50 in 50. Top 50 Texas BBQ joints in 50 weeks. 3rd stop: Lockhart Smokehouse in Oak Cliff

Lockhart Smokehouse, Oak Cliff…

Lockhart Smokehouse
400 West Davis
Dallas, TX 75208
(214) 944-5521
Date visited: Saturday, June 1st, 2013

Lockhart was the 2nd stop of 5 for us on Saturday, June the 1st. We had just been to Pecan Lodge, so the drive to Lockhart took us all of about 10 minutes (we are smart like that). I was really worried about the size of the line at Lockhart, so I dropped off my wife and son so they could get in line while I tried to find a parking space…did I mention the word try? Lockhart is located in the Bishop Arts District in Old Cliff, and is a very cool area with a ton of brand new shops and places to get some grub (and there are some art galleries and cool stuff like that as well), but parking can be a real challenge. It took me about 10 minutes to find a parking spot (found one in BFE – yes, pretty far from the joint), so I had quite a trek in to Lockhart.

Free pickles and more!!!

Even though it took some time to find a parking space, by the time I got inside, my wife had already ordered the grub for us: some moist or fatty slices of brisket, two spare ribs and one link of sausage (they feature sausage from Kreuz Market as the co-owner’s grandfather Edgar “Papa” Schmidt ran the legendary Kreuz Market from the time he purchased it from the Kreuz family in 1948 until he passed it onto his sons in the 1980’s) . This will typically be all we get from each of the 50 joints because sometimes, like this trip, we will visit 5 or more joints in one day. Now, while I could probably eat 5 meals from each join in one day, I won’t because all I am looking for is a taste from each meat so I can write down my thoughts and because my dear, sweet mom doesn’t want me to gain any weight as I have lost a few pounds in the last couple of years. So, on we go to my thoughts of our offerings at Lockhart.

1. KING – Brisket. Some of you may be surprised that I thought the brisket was the best of the three because a lot of people think their ribs are the best, but today, it was the brisket. I am surprised I am saying this myself as the handful of times we have been here, the brisket has been okay, but not great. Today, it was great. It had a very nice bark to it and it was seasoned spot on. For me, it was just on the verge of being a bit to peppery for me, but most people claim to love a very peppery brisket, so I might be in the minority here and most people will love it and might clamor for more pepper. it was very tender and very juicy and I was very pleased that the brisket had risen to this level. When they first opened I think this is the meat they had the most issues with, but if this is any indication of the brisket they are now cranking out, you need to order the brisket, and get a few pounds of it. I can see why they are on this list of top 50 BBQ joints in Texas, just because of the briskets. Kudos to pitmaster Will and the rest of the crew for this great piece of meat…it was very solid.

Good grub here….

2. QUEEN – Spare ribs. They were very meaty and very tender, but they were just a bit over-seasoned for me and a tad bit heavy on the salt. They did have a great smoke flavor and the ribs were very big. They also had a nice tug to them as well, and thankfully they were not “fall off the bone”….as any true Q fan knows that if they are “fall off the bone” then they are overcooked!!!! I know that it is a marketing ploy to get non-q people to eat their ribs, trust me on this, you want to have a tug on the bone when you take that first bite, and you want to see your teeth mark as well after said bite. The ribs had that today and they were good to the last bite, including the knuckles or tips. Yes, I said the knuckles and tips…if you don’t eat this part of the rib, in my opinion, you are missing out on the best part of a spare rib, but hey, what the heck do I know, I am just some dude on the internet with a blog! (although I have been smoking (BBQ mom, not anything else) for almost 5 years now).

3. PRINCE – Sausage. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the sausage gets shipped from Kreuz Market in Lockhart as co-owner Jill Grobowsky Bergus’ (friend to all and enemy to none – she is truly a class act and very hospitably as well) grandfather Edgar “Papa” Schmidt owned and ran Kreuz from 1948 until the 1980’s. I don’t know if it was just my “luck” to get this particular link (and I am hoping this was just one lone rouge link) but when I took the first bite of it, a grease missile shot across the table and just about took out my wife. Thankfully she was just to the left of the grease path, but it did leave a trial of evidence on the table (which we cleaned up before we left). I do like some grease in my link but this one had way too much. The taste of the link was very solid, but it was just too greasy. I have had their links before and they are very good, so like I said, I think I just got one lone “scud” who was bound to go down in infamy!!! Don’t be afraid to order their links, just don’t sit in the direct path when that first bite is taken…I kid, I kid!

Big Red on TAP?!?!?!?!?! Yes, please!!!! Worth a bump up in ratings as far as I am concerned!!!

I know some people are thinking, why is this guy writing this blog about the 2013 Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints when Texas Monthly did a much great job at doing it than iu would, but the neat thing about our journey is that we are getting each pitmaster to sign their article in our copy of the issue. So, hopefully at the end of our little (yeah right, Pecos and Amarillo have a join on the list!!!!!) journey I will be quite possibly the only person who will have this issue of the magazine with all 50 signatures of the pitmasters.

Pitmaster Will Fleischman signing our magazine…

So far, so good. Getting pitmaster Will Fleischman’s proved to be a struggle as Lockhart’s network crashed, as did the ATM located inside of the joint, so he has just a tad bit busy when we got our food. I told him we would wait, and he was nice enough to come out and sign our copy and take a photo with us as well. I wish we could have visited with him, but I certainly understood his dilemma and again, we were very thankful he did what he did. Thanks Will, and kudos for making the list!

Thanks again Will, we really appreciate it!