Over the past few months, I've read lots of mixed reviews about Babb Bros, but public opinion aside, I wanted to try this place for myself. There was so much smoke pumping out of this place that I could smell it from inside my truck.
I wanted to sample as many different meats as possible, so I ordered their Three Meat Combo Plate: meatloaf, jalapeno cheese sausage, and brisket. On the side, I opted for Daisy's cheesy potatoes and the Tobacco onion straws. You also get your choice of cornbread or white bread to go with any order, so naturally I picked the cornbread.
I had to wait for them to fry up my onion straws, so I took a moment to survey the dining room. Although Babb Bros is fairly new, it's not fancy by any means - humble folding tables topped with plastic picnic tablecloths, uncomfortable red folding chairs, and fountain drinks in plastic Solo cups.
I started my lunchtime feast with Daisy's cheesy potatoes, which were definitely a bit different from the usual barbecue side dishes. They tasted like an interesting combination of cheesy mashed potatoes and hashbrowns. As for the onion straws, they were basically your average shoestring fried onions. I'm not sure where the "tobacco" part comes in. My cornbread was a little dense, although it wasn't horribly dry either. It had a decent sweetness to it, but the overall flavor could have been better.
The brisket looked like a big gray mess of chopped meat sitting on the tray. It was decently moist and tender, but that's really the only compliment I can give it. There was a slight red smoke ring on a few of my pieces, which made it all the more disappointing when I my taste buds couldn't locate the smokiness. In fact, I couldn't find much in terms of flavor aside from the meat itself, and even it was fairly bland.
My sausage had big visible chunks of cheddar and jalapeno laced throughout, and both were very prevalent on my tongue once I bit in. I don't know if there was any smoke here or not, because it was completely masked by the jalapenos. Although I enjoyed the heat, I wish that I had opted for the regular sausage, purely from a food review perspective. All in all, it was a mediocre offering.
I've never eaten smoked meatloaf before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. When I ordered, I was told that the meatloaf is made with blue cheese crumbles, and you could definitely taste them. In fact, there was so much blue cheese that it's really all I could taste. Certainly no noticeable smoke. The meatloaf was moist to the point that it was falling apart, so perhaps they should swap out some of the cheese crumbles in favor of more egg and/or breadcrumbs for binding.
This was the second time I've ventured across the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in search of tasty barbecue, and it was the second time I've been disappointed. Bridge, you're 0-2.
Read my full review, complete with pictures:
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