Lunch outing to Off-Site Kitchen

We were introduced to Off-Site Kitchen by a co-worker whose husband is from North Carolina and is constantly on the hunt for authentic Carolina BBQ and slaw. We took a lunch outing to Off-Site at about noon on a Thursday and the line was out the door, well into the parking lot. Some might give up at the thought of waiting in line for a simple lunch, but to the Taste Buds, a line just means that the food has to be worth the wait. We overheard a woman in line say that the line is always long, but moves fast and the food comes out quick, which turned out to be exactly right.

Once, we made it in the tiny building, we pulled our glass bottle sodas out of the self-serve coolers and stared in mild disbelief/awe at the self-serve fountain drinks in flavors such as lime Gatorade, tang, purple Kool-Aid and sweet tea. It seems to us that BBQ and burgers mixed with Kool-Aid automatically equals a certain amount of street credit, so that made us a little more excited to taste the food. Haley ordered the Murph-Style Burger with roasted jalapeño and smoked bacon relish, a slice of American cheese and secret sauce and I ordered the Pork Shoulder Roast Sandwich. We split fries since we still had to be productive the rest of the day (can’t risk a complete food coma on a work day).

Haley’s burger was delicious. All the ingredients combined to make a really flavorful, unique and memorable burger, but yet it still felt like a classic and old-school burger. After some careful consideration on Haley’s part, she felt confident enough to say this burger was probably the best burger she has had in Dallas. Granted, we have not tried every “best” burger in Dallas, but out of what we HAVE tried this made the top of the list!

My BBQ pulled pork sandwich with Carolina-style slaw came with onion and pickles – just the way I like it. The BBQ sauce was slightly spicy which was nicely balanced by the slightly sweet slaw. I didn’t eat the bun, but there was enough inside the sandwich to fill me up completely. The fries were also awesome. I think they were some of my favorite plain fries I’ve had. Not too crunchy, not too soft, simply seasoned with salt. They tasted like something out of the 50’s when (in my head) food was simple and tasted like real ingredients.  Also, just to throw this in, my Abita root beer was delicious too!

Haley and I both agreed that if Off-Site was in a more convenient location to our jobs or apartments, we would definitely go weekly. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a trek for us unless we happened to already be in the area. Fingers crossed for second location!

http://offsitekitchen.org/