For some reason, I've had great contempt for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge ever since it opened in Dallas last Spring, often referring to it as "a bridge to nowhere," and saying "there is absolutely no reason that anyone would ever need to use this bridge." Today I had hoped to prove myself wrong with Odom's Bar-B-Que, but sadly the bridge is still useless.
Odom's is (for lack of a better term) a hole-in-the-wall located just across the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. There really isn't much to the inside of this barbecue joint at all - just a simple counter to order at, and a dozen or so raggedy booths and tables. There is hardly anything on the walls except a few signs that read "No Guns, No Alcohol."
After a brief perusal of the wall-mounted menu, I decided on a Ribs Plate, which came with a half-dozen ribs, potato salad, and beans. There's no room here to be picky with your sides, since beans and potato salad are the only options. I also opted for a big slice of strawberry cake for dessert. I took my order to go and went home to dig in.
I started with my sides as I always do. The potato salad had good flavor, but it was way too runny. In actuality, this seemed more like potato salad pudding than anything, and a definite tapioca texture to it. As a potato salad afficionado, I was highly disappointed. The beans really weren't too much better. They had a decent flavor, but there was nothing special to them at all.
As disappointing as the sides were, my ribs were even more of a letdown. My rib plate was supposed to come with a half-dozen ribs, but I had to skim them out of the barbecue sauce hot tub they were swimming in just to count them. You can two ribs on top in the picture above, and there are four more drowning under them somewhere. The sauce had a nice taste, although most of the sauce dripped off while I held the ribs in my hands. The first two ribs were fairly tender, but there was really no crust on them. The second two I ate were very dry and overly chewy, so I stopped there for fear that my last two ribs would be even more horrendous.
My last and final effort to salvage this meal was the strawberry cake. Even it could have been better. The cake was moist and spongy, but there was only a thin layer of icing on top. Some whole pieces of strawberry wouldn't have fixed the cake, but they sure would have helped.
It's kind of sad when I throw away half of my barbecue in favor of leftover Hamburger Helper. I know Odom's Bar-B-Que has gotten some great reviews through the years, and this place is a regular stop for Full Custom Gospel BBQ's Daniel Vaughan. Maybe I caught them on a bad day, who knows. I'd be willing to give Odom's another try just to be sure, but for now, enter at your own risk.
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Odom's Bar-B-Que
1971 Singleton Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75212
(214) 631-3538
http://www.odomsbbq.com
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