Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 05/15/18> “Will EAT BBQ 4 U “ Vol. 7 Aunt Pookie’s BBQ , Houston, Texas
One thing about my BBQ reviews that people have expressed they like, besides the food porn, is how I make it a point to give you a flavor of the town as well as the food. That poses a real problem for this month’s edition and some of you might end up a little disappointed by the time we finish here, I won’t be though, as I got to eat the BBQ.
Houston, Texas is a massive town that covers a whole lot of ground, we have more people than you could shake a stick if you had one each hand, some of us are even legal. Houston has literally everything and anything you could imagine and so I can’t cover all we have going on here. It would be a total waste of your time and mine if I loaded up this review with a bunch of pictures of the city, if you didn’t see all the pictures of Houston back when Hurricane Harvey came through, I’m glad you pulled through your coma and are able to read now, but Houston was all over the news and hundreds of
thousands of pictures were all over the internet and news wires; so just do a Google Image search and type in “Houston”, I am sure you can get an idea of what the place looks like if you have never been here.
I could also tell you about our sports teams and our stadiums but those are well documented too, the Astros won their first World Series in 2017 and the Rockets are on a roll towards the NBA championship as we speak. That covers the sports for Houston, did I forget something? Kickball isn’t a sport in my opinion, but yes we have a kickball team named the Dynamo that plays in the MLS league, calling it soccer doesn’t change my opinion of it either.
The eighth wonder of the world, The Astrodome, is still standing vacant and in disrepair despite the citizens voting to have it torn down a couple of years ago. So much for a government that is representative of the peoples wishes. The county commissioners in charge of that facility say it will cost too much to demolish it so we need to revive it and make a parking garage out of it, along with some other idea of a small convention center included in it.
Just talking about everything is making me hungry, let alone chasing all over town snapping pictures, so let’s eat. I’m not eating alone today so forgive me for not taking a picture of my sliced brisket sandwich and fries. My buddies I’m eating with are meat and vegetable eaters so I thought their plates would make for better food porn then mine.
Aunt Pookie’s is located on the beltway that makes a complete circle around the city of Houston. The beltway can be the most confusing road in this town when it comes to names, Beltway 8, Sam Houston Parkway with North , South, East, & West tacked on the end of it. Most folks just call it “the toll road” because it was the first but now we have several. Just for a reference Aunt Pookies is on the Beltway just about 1 mile or so north of Interstate 10, and it is on the north bound feeder road so, there you go.
Because Aunt Pookie’s is so close to the office we eat here pretty regularly and we pick up from here even more when we have company meetings, so I can attest to the quality being consistently well above the “good “ and right at approaching the “great” mark.
The “fixins bar” has all you need in pickles, onions, jalapenos and the other normal things and the drink and ice machine are self serve as well. The food is served on foam plates and it makes for easy clean up, when you are done just pitch it away, they won’t win any awards here for being eco-friendly but that isn’t what they went into business for.
Serving great tasting BBQ is their business model and it works well, the pricing is reasonable for sure and they have a great location with all the people working in the area.
The brisket is real good and the ribs are rubbed to perfection with season rub and smoked to where the meat just about falls of the bone without being dried out. You can’t ask for much better than that, my buddies say that the veggies are always good here, seems like the fried okra is real popular with my friends even though they are suppose to lay off the fried foods.
Which brings up a good point about BBQ, it is really a healthy way to eat meat, the slow smoking reduces the fat layers on the meat and what is left can be trimmed off easily making for a real lean cut of meat with a boat load of flavor. It has to be better than deep fried or pan fried chicken and meats.
Oak is the main wood that is used for cooking, and they throw in some pecan for good measure. We got here at straight up 11:00 to beat the crowds and by the time we left people were waiting for tables and sitting out on the porch eating
and just 45 minutes had gone by. I am not sure what the seating capacity is but it isn’t enough on most days at lunch hour. My sandwich, fries, and drink came to $10.38 and the most expensive dinner showed by the pictures with a drink was less than $13.00 so it is priced right for the amount of food and the quality.
I’ve never met Aunt Pookie, and I don’t know if she even exists, but I can tell you as busy as they were when we were leaving there was no getting any of those types of details, may be next time. Aunt Pookie’s opens at 6:30 AM and closes at 3:00 PM Monday thru Friday, they are also open on Saturday from 7:00 to 3:00. I guess they like to sleep in on Saturdays. Don’t even think about them on Sunday’s, they have been in business since 1968 and have never been open on a Sunday from what I know.
You can find them on the web at http://auntpookiesbbq.com there you will find the complete menu and this quote attributed to Aunt Pookie, “ It is better to have burned and lost, then to have never barbecued at all.” so, maybe she did or does exist.
Hope you enjoyed the food porn and next month I plan on covering the oldest continuously operating BBQ joint in Texas and the United States, so be sure and come back for that edition.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
All photos are property of : @sultnpapper
In case you missed these earlier "Will Eat BBQ 4 U" reviews here are the links to those volumes for your BBQ pleasure.
https://www.mannabase.com/?ref=43f11540d8
Full disclosure: the sola & mannabase links are referral links, I do receive a benefit should you decide to join either of these sites thru these links. Thanks.
How do you rank the various BBQs? For me it's:
I also don't eat pork, so take that into account.
I would rank various BBQ's in this order
After the top five nothing else matters in my book, except I would put BBQ from the Mid South last, putting cole slaw on a BBQ sandwich should be against the law.
