Babb Brothers BBQ, Dallas TX

[Boots]

Ok so here's my barbecue brethren man-on-the-street report for the month.

Boots bestows his personal rating of "THUMBS UP I'D HAPPILY EAT THAT AGAIN" on the spare ribs at Babb Brothers Barbecue at 330 Bedford Ave, Dallas, Texas. In point of fact, I would go back and order an entire RACK and eat them myself. On to the overall review:

THE JOINT: Big new expansive place actually located on the south side of Singleton Ave, about 3 blocks west of the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge (you know, the $182 MILLION big white arch thing just west of downtown in old west Dallas, formerly known as the Bridge To Practically No Where, now to be enshrined as The Bridge to Babbs - the TBB!). Lotsa room, well laid out, buffet line to order and pay, but plenty of seating and supply to keep the folks happy. It was packed today for a High Noon lunch, but nobody left hungry.

THE FOLKS: While I was there made a point to jones up to Mike Babb, the owner (along with his two brothers) and GM of the joint. Really nice, humble giant of a guy, works every job in the place from pitman to bottle washer to busboy and happy to talk barbecue with one and all. Everybody smiles and happy to see you, you say jump, they say how high. BOOTS SERVICE RATING: A+

THE RIBS: Let's get serious, because the spares are serious. I got the 3 meat plate w 2 sides with brisket, ribs, and sausage FOR ONLY $11.50 and couldn't finish it. Now brothers, the Boots tips the scale at only 173 wet these days because I dropped 17 pounds training for a marathon, but trust me, I can eat, and I skipped breakfast on purpose, so you know it was a lotta food. Bottom line, the Ribs are the BOMB. Succulent, juicy, meaty, very little fat, cooked to a near perfect "bite", and worked like a gravedigger on a hundred degree day, either dry or wet. Which brings up a HUGE point. I like to mix my ribs, wet and dry, and these were killer BOTH ways. Having said that, and while I am not necessarily a huge sauce man, hear the gospel my brothers, THIS SAUCE ROCKS LIKE STEVIE RAY. Sweetness with a light sense of molasses, streak of chipotle, reallllllyyyy smooth, not heavy, real slow burn slurping good. Could have shotgunned a bottle of it. I was rocked by the ribs but rolled by the sauce. 100% compound, complex, Stars and Stripes on a hunnerd foot flagpole salute til yer arm hurts good. BOOTS RIB RATING: A+. SAUCE RATING: A++. Gator, be advised, You may finally have a worthy competitor at last.

THE BRISKET: Those that know me well here know I am a very serious brisket man. It is the Holy Grail after all. The overall verdict is that the brisket is quite good but not great, with great being a very tough plateau to reach in my grading system. The meat quality is first rate but mine was cooked either a bit long or a bit hot, and was probably too tender as it broke down and flaked up under the fork. Flavor was good but more mild than I like, personal opinion. I like a bit more pop and boldness and a little heat; this was solidly in the middle of the fairway but not a 300 yard John Daly moonshot go-for-broke tee shot right at the pin. More like Tiger punting it 175 over water and around a big oak tree to hit a safe lie while contorting his left leg to give it the right English for the swirling crosswind. Perfectly good and just fine, but would prefer Mike had reared back and just smacked me in the mouth with it. Go big man or go home as the saying goes. Now having said all that, you shred up this flat, drown it in the wonderful sauce, load it up on Hoagies with chopped onions or pico de gallo into a shredded brisket Sammy, and I will be the VERY FIRST guy in line to belly up and eat a hunnerd of them washed down with Bock. BOOTS BRISKET RATING: Sliced - B. Shredded on a Sammy with sauce - Solid A.

THE SAUSAGE: I am picky here too just as a personal taste, preferring yer hard German type sausage more than a juicy kiolbassa (Polish) style. Went with the hickory flavor as a baseline study, but would try the jalapeño with cheese flavor next time, probably would like it more. The hickory was a good offering, really nice flavor profile, and cooked perfectly. Little fatty juicy for my taste, but again if you like the kiolbassa type you will love this. Once again, worked dry or wet with the wonderful sauce. BOOTS SAUSAGE RATING: B to B+.

