The Bar-B-Q Crib (Dallas, TX)

With only 5 weeks left in DFW, I'm trying to hit up most of the few remaining barbecue joints I haven't yet sampled. Today I took a short drive east in search of The Bar-B-Q Crib.

This place is really hard to find unless you know exactly where to go. It's away from the main street, kind of on an access road down below an overpass. Inside, I found all of the delightful ambiance of a storage shed. These weren't the friendliest barbecue purveyors I've encountered. In fact, they seemed slightly annoyed at the 2 or 3 questions I dared to ask about the menu. All things considered, I decided a to-go order was most appropriate.

Regardless of how hungry I am, I usually like to grab a three-meat combo so that I can sample as many different items as possible. Here, my best option was a Mixed Plate (two meats and two sides), so that would have to do. Ribs were an easy first pick, but I had a little more trouble deciding on a second. This was the first time I've encountered bbq summer sausage, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I wanted to add on a 1/4 pound of sliced brisket as well, but I was told that the minimum order was 3/4 pound. Without knowing the quality of their brisket, I wasn't willing to drop that kind of cash today. For my two sides, I picked sweet potatoes and green beans.

I'm not sure if the green beans were fresh or canned, but they had a nice flavor nonetheless. There were also big chunks of brisket mixed in, which is always appreciated. As for the sweet potatoes, they had a deliciously sweet aroma and an equally sugary glaze. The slight hint of cinnamon gave them a great taste.

The summer sausage looked exactly as I expected. Although, it probably would have been better without the outer wrapper still attached.

Considering that the remnants of a nutrition label were staring me in the face, it was clear that the summer sausage was not made in-house. I found only minimal smoke here. Maybe cooking the summer sausage wrapped in plastic prevents the smoke from penetrating fully, just saying. A few of my unwrapped slices had a good char on them, so that's something at least. I enjoyed the flavor of garlic and black pepper, though someone other than The Bar-B-Q Crib (perhaps Hillshire Farm?) deserves credit for that.

The gnarly, mangled ribs were absolutely terrible. It was as if they had given me the discarded pieces from several other slabs. Some weren't even whole ribs, just rib tips. When I worked up enough courage to eat them, I found the ribs dry, bland, and completely overcooked. The smoke level was decent enough. I caught a slight sweetness which suggested an attempt at a glaze, but there wasn't nearly enough of it.

With the Dallas Institute of Funeral Service only a quarter-mile down the street, maybe it's time for The Bar-B-Q Crib to lay their lifeless meats to rest.

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The Bar-B-Q Crib
4315 S Buckner Blvd
Dallas, TX 75227
(214) 381-4008