Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 06/15/18 > “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” Texas BBQ Review Vol.8, Spring Creek BBQ, Spring,Texas.

Where on earth did the time go this last month? This is my busy time of year but normally things aren’t as hectic as they have been lately. As some of you may remember last month we were in Houston visiting and eating at Aunt Pookies and I told you to come back this month where I would share with you the longest continuing running BBQ establishment in the USA, or I said I intended to anyway. Let me say, I had good intentions but, (there is nothing good that ever follows “but”) things just didn’t work out for that to happen.

In a normal month I am on the road travelling 2 to 3 weeks out of the month, since we last did one of these BBQ reviews I have only been on the road one week, and unfortunately it was not in the vicinity of that oldest BBQ establishment. So that leaves me with a BBQ establishment that is local to my home place, so local that as the crow flies it less than two miles from the front porch. The other thing about this month’s review is normally I stay away from reviewing BBQ chain restaurant establishments, but seeing how the 15th snuck up on me and didn’t even hit me until I was almost home that I needed to write this month’s NOW, I opted for the closest BBQ to the house.

I will tell right up front that this BBQ isn’t the best you will ever eat if you are a BBQ eater that checks out a lot of BBQ places. What I will tell you is that for the occasional BBQ eater it has a decent taste and flavor. I doubt that you would walk away saying that you wouldn’t eat there again, hell, I eat the BBQ from there pretty regularly when I need grab something on the way home.

BBQing is tricky and when you try and operate a chain of BBQ’s it is important to have consistency from location to location when it comes to flavor and portion sizes. The portion sizes is easy to accomplish, just use a scale and measure by weight, flavor though is the tough one. So in order to minimize the potential for error the first thing that management does is built all the facilities alike and use the same equipment in each. That also goes for the food suppliers and the wood supplier, single sources for the entire chain were possible.

When it comes to the cooking, Spring Creek BBQ only uses oak wood, I happen to know their wood supplier and have been friends of theirs for the better part of 15 years. By using only one type of wood it makes the smoke flavor consistent at each location. Anytime you start mixing woods, the flavor is subject to change, even just two or three pieces of hickory or pecan can give the oak a real flavor change. The average BBQ eater isn’t so much concerned with the subtle differences in flavors, they are more interested in knowing that the food will have a consistent taste.

McDonalds didn’t become the biggest burger chain in the world because they serve the best burgers, they don’t and that isn’t even debatable. They became the biggest because a person knows that no matter what Micky D’s they happen into the burger is going to taste just like the last one they got where ever they were. Ray Krock knew what he was doing, cheap, fast and consistent was the plan and he worked it to perfection as far as a business model goes.

Well, Spring Creek BBQ is consistent from location to location and so no matter if you are eating in Spring or Katy or Houston and any of their other locations the food is going to taste the same. As far as chains go, Spring Creek BBQ would be right up there at the top of the list. They are a family run operation and I really don’t know the background on the family so we’ll just skip right on past that part.

They do have all the side dishes you never see on my plates because I just don’t eat veggies. Today’s meal is the two meat plate, brisket and peppered sausage. I really like their peppered sausage, just the right amount of black ground pepper in that offering. I also substituted my two side dishes for a basket a fries at no extra charge. They make their own rolls right in the place and they even have a girl that carries a basket of hot rolls through the dining area passing them out as you need them. I will tell you that when you go through the ordering line you pick your own side dishes and however much you can fit on the plate is fine with them, so veggie eaters like this place for that reason alone.

I know that there are right about thirty locations of Spring Creek BBQ’s in Texas, mainly in the Houston and Dallas / Fort Worth areas and they are continuing to add more locations every year. They have been cooking BBQ for 35 years so they do know what they are doing when it comes to firing up a pit. All the locations are clean as a whistle and they even serve dessert with another Texas favorite, Blue Bell Ice Cream. I need to do a story on Blue Bell sometime in the future.

There isn’t much to show ya’ll around Spring, Texas. It started back in the mid 1800’s as farming community and pretty much stayed that way for over a hundred years and then as Houston grew out this way, the farms gave way to the subdivisions and strip centers. Now the farms are few and far between and the subdivisions are packed side by side and the road frontages are pretty much solid with shopping and strip store centers. The only thing worth mentioning is “Old Town Spring” and it is just an area that was small houses and shops that now have been converted into little boutique type stores and restaurants.

The only building with any real history is the old Wunsche Brothers saloon and hotel. It dates back to the founding and it had seen it’s better days back in the 70’s and ended up closed for about 10 years. Then a group bought it and remodeled it and reopened it as just a restaurant and bar, the hotel upstairs never was redone and was used as storage.

The place was definitely haunted, and probably still is today, but it had a fire a few years ago and has sat vacant since then, not a bad fire, but it never has reopened since then.

I still owe you all the oldest BBQ joint and I will deliver on that, I will be traveling and the next time I am within twenty miles of there I am heading in to do the review.

So the bottom line is, Spring Creek BBQ dinner with drink was $18 and some change, but it was from the dinner menu pricing, the prices at lunch are a little less, in fact the $9.95 lunch special is pretty good, but only one choice on the meat and the drink is extra, but the serving size on the meat is just about as much as the dinner portion. You can find all the details about Spring Creek BBQ online at www.springcreekbbq.com . Don’t be afraid to drop and eat at one of these Spring Creek BBQ’s if you see one, I’m sure you will enjoy it.

Until next time,
@sultnpapper

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