Baker's Ribs ~

May 13, 2022 update: Looks like they now have less locations than what they had in 2015. Even though we label this a DFW chain (5 locations), they still have the one location in the Minneapolis area. The Grapevine store that we reviewed below appears to be closed.

Latest visit: Jun 2015 (Grapevine - closed)

First visit: Nov 2014 (Grapevine - closed)

Baker's Ribs was next on the stack for this blog last November when the RJG decided to take a break. Bad timing I suppose for them. So here we are a few months later, and ready to report after a very recent visit.

Solid selection of barbecue meats (brisket, chicken, turkey, ham, sausage, ribs) along with a decent mix of sides. On our first visit, Mrs. RJG reminded me that the St. Louis ribs were tough, but the sausage and brisket were delicious, which all rang true with me. So on this trip, in sticking with my chicken-first theme, I tried the baked half chicken special (no sides). And Mrs. RJG went for a Smoked Turkey sandwich plate with mac n' cheese and fried okra. And of course, we went about splitting the order. The results? The turkey was a big hit, absolutely delicious, moist (how many times have we sampled dry turkey!) and wonderfully smoked and seasoned. Mrs. RJG also stated the bread to be excellent, and while not toasted, it held together perfectly and didn't become mushy. The chicken was also excellent. Baker's Ribs variety is baked, not smoked, and has a slightly sweet glaze that penetrated throughout. Again, it was perfectly tender. It's a small half chicken, but at $5.99 on the special, it was still a great value. The m and c was very cheesy, though still appetizing and creamy enough to appreciate deep into the cup. Mrs. RJG also stated that the fried okra was nicely breaded, crunchy, and fresh inside. In short, excellent (I didn't partake).

Drinks: Baker's Ribs features a bar area. Their beer taps aren't overly imaginative, but they do have Grapevine Craft's Lakefire, which is always a good choice. We passed on alcohol this visit, to try the soda fountain which features exclusively the Real Sugar Soda Company from Oak Cliff Beverage Works. I never heard of them, so that was really cool! Unfortunately, Mrs. RJG won't let me drink a sugar soda, but they do have one diet cola option and it's quite good actually! But one of these days I want to try their other offerings...

Location: A new standalone location at the NE corner of Hwy 26 and Bass Pro Dr, predictably right behind the massive Bass Pro Shop. Order up at the counter, and they'll bark out your name when your order is ready. Head to the soda fountain or to the bar to grab your beer. And then sit wherever you like. On our visit during the lunch hour, the place was quite crowded, and we did have about a 10-15 minute wait in line to order. But our meal was ready in less than 5 from there.

Notes: Baker's Ribs started in Dallas in 1988, and has grown to a chain of 10 locations, mostly in the environs of DFW. Though there is one franchised location in the Minneapolis area!

11/25/14; 6/29/15 (new entry)

Jack Allen's Kitchen ~ Round Rock, Texas

And here's the final of the latest submissions from Mr. Music. And this one comes highly recommended!

Started with complimentary homemade pimento cheese and flat bread crackers. I’ve never been much of a pimento cheese fan, but since it is homemade, I figured “what the heck”. I’m glad I did because it was very nice! The menu was very interesting and I knew I’d have trouble making a decision! Luckily the waiter came by to tell us about the local craft beers they had on tap. Mrs. Music mentioned they had Live Oak Hefe and I knew my search was over! Mrs. Music decided to check out the Thirsty Goat Amber from Austin’s Thirsty Planet. Neither of us had tried anything from them before; it was nice, but not really my thing. They have about 5 or 6 local craft beers at Jack Allen’s. They source all their food and drink from local sources in Texas. We thought that was pretty cool and decided we’d try a few things. We decided on an appetizer called “Smashed Guacamole” after belaboring the interesting appetizers like “Blue Crab Gratin” baked with artichokes, spinach and parmesan or the “Red Chile Fries”, “Spinach Gorgonzola Ravioli” or “Carl Miller’s Layered Chunky Queso” with green chili pork, queso and guacamole! Our dish was a very chunky, hardly mixed guacamole, covered in pumpkin seeds and cojito cheese. A little onion, tomato and cilantro were sparsely mixed in; just the way I like it! For an extra buck they throw in a bowl of their homemade salsa; yes please! Oh, the guacamole was delicious! I’ll be making some at home! The salsa was good and had a chipotle theme; but what made it awesome was when the waiter brought in a BIG bottle of their homemade habanero sauce which they make gallons of daily! It was yummy and mixed in with the salsa and guac, excellent! It did need a little salt for my taste, but just a dash. The chips were light and crunchy; yummy! On to the main courses. Music junior went for the 5 cheese mac n cheese and baby music opted for the hand battered chicken strips. The mac and cheese was served with amori pasta. I had to look it up, but was basically long spiraling tubes and were filled with the yummy cheese blend! Everyone loved it! Baby music didn’t love the chicken strips as much as the rest of us; she preferred the mac n cheese. But we thought the chicken strips were some of the best we’d ever had! Mrs. Music decided to check out one of the specials; a giant crab cake made with Texas Gulf lump crab in a mole verde topped with fresh relish made from local greens and corn. She loved it and from the taste I got, I did too! I ended up going with the same Mexican/Seafood/light theme and checked out the “Baja Grilled Fish Tacos”; they were stuffed with red snapper and served with avocado, a yummy fresh slaw and “veggie studded” rice smothered in black beans! Lots of their habanero sauce was used on this plate; by me! The entire thing was fantastic! Our waiter, Aryan was amazing; we talked with him all night. The prices were very reasonable too. We had a great experience and cannot wait to return!

