Bexar Barbecue - BBQ - Tomball - 4.75 Stars
Never have I had the occasion to say "Howdy y'all" in a review here, yet on my first review for quite a while and the first BBQ place in that same, it seems as mandatory as the "Yee-ha" that I could hardly avoid yelling out inside Bexar Barbecue when I tasted this meal. On the combined rare occasion of being up in Tomball AND on a day of the week when this restaurant is actually open, I decided to give myself a treat with some of the money I didn't expect to earn and with free "rain" to go anywhere the weather didn't storm me, I went "gunning" for some Texas BBQ.
The first impression inside the doorway was a joint far more professional and polished than Texas BBQ should, in the purist's eyes, ever try to be. Beer on ice lined up so neatly that it looked like Hyde Park's foosball table, a brick wall leading into the open-air kitchen that one might expect at a fancy Italian pizzeria, light brass ambient lighting that could have been rescued from Wayne Manor during Batman Begins, and real wood paneling completely absent of termites or a level of decay equivalent to a Victorian England octogenarian's molars. It took a couple of minutes for the owners to seal a transaction involving a whole wholesale smoked brisket totaling up to nearly $150 before they could regard me, whereupon the owner Justin asked what I was ready to order and, when I said it was my first time, ensured I understood how Central Texas BBQ worked and beautifully sold me the a la carte meat menu and, once I decided upon the Bexar Burger, a side of Casa Corn. It does not take long interactions with Justin to feel how devoted he is to what he does - just enough salesmanship to make you feel a need to buy his product and more than enough humanity and humility to want to support him, coupled with an implacable sense that it's impossible for him to get smoked meat wrong. But too good to be true this was not.
After a mere three minutes, the Bexar Burger arrived on a pliable bun halfway in between a brioche and a Mexican torta roll, showcasing Justin's admiration for how BBQ has ascended to a haute cuisine art rather than merely food, while remaining true to its humble Texas roots and even incorporating new influences south of the border. Like my current favorite BBQ joint, The Pit Room, there is a Mexican influence in the Casa Corn - elote seasoning mixed into creamed corn with baked crispy jack cheese on top makes for an at first bizarre combination that needed a bit of time to stew. Even the condiment bar has hints of Mexico, chopped cilantro resting comfortably alongside onions that aren't just straight raw, but cured with salt and chunks of black pepper that could have gone on steak au poivre, and pickles not straight from Vlasic, but home-cured without either too much salt, sugar, or vinegar.
And the all-American hamburger becomes something altogether new when smoked brisket is not just thrown on top and dressed with tangy, rich red sauce, but brisket trim is ground into the beef chuck patty, an ingenious reuse of what would otherwise be fatty refuse that gives the burger the requisite fattiness but also a jolt of double smoke flavor. With the double dose of cheese on each side as well as the onions and barbecue sauce, and the brisket oozing with smoke flavor and a big punch of the classic salt and pepper rub accentuating its sharp outer texture with succulent interior, the burger could stand toe to toe with any competitor in Houston. It isn't the cheapest, at $12 total, however it's the most unapologetically and completely Texan burger you'll ever eat. And, as Justin insists, it is made with infinitely more care and passion than the dime-a-dozen Whataburger right outside the back door, a concession to times where food is no longer an art, but a need.
For reasons definitely not including the Whataburger, I hardly wanted to leave at all. There hasn't been a restauranteur/pitmaster I've met who's as worthy of staying inside and waiting out a rainstorm as Justin for ages. Even in a city full of countless ethnic specialties, and even on a trip so far afield that I could basically choose any one of them to which I wanted to go on the way home, I chose Bexar Barbecue and I have zero regrets. Except perhaps not getting to taste the beef ribs or burnt ends, the latter on which I nearly splurged.
But there will no doubt be a second go-around. Bexar Barbecue definitely did not drop the Tomball. Because BBQ rarely, if ever, gets better than this. read more