Check out our South of Fort Worth BBQ Tour story in this weekend's Dallas Morning News

Here's the latest Texas BBQ Posse tour story in the pages of The Dallas Morning News. The story written by Posse co-founder Gary Jacobson tells about our recent trip to four joints located south of Dallas/Fort Worth. Award-winning DMN staff photographer and Posse member Tom Fox takes you on visual journey of our tour.

You can click here to read Gary's story online on dallasnews.com. Click here to see a slideshow of Tom's photos from the tour.

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.

The Posse at Pit Stop BBQ in Waxahachie. L-R, Daniel Goncalves, Michael Meadows, Gary Jacobson, Marty Fox,
 Jim Rossman, Tom Fox, Chris Wilkins & Phil Lamb. (Photo by Tom Fox/DMN)

Give customers what they want, says Pit Stop BBQ boss

Award-winning pitmaster Steve Graham and his primary smoker at Pit Stop BBQ. (Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

An experienced competition cook, Steve Graham has filled his Pit Stop BBQ restaurant outside Waxahachie with trophies and plaques. He knows how to cook for a tough audience, judges, even different sets of judges.

For example, he said, he always tried to get a look at the judges before he started preparing his meat. Older judges like salt, he said.

"In a competition, that first taste is everything," Graham said. So the flavor has to be bold and great.

If you read our posts about our recent South of DFW Tour, you know that we loved the atmosphere of Graham's place, but not so much his food.

Graham didn't flinch. He said he now cooks for a new set of judges, his customers.

"Ninety percent of people don't like fat," he said as he explained why he trims fat from his briskets. The Posse always tries to order fatty brisket.

"The people who eat my ribs want them falling off the bone," he continued. "People around here want 'em tender and I try to accommodate 'em." The Posse likes a little tug off the bone.

Graham said he cooks the old-fashioned way in a wood-fired smoker. The legs of his pit are shorter, but with a little imagination, it resembles an Imperial walker from Star Wars.

"I don't get to push a button and go home and go to sleep," he said of places that use gas-fired pits. "I sit in my chair and watch my fire."

Refreshing words, no matter what we thought about his food.

In Texas, barbecued bologna is not the new turkey

Pitmaster Terry Massey slices smoked bologna at Lazy S&M BBQ in Joshua. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

A year ago, after our best of Austin tour, we wrote about how turkey breast was making a move to join the royal family of Texas barbecue: brisket, pork ribs, and sausage.

We're still not ready to give the big bird equal status, but we order it whenever we see it on menus. A lot of joints in the state are smoking great turkey.

On our recent South of DFW Tour, three of the four places we visited served barbecued bologna.

Different, we thought, so we sampled it at each place. At Jambo's BBQ Shack in Rendon, bologna comes as part of the Jambo Texan, the giant sandwich stuffed with a mountain of meats.

After some study, it turns out that opinions about barbecued bologna range widely.

A story on the Food Network Web site says it is a popular smoked meat in the south. The story recommends slicing a thin layer off the bottom of those big round hunks so they don't roll around in the smoker. And it recommends using cherry wood for flavor.

Another site lists bologna among "the 10 strangest things you can barbecue," along with guinea pig, nutria and yak.

"If you don't do it right, it puffs up from the heat and has a tendency to explode," a Tulsa restaurant owner warns of bologna.

Lynn of Lynn's Kitchen Adventures calls barbecued bologna "Oklahoma prime rib" and offers a fully illustrated recipe.

She does admit that while her family likes the dish, she's not a big fan.

"I have told my husband many times that bologna is bologna no matter how you serve it," she writes.

As for the Posse, we found our bologna experience interesting.

"If you're going to eat bologna, this is what you should eat," Tom Fox said after sampling Jambo's. Jim Rossman and I had seconds on the bologna -- blackened -- at Pit Stop BBQ in Waxahachie.

But overall, we're not big advocates.

In Texas, barbecued bologna is not the new turkey.

