Video: The Posse's Heart of Texas BBQ Tour

Here's a video from our recent Heart of Texas BBQ Tour. This piece was shot and produced by David Guzman, Dallas Morning News video whiz and an original member of the Posse.

Gary Jacobson's tour story will be in Sunday's Dallas Morning News Travel section, so be sure and check that out.

Heart of Texas BBQ Tour

• 9am:  Leave Dallas
• 10:30am:  Wright’s Bar-B-Q, 123 Martin Luther King Jr Hwy (Hwy 14), Mexia, 254-562-9042. Open Tue-Sat 10am-6pm.
• 11:30am:  Kirby's Barbeque, 4592 Hwy. 14 S, Mexia, 254-562-5076. Open: Wed-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-3pm.  
• 1:30pm:  Whup's Boomerang Bar-B-Q, 1203 Bennett St., Marlin, 254-883-5770. Open Thurs-Sat 10am-8pm.      
• 3 pm:  Miller's Smokehouse, 208 N Penelope, Belton, 254-939-5500. Open Tues-Thurs 10:30am-6:30pm, Fri and Sat 10:30am-9pm or until the meat runs out.  
• 7 pm:  Arrive back in Dallas

Total trip: 10 hours, 318 miles

Here's a new installment of our "BBQ is" pitmasters portrait project

Ben Washington, Whup's Boomerang Bar-B-Que, Marlin.  (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobia.com)

Posse member Daniel Goncalves is back with the next installment of his "BBQ is" pitmaster portrait series.

The Dallas-based editorial and commercial photographer has been photographing top pitmasters around the state with a Fuji Instax 210 instant film camera. Sixty seconds later the Polaroid is dry and Daniel has each pitmaster fill in the blank with a sharpie on their portrait, "BBQ is ________." With this project, Daniel continues to raise the creative bar for both the Posse and Texas BBQ photography.

Click here to see our first blog post featuring his portraits of Austin pitmasters.

YABBQL: Yet Another BBQ line -- Cattleack BBQ tweaks their operation to address the long lines.

From left: Todd David, David Mills, Misty David and Lauren Parajon (photo by Jim Rossman)

On the heels of Pecan Lodge making some tweaks to their ordering process, relative newcomer Cattleack BBQ is making some changes to their Friday-only lunch service to address it's growing lines.

Our BBQ Take-Out service on Fridays has become such a hit, we now have a line out the door! While this is a measure of success for us, we don’t want it to be an inconvenience to our BBQ-loving customers. We have two new processes in place to help those who have limited time to spend in line.

1) Starting next week, we will open the doors at 10:30 instead of 11. That way, you can get a jump on the line and give yourself plenty of time to return to the office with lunch.

2) For those of you who need large quantities of bulk cut meat for either the office or home, order online ahead of time. If you need more than 5 pounds of bulk meat (per customer order), you can call or email at least 24 hours ahead of time. Noon sharp Thursday is the cut off. Your food will be cut and ready for you to pick up at 10:30am. If you don’t get there by 10:30, you’ll still have to wait in line to be fair to all our other customers. This is for meat only and does not include sandwiches because we prefer to make those as fresh as possible. Please get your orders in early as we will only be able to accept a limited amount of advanced orders to be ready to open the doors on time. Phones are not answered during our Friday event. We are too busy!

- See more at: http://cattleackbbq.com/bbq-take-out-friday-improvements/#sthash.9oQZXRPn.dpuf

If you haven't made the trip to north Dallas to Cattleack, you're missing some great BBQ.
Owner and pitmaster Todd David uses gas to cook is meat, but don't let that deter you. Todd shows it really is possible to get flavor from a gasser if you know how to use it.

CattleAck BBQ, 13628 Gamma Road, Dallas, 972-499-0999. Open: Fridays 11am-til the meat runs out. Website: www.cattleackbbq.com 

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.

Echoes of Pat Gee's at Whup's Boomerang Bar-B-Q in Marlin

A hand-painted sign greets you at Whup's Boomerang Barbecue in Marlin. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Our first view of Whup’s Boomerang Bar-B-Q in Marlin brought back some nice memories. We hadn’t seen such a genuinely classic-looking joint since our last visit to Pat Gee’s in the woods east of Tyler.

While Pat’s is nestled among pine trees and pasture on a rural road, Whup’s is on a thinly settled residential street where the edge of town invades the country.

A hand-painted sign – the Posse loves hand-painted BBQ signs – greets visitors to a small building that has been remodeled over the years. A covered patio is out front, where customers can eat after ordering at a service window. The pits are in the back.

We started at the back and talked to owner-pitmaster Ben Washington, who explained the joint’s name.

“My dad was Whup and there were 12 of us little whups,” he said.