Boo-Ray's of New Orleans (Fort Worth, TX)

From time to time, my boss likes to take the firm out to dinner, which is always much appreciated. Tonight, we were treated to Boo-Ray's of New Orleans. I'd never heard of this place, but I'm willing to try anything (well, most things) once.

Boo-Ray's is located out amongst the cattle in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw area northwest of Fort Worth. It's kind of like a blue-collar version of Razzoo's, which is more or less a blue-collar version of Pappadeaux. Throw some peanut shells on the floor, and this place could have easily been a Logan's Roadhouse. It was really busy during our Saturday night dinner, perhaps because there's nowhere else to eat 'round these parts. It looks like they have a decent bar at least. Oh well, it was a free meal and I had a good time him-hawing with my coworkers, so I won't complain too much.

There's really no logical reason that I should be ordering barbecue from a Cajun seafood restaurant, but I couldn't resist the call of ribs. I ordered up a half-rack of their Baby Back Ribs, which the menu describes as "slow cooked over mesquite wood with Boo-Ray's special BBQ sauce." The ribs automatically come with sweet potato fries and green beans on the side.

I was the first to be served, so I snacked on my side dishes while the rest of our food was brought out. The sweet potato fries were pleasantly sweet and crispy. I suspect that they arrived at Boo-Ray's in a frozen bag, but they were tasty. The few fries that were nestled next to the ribs were the most flavorful, and the sweetness of the barbecue sauce was a nice accompaniment. As for the green beans, they were a bit odd. What I pictured in my mind was a nice bed of haricot verts, but what I received was a bowl of weird, flat green beans soaking in some sort of brown gravy concoction. They had good seasoning, but not much else going for them.

The ribs looked very meaty sitting before me, much meatier than I was expecting for baby backs at least. Unfortunately, that's where the positive attributes ended. I should have known the ribs would be sub-par when the menu said they were "slow cooked" rather than "smoked," but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Mesquite is a tough wood to smoke with in general, since it tends to burn hot and fast. I couldn't pinpoint any mesquite smoke whatsoever, although the thick barbecue sauce may have precluded this somewhat. The sauce was nice and sweet, but lacked any real kick. Each bite I took resulted in the entire portion of rib meat falling completely off the bone, which, contrary to popular belief, is not a good thing. I did find a small amount of meat retention, so these ribs weren't quite as overcooked as they could have been, but they were still far from being cooked properly.

My table-mates all seemed to enjoy their seafood selections. Maybe Boo-Ray's should stick to more traditional New Orleans fare and leave the barbecue to the Texans.

**********

Boo-Ray's of New Orleans
7255 Boat Club Rd.
Fort Worth, TX 76179
(817) 236-6149
http://www.booraysofneworleans.com/