Saltlick Barbecue - Austin-Bergstrom Airport

Saltlick Barbecue

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

3600 Presidential Blvd, Austin, TX 78719

Saltlick Barbecue is known far and wide as one of the best barbecue spots anywhere and is located on the southern outskirts of Austin, TX.  I personally consider it Mecca for the religious center of barbecue.  But that's just one man's opinion.  But this is not Driftwood. It's an airport where there are more challenges for providing quality smoked meats.  

Airports have very specific restrictions on the kind of cooking that restaurants inside the terminal can do.  Mostly, it does not allow wood smoking...or gas...or other methods of heating that would provide a security risk.  So what do you do and what can you provide.   

The Saltlick provides a pleasant atmosphere and a limited menu but still there are options...

There is Brisket (Chopped or Sliced), Sausage, Pulled Pork, Turkey, Chicken and Ribs. Unfortunately the Ribs are not featured as an option on the 2 or 3 meat platters.  Sides are limited as well to Potato Salad, Cole Slaw and Beans. However all of those sides appear on a platter along with a drink.

Notice the additional take home items of a Whole Brisket in a hot/cold travel pack.

I got the 2 meat platter with Brisket (sliced) and Sausage.  It came with Beans, their German Potato Salad, Cole Slaw and their signature loaf bread (one slice).  The Brisket and Sausage was pre-sauced.

First the sausage.  This was spot on. Just as I remembered it from Driftwood.  It's firm and fresh with flavor without too much spice.  The brisket was a bit tough and lacking in the smokiness that I would expect. (More about that later as I talk about the Take Home Whole Brisket).

The beans were exactly as expected. Good Texas Pinto Beans.  Not baked/BBQ/canned-like beans.  The potato salad was not as "German-intense" as I was expecting.  The flavors seemed to be a bit watered down from what they serve in Driftwood.  I have to admit that I didn't even try the cole slaw. Was just not interested.

However the experience of using that bread to sop up the sauce with a bit or two of meat went down just as it should...the Saltlick way.

Whole Brisket

So I grabbed a take home whole brisket and flew home with it.  The hot/cold pack was very convenient and easy to transport on the plane.  The brisket itself was vacuum packed with sauce and spices.  The instructions were to cook at 225 degrees for 90 minutes. So that's mostly just heating it up.  Now I found it to be very consistent with the brisket experience at the airport restaurant.  However that was still too tough and not really flavorful enough.  I keep thinking that something just wasn't right.  Now without doing a plate to plate comparison of the airport version with the Driftwood version I can't be sure but the result I came to is this.

Saltlick airport brisket isn't barbecue.  It's a good roast brisket but it just isn't barbecue.  Now before you start lighting the touches and waving the pitchforks around and screaming blasphemy, I feel the same way.  How can I say this about a restaurant with the name and history of Saltlick? Let's take the evidence.  They can't smoke at the airport, so they probably bring it in that morning.  But there is no crust, there is no rub, there is no point (the brisket is only the flat) so it's all be pre-cut and pre-processed.  Now that being said, it's probably the best "airport barbecue" that there is, but it's just not the same as eating freshly smoke brisket at an actual barbecue restaurant.  So would I eat there again? Absolutely, I would try the ribs next as I recommend that you do on your way thru the hippest airport in Texas.

I just recommend tempering your expectations based upon the Saltlick name.

Rollin' Smoke Barbecue - Las Vegas, NV

Rollin' Smoke Barbecue
3185 Highland Dr
Las Vegas, NV 89109
https://rollinsmokebarbeque.com/

Vegas can often overwhelm you with glitz and glamour. Rollin' Smoke is just the opposite as a simple barbecue spot in Las Vegas.  It's interesting how few BBQ locations in Las Vegas actually still use wood smoke but this is one of them and the effort pays off.

They offer Catfish, Hot Links, Shrimp, Rib Tips, Brisket (Sliced, Chopped and Burnt Ends), Sausage, Pulled Pork, Baby Back Ribs, St. Louis Ribs AND Beef Ribs.  This place has got it all.

Their list of sides is equally impressive.  Corn Bread, BBQ Beans, Hush Puppies, Green Beans, Fried Okra, Dirty Rice, Corn Nuggets, Collard Greens, Chipotle Cole Slaw, Mac & Cheese, Bacon Potato Salad, Waffle Fries, Yams, Side Salad, Loaded Mashed Potatoes and more!

