Darrell and Candi Boatman took a seven-year hiatus from the barbecue enterprise. The couple closed Boatman’s BBQ in Tolar, close to Granbury, in 2017, and moved to Crimson Oak, simply south of Dallas, to open a distinct restaurant. When the taco store subsequent door to their Depraved Good Hen closed, Darrell thought the format appeared proper for a barbecue joint. They began the renovations earlier this yr, and in June jumped again into the scene with the opening of Brisket Metropolis Craft BBQ.
Barbecue simply kind of discovered the Boatmans. Darrell and Candi have been serving burgers out of a bar in Granbury in 2012 once they found an previous smoker behind the place. It took two months of smoking briskets to make one adequate to promote to bar patrons, however “earlier than you realize it, the barbecue was promoting higher than the burgers,” Darrell mentioned. That led to the opening of Boatman’s BBQ.
I drove right down to Tolar twice to attempt it out and wrote in regards to the massive enhancements of their barbecue again in 2016. They solely lasted one other yr within the tiny city southwest of Fort Price. “The itch was at all times nonetheless there,” Darrell mentioned about serving barbecue. “We felt like we had unfinished enterprise.”
Two visits to Brisket Metropolis Craft BBQ felt like déjà vu from the Boatman’s BBQ days. The barbecue stored getting higher. Darrell and Candi have introduced on their two sons, Austin and Darrell Jr., to run the people who smoke. By my second journey, they’d tempered the saltiness of the smoked brisket, offered a lift of taste to the tender, sweet-glazed spare ribs, and glued the dry sausage. They’re now making a juicier home sausage and a jalapeño cheese sausage which can be each coarsely floor with nice snaps to their casings.
The thick sauce that sogged up the bark on the pork stomach burnt ends has fortunately been changed by a sweet-and-savory rub that provides a sweet coating to every chunk. The Boatmans are planning to make the burnt ends a characteristic, with rotating flavors equivalent to butter pecan and peanut butter and jelly.
The Boatmans are nonetheless cooking burgers, too, however these are made with the trimmings from their Goodstock briskets. The fries served alongside (and the fried okra) are frozen, so persist with the contemporary, house-made sides which can be Candi’s recipes. My favourite was the slaw with kale and inexperienced apples that gave it some good crunch and tartness. I additionally loved the pinto beans fortified with brisket and garnished with contemporary pico de gallo. Candi additionally makes the raisin-studded bread pudding that comes free with each dine-in order.
A month in the past, Brisket Metropolis added a full breakfast menu served beginning at 7 each day however Sunday. (The web site says they serve it till 11 a.m., however the menu within the restaurant says you may order breakfast till 2 p.m.) I attempted a breakfast burrito full of eggs, cheese, potatoes, sausage, and smoked brisket. The serrano sizzling sauce on the facet gave it a very good kick, however will probably be exhausting to withstand ordering a biscuit subsequent time. Candi bakes them contemporary and makes a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich with them for simply $4.50.
The household works collectively to maintain the 2 eating places working. Darrell and Candi run level on the rooster store whereas their sons handle the barbecue facet. The smoker will get loads of motion from each. “Between me, my boys, and my spouse, it’s nonstop, twenty-four seven,” Darrell mentioned of the tiny 250-gallon smoker they used for all of the meats. Throughout my newest go to, a thousand-gallon Large Phil’s smoker had simply been delivered. The household’s now turned among the previous patio seating right into a screened-in pit room for the brand new smoker, with loads of house to develop the enterprise. The Boatmans aren’t new to barbecue, nevertheless it looks like they’re lastly hitting their stride.
Brisket City Craft BBQ
219 State Highway 342, Red Oak
Cellphone: 469-820-9444
Hours: Monday–Thursday 7–7, Friday–Saturday 7–8, Sunday midday–4
Pitmasters: Darrell Boatman Sr. and Darrell Boatman Jr.
Technique: Oak in an offset smoker
Yr opened: 2024