Cousin's Bar-B-Q ~

There are 5 locations still open: 3 in the south part of Fort Worth, including Crowley. The other 2 are in DFW airport.

Latest visit: Mar 2018 (Fort Worth - far north - closed)

First visit: 2003 (Keller - closed)

We've written about Cousin's before, when they had a little shotgun shack over in Keller. But with Back Forty recently arriving in NRH, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the mothership. Or actually a branch of the original. They shut down the to-go only place in Keller, so that they could open this very large location in the Alliance shopping area of far north Ft. Worth. This is the second visit here for the RJG (and the 3rd is this update!). We first went in December of 2010. So obviously we haven't done our part in helping the restaurant along. There's really no explanation as to why we've been infrequent visitors, as I've been a fan of Cousin's since we moved back to DFW 10 years ago.

Mrs. RJG had the baked potato with smoked turkey, and she loved it. I tried the turkey, and it's as good as ever. Cousin's always had the best turkey. They need to show their sibling over at Back Forty how to do it right. And speaking of sibling, since Cousin's has a similar meat selection to the start-up, I decided to focus on three items that would be smoked. In other words, I laid off the sausages, presuming them to be the same or very similar. So I had a 3 meat platter with sliced brisket, pork ribs, and quarter dark meat chicken. As you have read here, we love the chicken at Back Forty, and I don't think I ever had it at Cousin's. Well - it's nearly the same. It's really fantastic. Great seasoning and fall off the bone tenderness. The ribs were also excellent - not fatty or tough, with a very fine dry rub. And the brisket was also a winner, very flavorful. I see many critics complain about the lack of flavor, but I cannot agree with that assessment. As for the sides, the mac and cheese was way too cheesy and soupy. The upstart Back Forty kills them on that front. And the corn was fine, though a tad mushy.

Back Forty wins on the sides, but the RJG will always weight the scales for the meat. Overall edge goes to Cousin's but Back Forty is closer in proximity to us. Glad they're both here! These are our favorite barbecue places in NE Tarrant for now. We have a few more to go though...

5/30/08 (new entry); 12/18/10; 7/27/13; 3/25/18