OK, I'm back from my golf trip and back from Big 12 Media Days in Dallas and I'm ready to get back into the realm of new restaurants in Waco.
The first item on the agenda today was lunch at the new Outlaw's BBQ, which opened on Thursday at 8th and LaSalle. My friend Wes Kitten, who provided the photo for this blog, texted me last week to tell me Outlaw's had opened. I usually like to be in town when these things happen, but the way things are shaping up, if I wait until there aren't any openings to take a vacation, it could be a while before I have a vacation. So I can live with this one.
Cory and I met up on Wednesday to give Outlaw's an audition. During our lunch, we had a chance to speak with co-owners Kirk Taylor and Gary Courtney. They told us an interesting story about how the two of them, both retired truck drivers, were at their deer lease near Goldthwaite when they hatched the idea to open a barbecue joint.
They've been smoking brisket for years while on the hunt and they figured Waco could use another place that stuck to the traditional method of smoking barbecue. So this is their shot at it.
The brisket I consumed at lunch had that definitive smoked ring and it was satisfactorily tender. The sauce, which Kitten learned the owners had been making for 40 years, was sweet and worked pretty well. I have to say the beans didn't look like much. They didn't have that chili-beans look that I like in barbecue beans, but they tasted much better than they appeared. Potato salad was solid.
I didn't go for the sausage today as I've cut myself off of a few things in order to rid myself of the 5 to 10 pounds I've gained this summer. Those things include chips and salsa, desserts, burgers, potato chips and pork, which I'm pretty sure means staying away from sausage.
It remains to be seen if Outlaw's can establish a niche. They're hoping their proximity to Baylor will help attract a crowd, but they'll have to fight off Vitek's and Rudy's. One thing they have going for them is that they smoke their brisket over pecan wood. That's unique to Waco.
We officially recommend giving it a try and we wouldn't be upset if you told them you we sent you.