- Mr. Music review

Thai Spoon ~ Round Rock, Texas

Another review from Mr. Music!

Thai food is one of my all-time favorite ethnic styles of food. So I go as often as possible! Mrs. Music likes it; she used to love it but sort of lost that love, so we don’t go as often as we used to. Fortunately, music junior and baby music both LOVE Thai food. They love tom kha gai (coconut chicken soup) and pad kee mow (the wide noodles with lots of basil and slightly sweet sauce). There are many Thai restaurants around these days, but I’m all for it! I’m interested in trying each one! We got the chance to try Thai Spoon in Round Rock; rated one of the better Thai places in the area. We didn’t really get to try all the usual items because were weren’t as hungry as usual. Baby music got some dumplings and music junior opted for fried rice with chicken. Both were very good! Mrs. Music and I each ordered a big bowl of Tom Kha Gai and decided to split a salad with ginger dressing. The salad was made with lots of fresh spinach and carrots with cucumber and tomato with a ginger/soy dressing. It was yummy. The soup was great; the broth had lots of flavor from galangal and lemon grass although they strained the pieces of them out. I actually prefer to see the galangal and lemon grass in the soup. They had lots of moist chicken and mushrooms. The soup was solid, but nothing ground breaking. I’d definitely be up to check this place out again and try some curry or noodles! The menu had about everything you know and several you don't!

- Mr. Music review

El Taquito ~

The Round Rock location is closed, the other 2 are open.

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As mentioned a few weeks back, we have a fresh round of reviews from Mr. Music and family on a recent excursion down to Round Rock. Let's see how they fared! 

Mr. Music is a huge fan of good Al Pastor! Trouble is, I don’t really know where to find great Al Pastor anymore. While down in Round Rock over the weekend with the Music family, I saw that Austin and Round Rock are heavily populated with taco stands! I decided to do a little reading to see if I could find a place. Of course most of the places that were touted as great Al Pastor joints (and there were several!), were all near downtown Austin, East or South. By the time I took up this adventure, we didn’t really have that much more time so I decided to save them for another time and see what I could find on the north end. In comes El Taquito! I read some really mixed reviews about the place, but when I saw that they make Al Pastor using El Trompo, one of those big spits like they use for gyro meat and they make homemade tortillas, I figured it was worth a try. My only chance was to run down Sunday morning as Mrs. Music took the kids to the restaurant’s free breakfast buffet. When I got the place, I was a little disheartened; it looked like an upscale Taco Cabana! I was afraid it would be Americanized and fast food like. The counter looked like a fast food place as did the menu.. except for a few things. For one, they have a section on the menu showing the meats they sell by the pound! Deshebrada, carnitas, Barbacoa, Al Pastor and more! Alright, al pastor here I come! I ordered a pound! After I paid, I saw on the other side of the cash register was a big salsa bar! This is getting better all the time! There were two green and two reds and the sauces were labeled hot and very hot, except for one mild red! They also had cilantro, onion, marinated cucumber and grilled jalapeno strips on the bar! As I waited they brought me a basket of hot fresh chips; so I tried all the salsas, which were all very tasty and definitely had a decent amount of heat. I got the meat back to the hotel; it came with about a dozen thin, hot and fresh tortillas heche amano! Lots of cilantro and onion along with my buckets of salsa! The meat was great; it was hot and moist; it was seasoned pretty well and just a little greasy. The tortillas were nice as well. So here is the honest truth. I like this place; the food we tried was really good, not great. The service was awesome and the prices are good. It is pretty commercial compared to the little hole in the walls I usually haunt and is a bit like a chain, but a very good chain! I’d love for one to open in my neighborhood. 

