Bartley's BBQ popular with the locals, not so much with the Posse.

Bartley's BBQ is located in a strip mall on E. Northwest Hwy. in Grapevine. (Photo©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) 

Friday brought the Texas BBQ Posse to Grapevine to eat at Bartley’s BBQ, a joint that none of us had heard of before it made the 2013 Texas Monthly Top 50 list. After one visit, we’re wondering how they made the list.

It was crowded and the line remained a steady 15-20 during the lunch hour. Service is cafeteria line-style with self-serve sides that were mostly very good.

As for the meat, we sampled the brisket, pork loin, pork ribs, turkey, hot links and the smoked bologna. The meat was dry – all of it.

Honestly, if that meat was cooked for the lunch service today, the staff at Bartley’s needs to figure out a new way to store the meat before serving.

A bell-ringer of a meal at Pecan Lodge during Day 4 of the Posse's Dallas-Fort Worth barbecue tour

In return for being first in line at Pecan Lodge, Chris Wilkins rings the bell as lunch service begins. (Photo ©Jim Rossman)

Where to begin to tell the story of Day 4 of the Posse's week long-tour of the best joints in Dallas-Fort Worth?

How about with Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins getting to ring the dinner bell for the start of service at Pecan Lodge.

Wilkins earned the honor by arriving at Shed 2 at the Dallas Farmers Market at 9:15 a.m., a full hour and 45 minutes before Pecan Lodge opened, and 45 minutes before the shed itself opened.

"I sat in the car and read the paper," Wilkins said.

When the doors to Shed 2 were unlocked, he was first in line at Pecan Lodge, and as is the custom, got to ring the bell at 11 a.m. By then, the line had grown to more than 110 people.

Lockhart Smokehouse renews our faith in DFWs Top 7 Tour

Assistant pitmaster Damien Avila takes lunch orders at Lockhart Smokehouse (Photo©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobia.com)

After Tuesday's debacle in Garland we set our sights on Lockhart Smokehouse for lunch Wednesday and we're proud to say the meat did not disappoint (save for one spare rib that was a bit tough).

The Posse rolled into Oak Cliff on the third of seven stops on our weeklong tour of Texas Monthly's 7 DFW joints that made the 2013 Top 50 list.

A short meditation on baseball and barbecue disappointment, serious barbecue disappointment

The sad sight of an empty parking lot at MeShack's Bar-B-Que on a Tuesday at 11:30am. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins)

As any baseball fan knows, life is all about hitting curve balls. Constant curve balls.

And so it goes with barbecue, too.

The Posse re-discovered that important lesson Tuesday, the second day of its week-long "DFW Top 7 BBQ Tour," our plan to hit all of the area joints that made Texas Monthly's new Top 50 list.

What started so grandly at Hutchins BBQ in McKinney on Monday, however, derailed badly in Garland.

Hutchins BBQ in McKinney sets the bar high for the Posse's DFW Top 7 Tour

Hutchins BBQ in McKinney has some of the best prices in the DFW area. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

We kicked off the Posse's "DFW Top 7 BBQ Tour" Monday at Hutchins BBQ in McKinney and we came away agreeing unanimously that the smoked meat bar had been set very high for the rest of the week.

"If I lived up here I'd probably eat here once a week," Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins said of Hutchins. "I can't believe how this place has stayed under the radar."

Posse visits Texas Monthly's "DFW 7" top BBQ joints this week

After Texas Monthly announced their Top 50 BBQ list in mid-May, we thought one of the biggest surprises was the inclusion of seven DFW-area barbecue restaurants on the list.

The last Texas Monthly list in 2008 had three places in DFW: Baker's Ribs in Dallas, Cousin's Barbecue in Ft. Worth and Big Daddy's Roadhouse BBQ in Lavon. Cousin's is the only holdover on the new list.

As a group, we have been numerous times to Pecan Lodge, Lockhart Smokehouse, Longoria's BBQ and Meshack's Bar-B-Que Shack. However, we've never visited Bartley's BBQ, Cousin's Barbecue or Hutchins BBQ on a BBQ tour.

Thus planning for a tour of the newly-named "DFW 7" was set in motion.