Boogie's Hit by Fire

I had a taste for barbecue today but all I got was the smoke.....


There's nothing left of the little trailer but the frame and the firebox and smoker itself.

This is really bad news for many of us on the Southwest side who've come to feel Boogie's is the best in town. I was hoping to be able to convene a panel soon to judge Boogie's and Pierson's side-by-side but that will have to wait a while longer.

Boogie said it was just negligence and he will be back in a couple of weeks. The city was due out this week to inspect his new pit, anyway, and it looks to me like the old smoker would be usable if the new one still isn't up to snuff.

Thankful for....Barbecue!

Recently a small group decided to have a little get together to taste and compare some barbecue offerings from various places. We decided to have it on the Saturday after Thanksgiving so that Airon, who grew up in Houston but now lives in Dallas, would be able to attend. At one time there were going to be 6 of us plus a little one but illness and other appointments left us with just 3 adults, Howard of Houston, Airon and myself, plus one little one.

We knew that we wanted to include Boogie's, a trailer on W. Bellfort that several of us are very high on, and hoped to include Pierson's, widely thought of by many as the best in town right now. The holiday weekend, however, found several of our best known and most notable barbecue joints closed, including Pierson's, Thelma's and Virgie's.

We had read good things about Galvan's Sausage House on 90A in Richmond and Pizzitola's, which has won best in the city from the Press in the past, was also open, so those were our choices. We purposely wanted to keep the group small and the number of vendors at no more than four. We wanted to sample the trinity - sliced brisket, ribs and sausage - from each.

We gathered at a public park on the Southwest side, about equidistant from Pizzitola's and Galvan's but very close to Boogie's, for our feast.

After much fretting over the details for days one important item went unmentioned and Howard was the only one who thought to show up with a pencil and some paper to take notes about our judgments so what I have to say at this point is rather general. My brain and stomach were quite busy dealing with such a protein overload and I've been having trouble remembering the details of our observations; hopefully Howard and Air will add their comments here or if they post on their own sites, I'll link to those discussions.

Boogie's Brisket

Pizzitola's Brisket

Galvan's Brisket

The clear winner was Boogie's, moist and tender with good smoke flavor (pecan and oak) and rub plus bark. Second place in my opinion went to Pizzitola's and I think the other's concurred; it was less tender and juicy but had good smoke flavor (hickory); the rub and bark were a little lacking. Galvan's suffered from having been dispensed from a steam table which had ruined the bark, making it pasty; it was the least tender of the three and had the least interesting rub and smoke profile (pecan and oak, again). All three, however, were judged better than any of the chain outlets in Houston.

Ribs, clockwise from 11 o'clock, Galvan's, Boogie's, Pizzitola's

Another angle

Despite all the shutter clicking that went on I do not have any good close-ups of the three rib entries so these wide shots will have to suffice. The picture tells the story, no? Once again Boogie's was the clear winner, although I thought the ribs were just a bit too loose on the bone; I've had better ribs from Boogie's. Both Pizzitola's and Galvan's served St. Louis style with the rib tips removed, which is much less appealing to me. The overall rankings were the same as for the brisket. Pizzitola cooks over direct heat, leaving the ribs a little dry for my taste and they weren't tender enough. Galvan's were even drier and less tender.

Boogie's pork and beef sausage, home-made

Pizzitola's sausage, V & V brand, pork and beef

Galvan's sausage, their own creation, beef

A sausage tasting plate

I am a sausage-aholic and something of an advocate for Texas sausage makers; I love the coarse grind, smoked sausages that Texas sausage makers specialize in and I love Boogie's creation, made from their own recipe. The more I've had it, the more I've become convinced it's their best offering (they also do a very good boudin which they make themselves). It may well belong in my Top Five of Texas smoked sausages, a group that also would include Louis Mueller's in Taylor, Austin's in Eagle Lake, Black's in Lockhart and City Market in Luling. That bias was only confirmed by this comparison; I've been a fan of the sausage at Pizzitola's ever since I first tasted it and it's very good, but Boogie's very clearly outshines it. This was the general consensus of our group as I recall.

Overall, Boogie's was the clear winner, followed by Pizzitola's, then Galvan's as I recall our conclusions. As stated with regard to the brisket above, however, we all would choose any of these places over any of the chains in Houston.

A note: I don't know why the pictures of Boogie's brisket and sausage above got arrayed vertically; that's not the way they appear on my computer. I'll try to correct that.

We all three are card-carrying members of the Good-Texas-Barbecue-Don't-Need-No-Sauce League but we did sample the sauces from all three places. I don't care at all for either Boogie's or Galvan's, too dark and bold, overpowering the meats in my opinion. I did find the thinner, simpler, less bold sauce from Pizzitola's more to my liking, should I ever want to add sauce to some of this cue.

Epilogue

After noshing and chatting for a couple of hours, then dividing up the scant left-overs (there was very little of Boogie's sausage left), Howard and I made a little trek down to Boogie's to tell them our findings and to ask a burning question that has been bugging both of us since we first learned Boogie's is going to be moving to a brick-and-mortar operation: what will the cooking arrangement be? Will the wood-fired smoker inside that little trailer be abandoned and a gas-fired cooker used????? Inquiring and worried minds wanted to know.

We met with Carlos, one of the operators of Boogie's, who is originally from the north side of Houston and has been cooking for 38 years, complimented him on his wares and advised him of our findings, then popped the question. The answer was a great relief: a pit for the new location is being custom built right now and will be exclusively wood-fired, no gas.

