Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 02/15/18> “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” Volume 4 … Blanco BBQ, San Antonio, Texas

Well it is that time again, and I have to admit that this February 15th snuck up on me, but it is that time and day, so it is the “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” review. This month we will be satisfying the old sultnpapper craving for good old slow smoked Texas BBQ in none other than the city of San Antonio, Texas.

San Antonio has a huge selection of BBQ restaurants to choose from and even more restaurants that pretend to sell BBQ. Normally I take the beginning of these reviews to show you around the town and give you a little glimpse of small town Texas and the things that make it special. All three of my previous reviews were on BBQ establishments is those type towns, I think the largest town had a population of 6 or 9 thousand people. I could go back and look it up but it really doesn’t matter, it was a small town none the less.

Today though it would be ridiculous for me to go down that road, everything I could possible decide to show and tell about San Antonio of any importance is probably already know by you anyway. Just to prove my point, if you have not ever heard of the Alamo raise your hand. Yep, just as I suspected, not one hand went up, at least not that I could see. So I am going to tell you a story about one of those “pretend BBQ” places and my oldest boy name T-Bone.

Back in 2003 I took the family with me to convention in San Antonio, at the time there were only four of us in the family, the wife, the two boys and yours truly, the girls would be added later. The hotel we stayed at was right on the River Walk which is the most popular destination in San Antonio; the Alamo would be the second most popular. If the Alamo served margaritas and cervezas it might be number one but it only serves up Texas history. There are plenty of good places to eat along the River Walk, but when you have young kids most of the places are too loud and the crowds are a little out of control at times so we opted for a quieter place on this one particular evening, Tony Roma’s Restaurant would be our choice.

Tony Roma’s is pretty good food, and has a pretty good selection as well. The wife is a vegetarian and so we needed to make sure she had a place that had some veggies. The youngest boy was still nursing so those veggies served two in the family not just her. The oldest boy and I are definite carnivores, he will eat some veggies, but meat is on the top of his list when it comes to food, his favorite is BBQ ribs. Well, he thought he was in luck going to Tony Roma’s as his mother had told him prior to getting there that Tony Roma’s was famous for their ribs.

When we got to the place we didn’t have to wait but a few minutes to be seated, and it didn’t take long for us to decide what we were having to eat either. When the waiter came to take our order, T-Bone politely hand the waiter his kid’s menu and told the waiter, “I’ll have the ribs”. The waiter looked at me and said, “The ribs are not on the kids menu.” To which I responded, “I think that is why he handed it back to you, he wants ribs, not kids food. Give him the rib dinner with fries.” I ordered a steak, I was in a beefy mood that night and the wife got her veggie plate ordered so we were all good to go on ordering food.

Everything is good at this point, the salads come out and the wife and son are enjoying them, I’m not a veggie person so I just pick at mine for the crunchy little bread cubes, yea I know they have a name I just can’t think of it right now, that should tell you how much I care for salads. Like most good restaurants they have a way a timing the main course delivery to the table when you are just finishing up on the salad, and this night was no exception.

The waiter came with our tray carrying the meals, he put his little stand up to rest his tray on and cleared the table of the salad plates, then he placed the meals in front of each of us, ask if we needed anything else and said,”Enjoy”. The waiter got about three steps away from our table and T-Bone piped up. “Excuse me sir, excuse me, .. waiter.” I had already started cutting up my steak, so I looked up and asked T-Bone what was wrong, he said, ”Dad, I can’t eat these. they have sauce on them!!”. Well, they damn sure did, the ribs were a sea of BBQ sauce and about that moment the waiter was back at the table. “What’s wrong young man?” he asked. T-Bone proceeded to tell the waiter about the problem. The waiter looked astonished, I don’t think he had ever had someone tell them that the ribs were no good without the person ever taking a bite of them, but he had now.

Tony Roma’s sign even says, ”famous for Ribs” but that according to my son that was false advertising, he proceeded to tell the waiter that in Texas good ribs aren’t served with BBQ sauce all over them. I’ll give the waiter credit for the way he handled it, he explained that the restaurant was part of a nationwide chain that was headquartered in Florida and they have to serve the ribs with the sauce because that is the way it is done in all their restaurants. “So are you telling me I can’t get ribs with no sauce?”, asked T-Bone. The waiter gave him the answer he didn’t want to hear, “Yes”. To which T-Bone politely responded, “Can I see that kids menu again?”

T-Bone ended up with the customary kid’s meal of chicken strips and fries and corn, the waiter was nice enough to leave the ribs for me to eat or take with us and he only charged us for T-Bone’s kid’s meal on that exchange. We did leave the young waiter a nice tip too. I came out the big winner in the deal, because even though I like my ribs dry rubbed and smoked, I can handle BBQ sauce if I have too, so back at the hotel room I had a late night snack of ribs and fries.

