Texas Pit B.B.Q.
24061 Raymond Way #2
Lake Forest, CA 92630
My quest to find some good barbeque has brought Richard, Carissa, and me to Texas Pit B.B.Q. Texas Pit is located in a strip mall just off El Toro Road. This area is more known for its Mexican food than barbeque, but we were hoping to find a diamond in the rough. I have had barbeque in Texas and was anticipating that this could match what I have had there. So, Let's see how it goes.
We arrived at about four on a Friday afternoon, and we were the only people in the small twenty tables or so restaurant. Not a big surprise, considering the time of day, though. The waitress let us choose our seats, and we ordered our food. Here is what we came up with.
I know what you are thinking, "I thought this was going to be a post about barbeque?" easy hold on there, Judgemental Joe! We will get to the barbeque in a minute, but this was Carissa's dinner. She opted for the Chili Cheeseburger. This one-third-pound burger was topped with American cheese and had chili served on the side. Carissa liked that the chili was served on the side, so she could add as much as she wanted. I kind of thought that it was a little odd to serve a chili burger that way, but every place is different. I did not try the burger, but she enjoyed it. I did try some of the chili and was not too impressed. Really bland tasting, and not a lot going on with it. But if you want to talk about bland, let's talk about their Cole slaw. I am not sure this had any dressing anywhere close to it. Tasted like shredded cabbage right from the bag at your neighborhood grocery store. Avoid this at all costs! Now on to the barbecue.
Looking forward to leftovers the next day, Richard ordered a full rack of Baby Back Ribs. These ribs he described as "Excellent." I must admit that these were some delicious ribs. The flavor was spot-on and not overly smoky. They had a good amount of meat, and the sauce was not over-powering. The ribs fell off of the bone with a little bit of effort. Very well done ribs here.
Richard's two side items are above. The half ear of corn was undercooked, according to Richard. I did not try the corn. I did try the B.B.Q. Beans and they were plain, lacking flavor, insipid, vapid, (Can you tell I am using my thesaurus?), Basically, they were pinto beans in water. Not good at all.
As is my custom at a new barbeque place, I usually get a sampler of as many meats as they have on one plate. Here we have the Sampler Platter. This dish contained brisket, B.B.Q. chicken, sausage, and pork spare ribs. The plate, I felt, was just okay. The sausage was nothing special. The chicken was a little dry in pieces. I liked the flavor of the spare rib, but there was a lot of fat on one of the ribs I had. The pulled brisket was unmemorable. I wish I could have had it sliced instead of shredded. For my side, I had potato salad. This was the only side that was anywhere close to good. Unfortunately, I also had the Cole slaw, which was not good.
Our quest for barbeque nirvana continues. On the positive side, Texas Pit has pretty reasonable prices. My sampler platter was only $13.99, and Richard's rack of ribs was $19.99, about five dollars cheaper than across the street at Lucille's. The meats at Texas Pit were average to good for the baby backs, but the sides were awful. It seems to me that finding a barbeque place that can make all the meats and sides well will be challenging. B.B.Q. restaurants seem to specialize in one or two specialty meats and forget about everything else. So the journey goes on.
Out of five oil rigs, five being best to zero being worst, Texas Pit Barbeque gets 2.5 oil rigs.
For more information about Texas Pit B.B.Q., head to their website by clicking here: http://www.texaspitbbq.info/
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