 

I had Burnt Ends and Ribs with Baked Beans and Collard Greens.  The burnt ends were carmelized nuggets of beefy goodness. Although I prefer a dry rubbed rib, these are quite tasty and the crust of sauce is not overpowering.

The beans are a good albeit typical BBQ bean and the collard greens are well prepared.

They have multiple sauces which are well balanced for their purpose.  Sweet Country is more mustard based, Carolina Vinegar is spicy and tart, the Spicy is...well spicy and their Arkansauce is considered their main sauce.

When in Vegas, get off the strip as fast as you can and tackle a plate full of Rollin' Smoke Barbecue.

You'll be glad you did.

Midwood Smokehouse - Charlotte, NC

Midwood Smokehouse
16710 Birkdale Common Parkway
Huntersville, NC
http://midwoodsmokehouse.com/

Just being in the south and having a president and his secretary of state dine at your establishment does not make for good barbecue.  Maybe good marketing but the proof is in the pudding (more about their banana pudding later).

This location has only been here a few weeks (interestingly enough, the took over from a different BBQ restaurant - but they brought in their own smoker). But they do have an app or you can order for pickup online. That's a nice options.  Let's get to the review...

Midwood BBQ is a chain of individual restaurants (meaning they are not cookie cutter locations) in and around Charlotte, NC.  The menu includes some mouth watering items.  For appetizers, there are Pimento Cheese Fries, Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos and BBQ Queso.

For sandwiches there is the Hot Mess (brisket burger patty with creamy bacon jalapeno spread, Monterey Jack & carmelized onions on a bun), Texas Style Brisket (chopped brisket, tossed with Midwood sauce on Texas toast with smoked red onions and choice of cheese (with Pimento as one of the options!), Chicken BBQ (smoked pulled chicken in their SC mustard sauce, slaw and leaf lettuce), BBQ Pork (chopped pork tossed in their NC vinegar sauce with slaw on the side).

For tacos there is Stockyard Tacos (chopped brisket with shredded cabbage, sliced avocado, spicy red salsa, cilantro and queso fresco), Red Neck Tacos (chopped pork, slaw, spicy red salsa and cilantro) and El Fuego Tacos (shredded chicken, pico ge gallo, guacamole, stuffed with a bacon wrapped jalapeno and drizzed with ranch).

For plates there is Salmon, Chicken (pulled and lightly dressed in their SC mustard sauce), Carolina Pork (chopped and lighting dressed in their Eastern NC vinegar sauce), Burnt Ends (caramelized cubes of brisket tossed in their house made Fat Tire BBQ sauce), Brisket (sliced) and St. Louis style pork ribs.

For sides there is Texas Toast, Sweet Potato Fries, Smoked Veggies, Collard Greens, Creamed Corn, Crinkle Cut Fries, Hush Puppies, Cole Slaw, Classic Mac & Cheese, BBQ Slaw, and BBQ Baked Beans.

For desserts there is Pecan Cobbler and Banana Pudding.

I just couldn't stand it.  I had to try the Pimento Cheese Fries.  If your standard for an item like this is cheese fries, then they are fine.  However, if your standing is empowering southern pimento cheese towering over crispy crinkle cut fries, then you may find that there is very little "pimento-cheesiness" that embodies this plate full of southern bar food.

I had the Burnt Ends and Ribs with sides of collard greens and hush puppies.

While the burnt ends had a good flavor, technically burnt ends should only come from the point side of the brisket. This ensures they are young and tender tasting as this is the fatty side of the brisket.  While the flavor was good, the texture was tough and came from the flat side of the brisket. Not authentic.

The greens were good and spicy and they had pepper vinegar with which to add flavor.  That was a nice touch.  The hush puppies were very tasty and soaked up lots of BBQ sauce!

The ribs had a nice smoke but were a little tough.  A B- overall on the ribs.

The banana pudding was very good although not good enough to be called 'nanner puddin'.  That's down home Mom kinda good.

They had several different sauces. Some, Midwood sauce, the Fat Tire (too tart) and Vinegar (too thin) were right on the table, there were others they brought in dishes. The SC mustard (very good) and the Jalapeno BBQ (not too spicey but really flavorful) were better.  Much better.

Overall I have to give this a very passable rating.  Some things were better than others (my friend said the wings were very good) but definitely a place to visit if in the Charlotte, NC area.