So let’s get to today’s review, and the reason I took the opportunity to tell the rib story is because I had promised someone I would review a place that had great ribs and that place is Blanco BBQ on Blanco Road in San Antonio.

Blanco BBQ is owned by Steven Honigblum and they opened their doors back in 2013. I first came across their BBQ not at the restaurant but at an event that one of my customers was having at their business and Blanco BBQ catered the event. I had the ribs at that event and I knew that I had found a BBQ place that knew what they were doing when it came to cooking ribs, don’t get me wrong their brisket is real good also, but it is an art to smoke ribs that are consistently moist, flavorful, and where the meat just falls off the bone when you eat them. Many a place tries to rush the cooking of ribs, and you almost have to be like a dog when you eat them, constantly gnawing on the bone to get the meat loose

That is not the case with Blanco BBQ ribs, it is pure pork heaven when you bite into these ribs. They have their own special blend of spices that they mix for dry rub and each meat has its own variation of the rub. They cook their meat with a mixture of oak and pecan wood and they fully understand the rule of low and slow.

Steve was in the restaurant when I got there to eat but by the time I was finished eating he had left so I wasn’t able to interview him for this review. I will tell you that despite only being in business for around five years I have to believe he has many more years of BBQ experience under his belt. I have been eating here for three years and the staff is friendly as can be. I order the ribs and as you can see by the picture these are nice portion of ribs and cooked to perfection, the fries are hand cut and since my rib plate came with two sides, I got two fries. I am not a veggie person as I have explained before. They do offer the usual sides that you would expect and then some; cream corn, corn on the cob, ranch beans, potato salad, cole slaw, green beans, steamed broccoli and mac & cheese. Baked potatoes are also served here but not as a side dish, in fact the potatoes with meat are a meal by themselves.

The facility itself is pretty large, I don’t know how many it will seat but it can surely handle a hundred or more without filling up just the main dining area. There is a also a separate party room and there is also a nice large shaded back porch and play area for the kids behind it as well. All the staff is friendly and will introduce them self by name, Ted was the man who cleaned up my mess when I was done eating. Should you care not to dine inside they have a drive thru lane to pick up your order to go and never leave your car. I might also add that the place is right across the creek from a city park and you could pick up food and picnic there very easily as well.

Sonja was nice enough to tell me that on Friday and Saturday nights they have live music out back, mainly young country western artists from the local area who are starting their singing careers, did I mention George Strait is from the San Antonio area, he hasn’t played here at Blanco BBQ, but you never know if the next country singer who will reach that level might very well be playing there this weekend. Good old country music is playing in the dining area but it is at a sound level that is low enough that you can carry on a conversation without having to be a lip reader. I just hate when places have the music dominate the place and that has never been the case here.

Blanco BBQ is making a name for themselves in San Antonio when it comes to BBQ, in 2017 they won the San Antonio Restaurant Association “People’s Choice Award” and just last month they won The NEWS 4 “Blue Plate Award” given by a local television station. They have also won awards from KENS 5 television and the Brighton Center’s prestigious “Taste of The Northside” award. It is not an easy feat to win these types of awards in a city like San Antonio with so many long established restaurants anchored in here. The city health inspectors also know this is a quality place and is clean as a whistle as evidenced by the current health department inspection that shows a perfect health score of 100 / 100.

My meal came to $13.52 with the government taking their share out of that total. It was worth every penny of it, and if you happen to notice, I got the three rib plate but I have four rib bones left when I got done.

That wasn’t because I was doing a BBQ review either, the man in the back cutting the meat would have no clue just like any of the other staff since I never tell them until after I finish. I would have to attribute it to the man knowing his business and the ribs toward the end of the slab are usually a little smaller than normal and he wanted the customer to be satisfied. That right there I’m sure is the reason and too that I can say, “Mission Accomplished, sir.” I was totally satisfied and I’m 100% confident that if you chose to eat at Blanco BBQ you will be too.

Croutons, I knew I would remember it sooner or later.

That concludes this month’s edition of the “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” BBQ review. Be sure and stop back on the next 15th of the month and we will do it all again, and if you can’t wait until then to read more of what I have to say about things check out my normal Daily Dose of Sultnpapper found here each and every day.

Until next time,
@sultnpapper
All photos are property of @sultnpapper

https://sola.ai/sultnpapper

Below are additional photos of Blanco BBQ and one item of interest you might not know about in San Antonio, the Boots @ North Star Mall.

The drive thru was busy for sure![]()

Shot of the inside dining area

A little look at the outback play and picnic area

More awards and the perfect health inspection on display

Last but not least, the largest pair of cowboy boots you will ever see, and yes, that is me by the boots, for scale reference I am 6' 2".