THE SIDES: Had the Collards and the Cheesy Potatoess. Those of you from the South and East Texas in particular will appreciate this, the collard greens were PERFECTLY cooked, tender but still slightly crispy, with bits of pulled pork worked in, and maybe a little bit of molasses cooked in - nicely sweet but not overwhelming, and with a nice glaze. Best collards in, we'll, maybe ever. They rocked, and This from a guy who could generally care less about the sides. The cheesy potatoes were nice but not stand outs. Probably should have gone with the Pintos instead, which were very pretty and obviously cooked fresh from scratch. BOOTS SIDES RATING: Collards A+, Cheesy potatoes B-.

BOOTS OVERALL RATING: If I had a key to the front door, I would drive down to Babb's right now from McKinney at near midnight and eat three or four racks of spares and a gallon of sauce. They were that good, very near competition quality. I have to say, they are now my go to rib place in this area, will have to see if they stay consistent. Slightly ahead of Pecan Lodge for ribs, light years ahead of the rest, though I will reserve final judgment until I hit Baker's again, haven't been there in forever. Pecan Lodge still well in front of all comers on brisket, though I would go to Babbs for those times when I have a hard craving for a shredded Sammy because of the killer sauce. Sausage was pretty good and serviceable though I like Off The Bone's better (again, based on style points for a somewhat more hard, German style offering).

CONCLUSION: Definitely gets the Boots good housekeeping seal of approval. The Babb brothers are definitely on the right track and thr ribs are way out in front around th this part of the country, and will be looking forward to where they are within the next two years. Bottom line, I'd go back for the ribs, and I would eat all I can get.

[cowboydon]

Thanks for the awesome review Boots - Will head over tonight for dinner if they are open.

[erbeman]

Oh man, I work in downtown Dallas so this place isn't too far from me. Sounds like I need to head over there for lunch soon!

[erbeman]

We are going to head over there today for lunch. I was doing a little more research on this place and found a terrible review. I hope I don't get the same impression.

http://dallas.eater.com/archives/2013/0 ... b.php#more

I'll post my thoughts after lunch.

[BluDawg]

Thanks Boots great review, Next time I find myself in the Big "D" I give it a try.

[Boots]

I will await the judgment of my peers, particularly Cowboy Don, since I now his experience level, and the seriousness of his devotion to barbecue...as an aside, again I ask, IS BARBECUE A SPORT?

Now my opinion simply differs from that of Mr. Vaughn, and maybe that is just the difference of a week or two of operations where the Babbs have gotten their feet under themselves better since opening. I certainly give him chops for hitting Babb's 3 times for a very fair assessment and having a widely extensive background in putting the time in on the road to hit the joints and publish his views. We definitely differ in our opinion on the ribs, which in my experience were juicy, meaty, tender, not overcooked and not oversmoked. There was definitely smoke in the meat; Mike Babb told me straight up they use hickory; and if they are using a gas fired smoker they are certainly putting some hickory through it as well, as there was no absence of smoke and flavor, and it was real smoke not some injected liquid smoke with its tell-tale bitterness. Pleasantly, there was no burping up smoke later from over-smoking the meat, as you get from some places (I love Clark's in Tioga for all the right reasons, but always admittedly find myself burping up oak smoke for 24 hours after...no matter, I'll still go there, it's just a different style of barbecue). And I would differ that all of the meat is a midwestern style. The ribs dry remind me of a Memphis style, and even if you sauce them up, the sauce is not a typical gaggy-thick-sickly-sweet Midwestern sauce made mostly outta ketchup. It is a wonderful Texas sauce, not too thick or runny but just right on the viscosity (probably about 50 weight), lightly sweet with plenty of slow burn and I was really thinking I tasted some chipotle in there.

