Searching for the good stuff a little ways off the beaten path -- and finding something unexpected.
(Sallisaw, OK) -- We had some business to attend to in Little Rock which meant we had to forfeit our spot at the judging table at the extravaganza of a competition in Bixby today. Mixed feelings on that. On one hand this has grown to be a bigtime competition. Nearly 100 teams and a stop on the Kingsford and Reser's tours. Beautiful setting next to the Arkansas River in Washington Irving Park. Well run show with great organizers and at least one set of wonderful Reps.
(Sallisaw, OK) -- We had some business to attend to in Little Rock which meant we had to forfeit our spot at the judging table at the extravaganza of a competition in Bixby today. Mixed feelings on that. On one hand this has grown to be a bigtime competition. Nearly 100 teams and a stop on the Kingsford and Reser's tours. Beautiful setting next to the Arkansas River in Washington Irving Park. Well run show with great organizers and at least one set of wonderful Reps.
But on the other hand they make judges pay to park -- even if they will be spending three hours and $60 in gas getting there and back home. And any experienced judge can tell you that the more cooks in a competition the more likely it is that there will be plenty of -- hate to say bad meat -- meat of questionable merit. So it evens out and we are road-tripping instead.
Road trips are what one makes of them and we like to make them fun. One of the big elements in that is searching out those barbecue joints that are off the beaten path or legendary around town (whatever town) even if the place is essentially unheard of anywhere else. It is that line of thinking that landed us in the gravel parking lot of the Wild Horse Mountain Bar-B-Que off of U.S. 59 a little south of I-40 outside of Sallisaw, Oklahoma.
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| Aerial veiw of Wild Horse Mountain Bar-B-Que in case you're coming by helicopter |
It's not the easiest place to find as many smartphone searches will direct you to the center of Sallisaw. It most assuredly is not there. Its past the outskirts and even then requires a sharp left turn off the main highway and onto Wild Horse BBQ Lane to get there. Just keep eyes peeled and look for all the cars off to the left just before the road curves west. Yep -- that's it.
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| Gonna be a lot of cars -- for a reason |
This is the number of cars in the middle of the afternoon so I can only imagine how it looks on a Friday or Saturday evening. In fact the smallish main dining room fills up quickly too so it's easy to find ones self in the alternate dining room. In there with a bunch of curious stuff on the walls including yellowed newspaper articles, funny signs and what may or may not be an autograph from former national championship winning Clemson/Arkansas head football coach Danny Ford.
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| Danny Ford? Maybe not the coach but the banker |
Pull up and the smoke is there. Beautiful smelling smoke a harbinger of the wondrous meats that must lay just inside those doors. Hmmm. There's probably going to be a line but it moves fairly quickly. Folks here are about as friendly as they can be (staff and customers alike) and the menu is not that big to begin with.
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| The place has found the top of a few lists. |
Actually that is something of an issue for some 'cue fans. Brisket, check. Ribs, check. Sausage, well -- apparently that's a recent addition and apparently it is a jalapeno hot link. Beans, check. But that's pretty much it. Pork fans need not apply here because they ain't none. Which means they don't need slaw. Potato chips are clipped to the wall so there's that.
Prices are good. Very good. Folks can walk in and get a brisket dinner for under 8 bucks. That's brisket, beans and a bun. Now they don't promise to pile it high here and we reckon the reason for that is, in our experience, anyone who says they pile it high usually does not pile it high. Wild Horse piles it high. Thinly sliced meat piled up on that plate. There is some heft to it. Nice.
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| Brisket dinner. That is a jumbo bun. Lotta good meat there, Bubba. |
The meat itself -- well -- it is good. Clearly it has cooked for a good, long time because that fat has rendered down to become a delectable part of the brisket. Something to be savored instead of removed like at so many other places situated closer to the main road where a diner has to cut it off to even begin to enjoy the meal. Here's the thing though -- there isn't a lot of smoke flavor to be tasted. Given the smell on the way in we expected a deep smokiness that we'd still smell on our clothes hours down the road. It wasn't there but you know what? It doesn't matter. This beef is so tender and moist that we really didn't miss the smoke. It was like a finely cooked roast beef. Meat that many restaurants attempt to prepare using far easier cuts to cook than brisket. So this is an accomplishment in itself. I would get it again in a minute.
