Thursday, August 18, 2011

BBQ Adventure - Thanks for all the recommendations!


Mike Anderson’s BBQ has been recommended to us over and over. So, when it came time for a BBQ foodie adventure, the decision was made pretty quickly. Mike Anderson’s is only open for lunch and is also closed on Sundays. If you ask me, any restaurant that can get away with being open 50% of the time its competitors are open and still gets rave reviews must be worth its salt. Thus, we trekked out to the medical district Saturday afternoon to see for ourselves.



The building looks just like you’d expect for authentic, country BBQ. It looks mildly rickety and has bright neon words painted on all the windows. Delightfully hole-in-the-wall chic. There is a menu on the wall and a stack of trays at the beginning of a long counter when you walk in. Step 1: tell the man what meat situation you want. We got the smoked ribs, sliced brisket sandwich and turkey sandwich. Step 2: Do you want a baked potato or are you going down the line? We all opted to go “down the line” which allowed self-service to all their sides. Each entrée came with two sides. We opted for green beans, potato wedges, dill potato salad, BBQ baked beans, fried okra, and cheesy cornbread bake, respectively. Step 3: Do you want a drink? Water is by the FREE soft serve ice cream machine J. Step 4: Grab your sandwich accoutrements and additional BBQ sauce, find a seat and chow down.
  

After assessing our own meals, we all started sampling each other’s choices. We needed to get the full experience, of course. As we were eating, we couldn’t help but notice there were several people eating the largest BBQ baked potatoes we have literally ever come across. In fact, there were so many people digging in to the world’s largest baked potatoes that I felt slightly like I may have ordered the wrong thing!

So what did we think of our Mike Anderson’s experience? Well, Haley said her turkey sandwich was really smoky and flavorful and she liked it better than Dickey’s Turkey (which we all love). Her fried okra was by far the crispiest we have had and had a yummy seasoning on it. Her cheesy cornbread bake was a favorite amongst Haley and Ben; however I am just simply not a cornbread fan…so sue me! My sliced brisket sandwich was on par with my expectations. My socks weren’t blown off, but I was pleased. My dill potato salad was fine, but those BBQ baked beans were so sickeningly sweet that none of us wanted to eat them. Ben’s smoked ribs were good, but tasted like liquid smoke was used in the recipe, which resulted in an unpleasant, lingering after-taste. The potato edges were on par, but the green beans weren’t anything to write home about. I would also like to mention that they have both regular BBQ sauce, as well as jalapeño BBQ sauce. Ben loved the jalapeño because it was more vinegary and Haley liked the traditional. Me? I am a sucker for the sweet BBQ sauce that is so true to Texas.


 Our overall experience at Mike Anderson’s lead to a very philosophical discussion about what really makes the “best BBQ ever”. None of us could really pin it down. We all have differences of opinions on sauce, meat choice, and sides we consider a necessity. I guess the “best BBQ ever” is up to each individual! Don’t worry though, Readers – we will not stop sampling Dallas BBQ hot spots and we are excited to try all your other recommendations! 


http://www.mikeandersonsbbq.com/

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