Posted by Michael Stern on November 17, 2008
Angelo’s is one of the great Texas barbecue parlors. It is a large dining hall with a remarkable exhibition of game animal trophies, including big fish and at least two brown bears, one of which wears a souvenir t-shirt.
“You are in the Land of Brisket,” proclaims the counterman when an out-of-towner gets to the head of the line and innocently asks what type of meat is served on the beef plate. You can watch the brisket being cut from the order counter. As the knife severs the dark crust and glides into the meat’s tender center, each slice wants to disintegrate. But miraculously, it holds together enough to make it intact onto a Styrofoam plate, where a row of slices is accompanied by beans, potato salad, cole slaw, a length of pickle, a thick slice of raw onion, a ramekin of sauce, and two pieces of the freshest, softest white bread in America. Tote your own meal to a table, and if you pay an extra twenty-five cents, you can stop at the bar along the way and fill a small cup with scorching hot peppers to garnish the meat.
Sliced brisket stars at Angelo’s, but the hickory pit also yields pork ribs with meat that slides easily off the bone, as well as zesty hot link sausages, ham, and salami. In the relatively cooler months of October through March Angelo’s posts a sign below its regular menu advertising chili. Strangely, a simple bowl of red is hard to find in modern Texas. The kind Angelo’s serves is an unctuous soup/stew of ground beef and plenty of pepper, here served in a plastic bowl with plastic spoon and little bags of oyster crackers on the side. Most people get an order to accompany a rib or beef plate or a few sandwiches … along with a few of Angelo’s huge, cold mugs of beer.
Overall: Worth driving from anyplace
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Reviewers "Must Eats" List
brisket
($8.00)
"Even though Texas is a beef state, the item we liked best at Angelo's was the pork ribs."
buffetbuster
"A heap of slow-smoked brisket on a plate"
Michael Stern
"Angelo's has been a good name for Texas barbecue since 1958."
buffetbuster
