days advanced noticed by sending an email to catering@pecanlodge.com. Pre-Orders must be for whole products (whole briskets, racks of ribs, etc) and can be picked up anytime from 11am to 3pm on days that we're open.

We appreciate everyone's patience as we continue our journey...here's to sharing the love one smokey bite at time!

All the best,
Justin and Boss Lady

Pecan Lodge, 1010 South Pearl Expressway, Farmer's Market Shed #2, 214-748-8900. Open: Wed-Sun 11am-til the meat runs out.

Success brings a new smoker to Pecan Lodge in Dallas, say hello to "Big Rick"

Pitmaster Justin Fourton shows off his new smoker Big Rick at Pecan Lodge. (Photo ©Philip Lamb)

Posse member Phil Lamb checks in with Pecan Lodge pitmaster Justin Fourton at Texas Monthly's “Behind the Pit Dinner” event on Wednesday night. 

Phil writes:

We’ve known for a while that Pecan Lodge offers some of the best smoked meats around, but its status as an elite BBQ joint was solidified when it was awarded a tie for the No. 2 spot on Texas Monthly’s “Top 50” BBQ list. Now the lines at Pecan Lodge, which were already plenty long, frequently require “Lovers of the Lodge” to wait more than two hours to get their BBQ fix. The Posse may need to start a Pecan Lodge fan-club under this name.