Xmas in your Mouth

Well maybe not quite. My wife and I visited Texas Pit Bar-B-Que in Lake Forest this past Saturday around 2:00 and shared a sampler platter that came with 2 pieces of chicken (leg and thigh), 2 baby back ribs, your choice of pulled pork or brisket, a sausage, and your choice of 2 sides. They offer the usual side items, BBQ beans, coleslaw, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, corn, and steamed veggies. I opted for the coleslaw and beans.

When the plate arrived everything had a light coat of their BBQ sauce drizzled on top. Not to much and not to little. At this point I noticed a lack of bread, cornbread or even some white bread would of been good. I guess none came with the $13 (12.99) sampler platter, my mistake. Oh well. Their BBQ sauce is a tomato based semi-thick sweet hot sauce with bits of black pepper floating around. Its a good sauce that doesn’t over power the flavor of the meat, but compliments it nicely. For those of you that prefer a hotter vinegar based sauce they also offer a bottle of that at your table.

We first tried the brisket, which I had ordered sliced rather than chopped to be able to see the color and texture of the meat. It was a little overdone (grey) but had a nice smoke ring around the edge. I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was sitting around on a tray in an oven somewhere in the back getting overcooked waiting to be ordered and chopped. I searched for a slice with some fat to keep my tongue happy and moist. For those leaner pieces a little sauce was able to save the beef.
I like to cleanse the palate with a fork full of coleslaw between cuts of meat. Luckily their coleslaw was pretty darn good, only needing a a shake or 2 of pepper for me.

I tried the smoked sausage next which had nice sear marks on the outside yet had more of a hotlink texture inside. It was a little mushy for me and reminded me of a Hoffy hotlink. I moved on to the baked beans. I found them lacking bite, but a little BBQ sauce solved that problem. It would of been nice to see and taste some bacon or even ham mixed in.

Next on the plate was the chicken. It looked perfect, nice sear marks on the skin, not burnt, and a nice pinkish color to them. Pink is the color a smoked piece of meat will get so don’t think it was undercooked. As I bit into the thigh I knew I was going to enjoy it. It was as juicy as I hoped, again served with just the right amount of sauce. MMMM

A little more coleslaw…

…and onto what many claim to be the Cadillac of BBQ meat cuts, the baby back ribs. I thought the meat was supposed to fall off the bone, to my dismay it didn’t. In fact it was a little tough, could they have rushed the smoking process and use to much heat? As with the the brisket a little sauce made it better.

From Texas Pit Barbque’s site: “All of our meats are seasoned to perfection with our own blend of spices and slowly smoked in our wood-burning oven with hickory wood.”

All in all it wasn’t bad BBQ but I wouldn’t call it great BBQ either. I can only hope the reason for the tough meat was our timing and day of the week. I’m hoping to go during the week around lunch and try their beef ribs. A good beef rib can vindicate their claim of “Real Texas BBQ”.

I dont really have a set rating system but on a scale of 1-10, 10 being highest, I’d give it a 5. The fact that its so close to home is appealing, and it does seem to satisfy the BBQ meat craving I get from time to time. My wife on the other hand would not return there, nor would she take her parents there when they visit from Oklahoma.

TEXAS PIT BAR-B-QUE
23600 Rockfield #3B, Lake Forest, CA 92630
Tel. (949) 552 - 2003

Click here to visit the restaurants website