Posted by Michael Stern on January 26, 2005
Goode Co. isn't exactly a little-known name in the Houston food world. Driving south on Kirby from the city center, you pass Goode Co. Seafood and Good Co. Tacqueria, and there is another branch of Goode Co. Bar-B-Q on Katy Freeway. The place on Kirby is a large eating barn (with a nice covered outdoor patio) surrounded by stacks of wood and the perfume of smoldering mesquite. Inside, there's always a line leading to the cafeteria-style counter; but the line moves fast, because nearly everyone knows exactly what they want when they come here. Once you've eaten to Goode Co. barbecue, chances are good you will return for more.
Goode Co.'s fame is well deserved, especially for its brisket. This long-smoked meat is velvet-soft and radiant with essential beef flavor. It is so moist and delicious that sauce is superfluous, although Goode Co. does offer fairly spicy red stuff to pour on it if you wish. You can get this beef as part of a platter with superb, slightly sweet baked beans, potato salad, and jambalaya; or you can have it in a sandwich. While blah bread is de rigueur in most great barbecue parlors, Goode Co. offers a fantastic alternative: thick slices of fresh, soft jalapeno cheese bread that make a first-rate mitt for the smoky beef.
Other than brisket, the smoke pit menu lists Czech sausage, pork sausage, lean pork ribs, ham, chicken, sweet water duck, spicy pork, turkey breast, and turkey sausage. The pecan pie served for dessert is legendary.
Mesquite, pecan and oak wood are available by the bundle, in chunks or logs, for do-it-yourselfers to take home.
Overall: Worth driving from anyplace
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Reviewers "Must Eats" List
"Smoked beef brisket on jalapeno cheese bread: a four-star sandwich."
Michael Stern
"Before you step to the counter to order your meat, you pass these tubs full of ice and bottles of beer and wine."
Michael Stern
"Since Jim Goode opened his barbecue in Houston in 1977, it has become a Texas-food landmark. That shaded area this side of the barn is a nice open-air patio."
Michael Stern
"A close view of Goode Co.'s brisket shows just how luxurious it is."
Michael Stern
