Baker's Ribs (Dallas, TX)

Despite living within minutes of Baker's Ribs for over 6 years now, somehow I've never actually eaten here. Well, today I finally slapped some sense into myself and swung by for lunch. I'm glad I did.

The outside of the building doesn't look very fancy at all, and frankly neither does the inside. That usually means they concentrate on the food, so I was optimistic. Baker's is set up cafeteria style, so you can just slide yourself along until they've loaded enough deliciousness onto your plate. Be careful not to drink too much sweet tea though, since there are no public restrooms.

When a place has "ribs" right in their name, it's hubris to leave them off of your order. I got the 2 Meat Combo with ribs, sliced brisket, pinto beans, and potato salad.

I'm always worried that I'll end up with canned beans just spooned out onto my platter, but these beans were great and clearly homemade. They could have used a little more salt, but I probably need to watch my blood pressure anyway. The potato salad was creamy and full of dill and pepper. I usually don't like a lot of dill, but it gave the potato salad a nice sweetness. It was also a nice change of pace from the usual mustard potato salad.

The ribs were everything I hoped they would be: tender and juicy, and a little sweet on the meat side. I'm guessing they got a healthy dose of sauce while cooking. My only complaint is that my combo plate only came with three. The brisket, on the other hand, was a little disappointing. It had a nice char on the edge, but it was way too lean. It wasn't wholly inedible, but definitely too dry to get five stars. The flavor was good though, I must have just gotten a bad cut.

At the last minute, I decided to add peach cobbler to my order. It was spectacular. Not as good as my grandma's, but then again that's a pretty high standard to match. The cobbler had nice big chunks of peaches and warm gooey crust. I was pretty full after my main course, but I happily scarfed this cobbler down with a smile on my face.

Baker's Ribs has locations all across the DFW metroplex, and even one in Minneapolis for no apparent reason. I highly recommend stopping by to rip some rib meat off the bone.

**********

Baker's Ribs
4844 Greenville Ave.
Dallas, TX 75226
(214) 373-0082
http://www.bakersribs.com