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)

On the barbecue trail, the Posse crosses an historic past and meets again one of its favorite dishes, the Jambo Texan

The legendary Jambo Texan sandwich was one of the highlights of our BBQ tour. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins)

On the way to Lazy S&M BBQ in Joshua, the second stop of our recent South of DFW Tour, we crossed the Chisholm Trail Parkway. The 27-mile toll road, which runs from Fort Worth to Cleburne, is scheduled to open later this year.

It was an interesting moment of synchronicity. Our modern barbecue trail intersected -- symbolically anyway -- part of the historic route that Texas cowboys used a century and a half ago to drive their cattle to the railroads.

Some might find poetry in such a moment. For the rest of us, if nothing else, it helps explain why brisket is king in Texas.

At Lazy S&M, we asked pit master Terry Massey how his joint, located in a former gas station, got it's name. He said that he once raised horses. A real Texas cowboy.

"We kept the brand," the former competition barbecue cook said.

More synchronicity?

Massey, who said he opened about a year ago, cooks hot (275-325 degrees) and fast. His briskets take about 6 hours, he said, and his pork ribs about 4 hours. He uses mainly pecan wood and occasionally mixes in some oak.

Pitmaster Terry Massey opened Lazy S&M BBQ in Joshua about a year ago. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

We sampled those meats along with some sausage and bologna. Yes, bologna.

Coming immediately after our stop at BBQ on the Brazos, which set a very high standard for everything it served, comparisons were tough.

"Good but not great," Michael Meadows, one of the newest Posse members, said of Lazy S&M.

The bologna was unusual and kind of interesting. Each of our next two stops also served the same. We're still sorting through what we really think about barbecued bologna. We hope to pursue that topic in a future post.

Our sampler plate at Lazy S&M BBQ.  (Photo ©Chris Wilkins)

Until he opened Jambo's BBQ Shack last summer, owner-pit master Jamie Geer was more well known for his Jambo barbecue pits and his competition cooking.

We first ate at his joint the week it debuted. We liked it a lot then, maybe even more now.

"You're talking about one of the master cookers in my mind," Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins said of Geer.

We ordered two of Geer's giant Jambo Texan sandwiches for the eight of us on the tour. It's a Posse favorite and even at $14 a pop -- up from $12 last year --  it might just be the second-best barbecue value in the state. The $16.59 all-you-can-eat offering at Hutchins BBQ in McKinney remains No. 1.

Between two thick slices of Texas toast, the Jambo Texan is stuffed with sliced brisket, chopped brisket, pulled pork, smoked sausage, pork ribs, and, yes, smoked bologna.

It's a perfect sampler for a barbecue tour.

The Posse praised everything, even the bologna.

"This is not the bologna I grew up with," said Tom Fox, who brought his father, Marty, on the tour.

The sausage received special praise. "It's on a whole different level," said Posse member Jim Rossman.

As usual, the dining room was full at Jambo's BBQ Shack in Rendon. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Definitely. I rated it on a par with the sausage at la Barbecue in Austin, which I consider best in the state.

Geer was in West, Texas, at a benefit competition, so we didn't get a chance to talk to him. Recently, Geer's team was named overall grand champion at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo World Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The championship banner and best chicken trophy were on display in Jambo's shack.

After that competition, Geer told the Houston Chronicle:

"We're going to go back and have the biggest party that Houston's ever seen."

Sounds like Jamie.

Our last joint of the day was Pit Stop BBQ in Waxahachie, run by pit master Steve Graham.

The food didn't charm us, but the venue did.

There were horseshoe pits in the back, dart boards in a game room and a covered outdoor stage -- "Graham Ole Opry" -- for concerts. Along with barbecue, Pit Stop serves a steady menu of music.

Vanessa & Steve Graham own Pit Stop BBQ outside of Waxahachie. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

For the food, though, it was a moment of un-synchronicity with the Posse. We always order fatty brisket. It's the only way, we think, to get that perfect combination of crust, fat and tender meat that melts together in your mouth.

"The magic tingle," a friend of the Posse once described the experience.

"We don't have fat on our briskets," Graham said as he gave us a tour of his pit area. "I trim it off. I don't even put fat in the chop."

Graham said that's what his customers want.