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| Not on the menu -- but they might accommodate you if you ask. We didn't. |
On our visit they temporarily ran out of ribs so there was no combo to be had. Fortunately there was time to buy a single rib to try before leaving. And there is that smoke. It's on the ribs! Big ol' hunk of loin at the end of that rib is so gooood. Unfortunately the rest of the rib puts up a fight -- difficult to get that meat (and copious fat) off the bone. Gonna have to call it a wash on the ribs -- some of it great some of it not.
The beans are peppery with maybe some chili powder in there and some meat and, yeah, onions. In fact they pollute the sauce with onions too. Puree those onions in the sauce, folks. Puree everything in that sauce. It's sauce, not peanut butter -- we don't need chunky. Personal preference? Yeah, but that don't mean we are wrong.
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| The alternate dining room. Lattice work obscures the people in the main area. |
A final note on the sauce -- it doesn't have a great deal of flavor so it complements the meat nicely but is not a necessary addition to enjoy it. In fact it may detract from that brisket which would be outstanding with a cup of au jus. The sauce here comes in Hot, Medium and Mild. They say the mild is baby sauce and I don't think they mean it is sauce from babies. Or to serve babies in. But rather a baby could eat it. I'd argue this is also true with the medium which had no discernible heat. The "hot" had a little bit of a kick toward the back but nothing major -- if you like some spice don't be afraid of the hot at Wild Horse. Be afraid of the onions (yeah, I know, it's a losing battle but it is still one that I choose to fight).
--Rufus
Rufus: You said "Pork fans need not apply here because they ain't none. Which means they don't need slaw." Rufus - the only 3 reasons you go Wildhorse Mtn BBQ in Sallisaw are their Pork ribs, their beans, and their BBQ sauce. Those three items are unique unike anywhere else in the country. I submit that if you didn't do the Ribs - you wasted your time stopping there. They aren't baby backs, they are pork rack kind of ribs with a bone and huge slab of meat on them. Google it and do a little searching - one customer took pictures. I live in Memphis where there's plenty of great BBQ, I do my own also, but Wildhorse is a mandatory stop if I enter Oklahoma and I've been going there since the 1980's when I was only 30 minutes away. I don't get the brisket, I get the pork ribs. But, I'm a little disappointed that a certified BBQ judge would go there, not be informed, and would totally miss the main attraction. You should stop there again next time you are traveling down I-40 in that neighborhood. Then, do another report. :}
ReplyDeleteAnonymous --
ReplyDeleteThanks for having a look and I appreciate your feedback. My reference to the dearth of pork at Wild Horse -- was a reference to them offering no pork of the pulled shoulder variety. Which, as a resident of the great city of Memphis, you must know is among the finest meats being smoked today. Granted, it is only beginning to move west out of Arkansas and into Okla/Tex/Kansas but it is happening. I came up on Memphis-style 'cue and pulled pork is my favorite. My statement was only an indication that this isn't available on their menu -- my fault for not making that clearer. And their choice not to serve it is certainly not an indictment of the establishment -- as I said they are in a traditional beef barbecue state.
With that in mind I can only sample what actually is being offered. And in the review you'll notice this as well:
"On our visit they temporarily ran out of ribs so there was no combo to be had. Fortunately there was time to buy a single rib to try before leaving. And there is that smoke. It's on the ribs! Big ol' hunk of loin at the end of that rib is so gooood. Unfortunately the rest of the rib puts up a fight -- difficult to get that meat (and copious fat) off the bone. Gonna have to call it a wash on the ribs -- some of it great some of it not."
So I did get to try a rib after filling up on the other stuff. And I'll go back and have a rack of them one of these days when passing through. And rest assured I will update the post when I do. I regret that my cred a Master Judge might be called into question simply because I ordered brisket in a brisket state -- after being told they were out of ribs. Then again the reviews are only my individual opinion and nothing more. I certainly don't hold them out as fact just because I judge barbecue.
Again -- thanks for your comments and for having a look at the blog.