The city has given it's okay for the new location and the trailer will be moved in the next couple of weeks to 8035 W. Airport, # 115, in a strip center that includes a car wash. Operations will continue with limited hours and days of service out of the trailer for the time being from the new location while the building itself is fitted out.

Boogie's BBQ Now Open in New Location

UPDATE AS OF APRIL 15, 2010. The move has taken place and they are now open at the new location, 8035 W. Airport, # 115, but for the time being they are still cooking on the trailer. That means there's been no change in the quality of the Q, but hours have greatly expanded. The sign on the door says they're open from 10 - 8p Tuesday thru Thursday, until 10pm on Friday and Saturday, and from 12 to 5pm on Sunday. However, on their profile on b4-u-eat.com they says they're closed Sunday and Monday. Call before driving over. There's also an expanded menu including hamburgers and more. There is no dining on premises but I did get a great burger with hand-formed patty there.

A few weeks back I had noticed a sign in a strip center on W. Airport that Boogie's BBQ would be coming soon. I stopped off today at the trailer on W. Bellfort and got the scoop. I was told the move will be 'as soon as the City okays the permits.'

The new Boogie's will be a sit-down restaurant and will be open more days per week - that's good news. It'll be in the 8500 block of W. Airport which is about midway between S. Gessner and S. Fondren; that's only about a half mile off the South Belt at the Gessner exit. It's a little bit farther away from me but still very convenient. I'll look forward to the opening and I hope none of the good things about their Q gets lost as they transition from that little wagon to a fixed pit location. There are folks who think their ribs are the best in the city and I think their home made pork and beef sausage is among the best 2 or 3 in the city; they're the best Q I know of on the SW side.

The man at the pit today told me he is from the North side of Houston and has been cooking for 38 years; the owner is from Chicago and has been cooking for 20 years. The guy hopes to be able to convince the owner to add a few more sides and desserts when they get settled in the new location.

Boogie's BBQ, Chicago style - UPDATED AUGUST 20, 2010

AS OF SOMETIME IN LATE 2016, BOOGIE'S LOCATION ON W. AIRPORT HAS CLOSED.  ACCORDING TO YELP A LOCATION IS STILL OPEN 1767 TEXAS PARKWAY IN MISSOURI CITY.

A SIGN AT THE W. AIRPORT LOCATION INDICATES A NEW CAJUN EATERY IS COMING, PROMISING 'DEEP SOUTH COOKING.'
 
UPDATE AUGUST 20, 2010: BOOGIE'S HAS FINALLY COMPLETED THEIR PIT AND ARE ONCE AGAIN TURNING OUT BARBECUE IN THEIR NEW LOCATION AT 8035 W. Airport, # 115. IT'S STILL TAKE-OUT ONLY DUE TO THE LACK OF A BATHROOM FOR CUSTOMERS.

I have really been into home-cooking and comfort foods since Ike and have been eating out only about once a week and sticking close to my neighborhood, trying a couple of new places without much luck until I found this place.

On my first visit I tried the sliced beef sandwich. This was served open faced on white bread. There was about 10 oz. of beef and it was very, very tender. They use oak and pecan wood and although you can smell the smoke wafting out of a window on the trailer the brisket was not very smoky tasting. The sauce was like a glaze and very, very, very sweet; somewhat to my surprise I found myself liking it. It tastes a little to me like it has pineapple in it and is reminiscent of a ham glaze. No onions or pickles were offered or served which seems at the very least un-Texan if not un-American.

On a second visit I tried the rib and sausage plate, a very generous amount of food for $10. The sausage, which they make themselves, is pork and beef and I thought it was very good and needed no more sauce or seasoning. The ribs on this occasion were very, very fatty and a little underdone and in need of perhaps just a skosh more seasoning but they have a lot of promise. The smokiness of both meats on this occasion was just fine.

The potato salad is an institutional product and too creamy for my taste; the baked beans were very sweet. The sauce, which they make themselves, seemed darker and heavier than before and still very sweet; I used very little of it on the meats. I sure could have used some dill pickles and raw onion to cut some of the sweetness.

Besides baked beans and potato salad, green beans are offered as a side and extras include french fries, baked potatoes, turkey legs, boudin and cake. Beverages include Sweet Tea and pop. I understand rib tips are a delicacy in Chicago and their Chi Town Special is tips, chips and a pop for $6.00.

Besides the meats I’ve tried they also have chicken, ribs by the slab, rib tips and a pork chop sandwich.

They’re open only Thursday thru Saturday, 11 a to 8 p, and advised me to call ahead on Saturday as they stay pretty busy with call-in orders and the wait can be lengthy.

I’m really glad to have discovered this place as my barbecue options in this end of town are limited. There’s another new place nearby called 3P’s Barbecue which hasn’t gotten its act together but isn’t very promising so far so this is probably my best option for que in the neighborhood and I’ll have to cope with the sweetness or just order a la carte; hopefully the green beans aren’t sweet.

UPDATE 5/09: In addition to all the comments below there have been very positive comments made about Boogie's on eGullet and Roguefood. I don't eat a lot of barbecue these days so I've just gotten around to going back to try this place again.


I think this was better than what I had before. I got the sauce on the side this time, the better to appreciate the meats by themselves. It's been pointed out they apparently finish off the ribs on the grill to give them a little finishing crispness which is outstanding. The potato salad and beans were both much better this time than what I had before.

Be sure to check out hrushing's pictures in his comments below. I've got to get back over here and check out the boudin.