Ditto for the pork ribs. While the Posse likes a little tug off the bone, Graham said his customers want the meat falling off the bone.

The Texas flag welcomes you to  Pit Stop BBQ. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins)

"Meat so tender you can leave your teeth at home," is the Pit Stop's motto. On that score, the joint doesn't just talk the talk, it walks the walk.

The Posse might call the ribs mushy, but, according to Graham, his customers call them perfect.

So be it.

In late April, Graham said, his place is hosting an Elvis impersonator and a Neil Diamond impersonator.

"I might just have to come back for that," Wilkins said.

And he'll probably eat some fatless brisket and falling-off-the bone ribs -- and like it.

So be it.

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.

The Graham's BBQ competition trophies line the walls at Pit Stop BBQ. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Rave reviews for BBQ on the Brazos from the Posse

Pitmaster John Sanford works the cutting board at BBQ on the Brazos. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Too bad Posse member Bruce Tomaso didn't make our tour last weekend. We could have renewed our recent wood-versus-gas debate when our first stop, BBQ on the Brazos in Cresson, got rave reviews from everyone present.

BBQ on the Brazos uses a gas-fired Ole Hickory smoker.

"How many of our tours have started off with barbecue better than this?" said Posse member Phil Lamb.

Technically, it was a question. But like all good attorneys, Lamb knew the answer before he asked: Very, very few.

"It's not impossible that this is a Top 10 joint in Texas," Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins said. Our group, 8 strong, declared the pork ribs and brisket outstanding, and the banana pudding divine.

Afterward, as Wilkins and I reviewed the tours we've taken over the past five years, we could only think of a couple that started stronger. One at Snow's BBQ in Lexington and another at Franklin Barbecue (the original trailer) in Austin. That's pretty stout company.

Bud Kennedy at the Star-Telegram and Daniel Vaughn at Texas Monthly also think highly of BBQ on the Brazos.

On our South of DFW Tour Saturday, we visited four places -- the other three were Lazy S&M BBQ in Joshua, Jambo's BBQ Shack in Rendon, and Pit Stop BBQ in Waxahachie -- and covered about 160 miles in 8 hours.

Several of the joints were started by accomplished competition pit masters. Our itinerary, in part, came about because of Vanessa Graham, the wife of Steve Graham, pit master at the Pit Stop. Wilkins recently asked the Posse's Facebook followers to suggest future tour stops and Vanessa responded with several leads.

The ribs & brisket at BBQ on the Brazos are tremendous. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins)

An hour from Dallas, we arrived at BBQ on the Brazos just before 10 a.m. It's located in the same building as a Texaco gas station and adjacent to the MotorSport Ranch. If you're lucky, you might get to watch some cars speeding around the circuits while you eat.

Pit master John Sanford, who said he has been cooking professionally for more than three decades, said he opened the joint with his brother-in-law, Michael Warren, about a year ago. Sanford's wife, Kathryn, also helps run the place and makes side dishes, including the wonderful banana pudding.

In addition to the ribs and brisket, we ordered turkey (it was good) and sausage (o.k.). Sanford said he cooks about 1,000 pounds of brisket a week on his Ole Hickory, which is mounted on a trailer. While it's gas-fired, Sanford said he stuffs the firebox with oak so he can get plenty of smoke on the meat.

He said he has an old wood smoker that he can "cook magic" with, but it requires too much attention to use for regular production.

"I'm sorry if that makes me a bad person," he said. "I'm just not going to do it."

Some, like Tomaso, think great Texas barbecue can't be cooked with gas.

BBQ on the Brazos and Jambo's are strong evidence to the contrary.

Sanford said he's looking to open a second place, this one in Fort Worth. We asked if he thought he could maintain the same quality. He answered yes.

"That's the benefit of having a two-man operation," he said, referring to Warren.

In future posts, we'll cover the other joints we visited on this tour.

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.

BBQ on the Brzos is located in a Texaco Plaza in Cresson. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

The restaurant also bottles their own BBQ sauce. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Customers wait to order at BBQ on the Brazos. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)