Well now. I think the Texans do as good with beef as anybody. But putting anyplace above Arthur Bryant's in KC is a stretch for me.
And the North Carolina mustard cask pork is a pretty good touch as is the South Carolina vinegar based BBQ sauce.
Just my opinion, of course. But I am a fat boy that travels in defense of my bona fides.
When you live in the promised land of BBQ you don't eat BBQ in other places, in fact seldom do even leave the promised land anymore of my own choice. I lived over in Mississippi for a couple years while I was having a cutting horse trained there by one of the best trainers in the business and so I have tried Memphis BBQ and the mid south styles. I have been to the Carolina's and just wasn't my cup of tea, mesquite is just hard to beat for me.
I never tried the Arthur Bryant's so I can't say, when I have been to KC I have always opted for steaks. Have had some great steaks up there though.
In the early 70s the New York Times named Arthur's the 'best restaurant in America'. Quite a departure for them. Part of it was probably that Arthur had bought the former Slave Auction in KC and that's where his restaurant was (and still is). It's more formal now, but still with damn fine Q under the direction of Arthur's Granddaughter. Arthur took great pleasure in the fact that a black man owned the former auction site.
I tend to agree with Mesquite. It's near a weed here so there is lots of good smoke material. Some Pecan, too.
I like when family businesses are able to continue on threw multiple generations, so often the second or third gens just end up selling it out and cashing in since they have little invested in it financially and in most cases, emotionally.
That sounds mighty tasty!! I definitely could go for some fried okra. YUM!!! I definitely miss that food. That sounds like a good place to get some bbq. I like how you described houston. Someone was asking us recently of stuff to do in Houston and we could think of a few things to do...they thought about spending a week in July in Houston. We suggested they head over to San Antonio if they were going to be there a week. ;)
Well I hope they are coming here from Panama, if not, the heat and humidity will be a rude awakening for your friends in July because we are hot and sticky 24/7 in July.
I would suggest the museums and the zoo if they have kids and looking in Houston. We have a great kids museum. We also have some lesser known ones like the National Funeral Museum where you can find all the history of death and burial, including the hearses that carried some presidents.
San Antonio or even Galveston would be good if they like the beach.
I am not a fan of vegetables so having my friends plates to show added some color to the plates, do you not have okra in Panama?
They are coming from Panama where I live where it is high of 75 daily. Ha. And before that, they're from Canada. The heat may kill them, but I think we convinced them not to do Houston in July! Only way I can stand that is in my parents' pool. I have been to the kids museum there and it is great!! Funeral museum sounds delightful. I never went to the prison museum in Huntsville but used to pass by it a lot.
I have never seen okra here! Maybe it is too wet and not hot enough? I think we brought some seeds with us so maybe we'll try to grow it....
I assumed it was real hot and sticky where you are. The prison museum is pretty cool, not real large but interesting. Did you ever try what I suggested about the cut of meat chart and showing your butcher, so you could figure out the name for brisket?
We live in the mountains here - at the base of a volcano. Our town is called the town of "eternal spring." Perfect weather, if you ask me. :) I haven't done a meat chart yet. I have got to get that taken care of!!
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Pecan? That must smell great! Does that somehow enhance the smokiness of the meat?
Great quote too... I've probably burnt quite a few things bbqing so yeah that pretty much sums it up!
Yes. pecan burns with a vast amount of smoke per volume of wood. The smell and taste is greatly enhanced. Kind of like having a cheap bourbon and adding a glass of imported Coca Cola from Mexico made with the pure cane sugar is how the pecan helps the flavor when burned with oak. Makes for a "smoother " taste.
I'll take the fries and brisket any day. I just plain love BBQ anything and I'm not even Texan! LOL Fried veggies are okay, but not with my BBQ!
Brisket is my absolute favorite followed by ribs. After those it doesn't matter as long as it is smoked, I have even smoked steaks and those are wonderful. Just seer them quickly in a frying pan and them put them in the smoker for about an hour at 220 degrees. Melt in your mouth and juicy. With fries of course, or an occasional baked potato.
Oh, my! That sounds divine! My mouth is watering already!
Well now. I do like some Texas Q. My tendency is smaller town fare than Houston (In all honesty I am generally speaking just trying to get through on my way someplace else) and it almost never disappoints.
Texas BBQ is for me, the first of the unique styles that exist in the South East. Arizona has some good Q, but no particular style. New Mexico has burritos, I don't believe I've ever eaten Q there. But Texas starts the stylized part of any trip east. Each area is different, each is good.
Aunt Pookies looks and sounds like my sort of place, I'll try and remember 'cause the 10 is part of my 'way point' system. I'd program it into my GPS but my unit is, like me, ancient and no longer supported so I can input no new places.
Looks like the real deal, I'm sure I'd enjoy it. Thanks for sharing it.
I think I need to start adding links to past reviews so a person would only have to go back as far as one month , to at least be able to see the name and town in the review, thanks for the suggestion.
Aunt Pookie's won't fix your GPS situation but I guarantee it will cure a hunger problem. So let me know the next time you are traveling through Htown and if I am around maybe we can meet up there for some grub.
@therealwolf 's created platform smartsteem scammed my post this morning (mothersday) that was supposed to be for an Abused Childrens Charity. Dude literally stole from abused children that don't have mothers ... on mothersday.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@prometheusrisen/beware-of-smartsteem-scam
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