I would agree the brisket flat is being taken out too long and/or perhaps too hot (probably the latter and a predictable result if they are gas firing) and was a little dry (gas is a dry heat), but I don't think my assessment is as harsh as his on the flat (lean). I generally don't like eating what I call the fat cap unless it's burnt ends anyway, so i can't speak on his assessment of the "moist" meat being like pot roast (let's face it, it's the "fatty" meat and we should quit calling it "moist", call it what it is, flat or fat, just a pet peeve with me). I thought the flavor profile was ok, enough for a B overall and with me being a gentle critic probably compared to some. I still say that shredded and mixed up with the sauce (which I did on my plate), it would make killer shredded briskey sammies. If Mike and his brothers go bolder with the rubs and tweak their method to take care of the dry and flake a bit, they could move into my A range.

Mr. Vaughn certainly has the experience it looks like, and welcome to his own opinion. I just disagree a bit, seems a bit harsh. By the way, Babb's was packed to the walls yesterday with a line out the door at High Noon, so I must not be completely out in the weeds on my assessment.

Sample it and tell me if you think I am wrong, and Mr. Vaughn is right. I wear big boy pants (and filled them out much better after yesterday's lunch at Babb's).

[erbeman]

It got hectic at work today and we couldn't leave. Will try to get there tomorrow for sure.

[cowboydon]

I couldnt make it today - but I will be going soon. Again thanks for the review Boots.

[erbeman]

So I took three coworkers to Babbs today for lunch. Everyone was happy with me for suggesting it. I got the three meat combo with ribs which are dry, jalepeno & cheese sausage and pulled pork with creamed corn and cheesy potatoes for sides and sweet tea. I loved all of the meat! I don't know if I could pick a fav. The freakin bark on the pulled pork was soooo good though, so maybe pulled pork wins by a hair. The sauce is really good for sure. The creamed corn wasn't really creamed. We didn't care for it. The cheesy potatoes however were phenominal. What surprised me the most was the bread that came with. It is not your typical white bread. It was hard and had no flavor. I only had one bite and left the rest. However, this isn't a bakery. On the way out I saw stacked wood, so I walked over and saw the huge commercial grade smoker. So I snapped a pic to post on here in response to the terrible review that I posted the link to. Then one of the Bobb brothers walked up and said I should have let him clean it up for before I took a pic. So, I told him about this thread and about the review that I found. He said that he had heard about it before and that it was absurd. He said that he goes through $600 worth of wood every month "not smoking". Haha. He explained that he uses hickory because it is subtle. He said some people want a hard smoke flavor and that simply isn't their style. I've got to admire a guy for standing up for what he believes in and not chasing reviews and changing his cooking style.

All of that being said, I will def be going back several times. This place is setup great. They get folks through the line quickly and have so much seating it absurd. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

[Boots]

Agree. They could drop the corn, it was lackluster. The cheesy potatoes were pretty good. But the ribs and the sauce rocked, if I didn't have to go outta town next week I would go back and eat a whole rack. Geez, been obsessing about the pork ribs every day, and by the way, I AM NOT A BIG PORK RIB MAN, I am a brisket and beef rib hound. Call it what it is, I am a fan so far. Will have to try the pulled pork based on your feedback.

And even if they are using gas for HEAT, that's what it takes to make a big commercial operation work, hard to cook meat by the ton with the limited BTUs that wood puts out compared to a gas venturi, lets face it. If they use the hickory for SMOKE and the product is great, then so be it. It's commercial barbecue, not a cookoff.

Nice review, Erbeman.

[Damon54]

I picked up a Rib Plate with the Cheesy Potatoes & Cole Slaw.

I thought the ribs were very good & had a nice mellow smoke taste. Was impressed with the quantity so while not cheap, it was more than I could eat on that particular occasion.

[davidtxs2]

nice review

[erbeman]

Looking forward to heading back across the trinity bridge for some of that delicious Q

[BluDawg]

Don't you cook??

[erbeman]

Don't you cook??

For lunch? I work in downtown Dallas. Babbs and Pecan lodge are within a 5 minute drive of me.