El Taquito is an Austin area chain with 3 locations including the Riverside neighborhood of Austin, and Pflugerville.

- Mr. Music review

Chuy's ~ national chain : Southlake, Texas

Chuy's is still going like gangbusters. Today they have 97 locations. There's one here in Colorado Springs and 3 in Denver. All 3 of our former Tarrant County locations are still open, and Texas remains their stronghold. We'll need to revisit sometime since they're here.

Latest visit: Jun 2015 (Southlake, TX)

First visit: April 2010 (Arlington, TX)

--- Southlake review

Some of you may recall my somewhat scathing review of the Arlington location a few years back (I've placed it below this review). It was one of those ridiculous outings where everything that could go wrong - did go wrong. We had a better experience for a business lunch at the Plano location about a year later. But we haven't been back since. Thing is, the RJG wants to like Chuy's. Even though Tex-Mex is prominently featured in their name, it is their fascination with New Mexican food that keeps us wondering if it isn't better than we recalled. There's so few places that serve New Mexican cuisine in DFW, and so we get somewhat desperate I think. We've become such fans of the food type, that Mrs. RJG and I now have gone to Santa Fe for the last two years and spent a week each year there. I work from the hotel and we eat two squares a day, trying different restaurants (or going back to favorites). And we plan on making it again this year. One of my regrets is not featuring Santa Fe on this blog. I really hope to fix that this year. Anyway, as most of you know already, the hipster chain has made its way to Northeast Tarrant. So how did we fare this time?

Food: With Mexican food, a large of the experience is the chips and salsa. The chips are lame, very thin and break easily when dipping. The salsa is really a pico de gallo. It's freshly blended whole tomatoes (still foaming when served) with other spices. It's not bad (surprisingly), but compared to a cooked and blended sauce, it's a huge disappointment. I think they should offer a real salsa at this point in their career. As for the entrees, my eyes on this visit fell to the Elvis Green Chile Fried Chicken. Oh man. It's amazing I'm still walking around eating stuff like this. It's breaded with crushed Lays potato chips, and smothered in a fine green chile. It was like a chicken parmesan with green chile! It was excellent, no question about it. As for their "smothered in green" it's pretty good, but lacks the flavor we've come to expect from both New Mexico, and even Colorado for that matter. This was served with green chile rice and refried beans. Mrs. RJG went with the Vegetarian combo, but with hatch green chile instead of ranchero sauce. She expressed delight at the crispiness of the chile relleno and the melted white Mexican cheese. And we both enjoyed the rice and beans which were uniformly excellent.

Drinks: They claim fame with their margaritas (don't they all?), and they have a variety to choose from. I had the frozen concoction, and as they promote, it is very clear it's made with fresh lime juice. They aren't super strong, but at $6 I didn't expect they would be. You can always add a tequila "floater" if you want more of a kick. Mrs. RJG enjoyed her margarita on the rocks and stated similar to me.

Location: Chuy's anchors a new strip center on the southeast corner of TX-114 and Carroll Ave. It's a spacious restaurant, and for those coming up or down Carroll, most of the parking is off the freeway service road. We chose - somewhat at the last minute - to go here on a Saturday night. This decision was made at 4 something, so we left right away knowing it would be crowded. Even at 5, this place was an absolute zoo. We did get seated right away, but it was mobbed with families and big groups. There were so many screaming babies and toddlers, it seemed more like a nursery school than a restaurant. Not a pleasant experience at all. I'm not sure what the restaurant can do about this (answer: not much unfortunately), but if you're the type who gets exhausted by having people around you at all times, noises coming at you from all directions, and just general mayhem, then I would suggest coming here at 2:30 on a Wednesday (maybe). Obviously folks love coming here - or it wouldn't be jammed with families waiting to get in. But it's not a Regular Joe's kind of place, that's for certain. When we left, there was a line that made it seem as if the Rolling Stones were there in concert. Whew - good luck to them and their stomachs!

--- Original review (Arlington)

The RJG tries. He really does. He wants to fit in, and see things like everyone else. He doesn't get pleasure out of being a contrarian. But doggone it, here we are again - in the position of naysayer.

Normally I wouldn't even bother with a chain like Chuy's, but there were a few things about it that screamed "come visit us, you must." For one, they're still a small, regional chain. The RJG likes small regional chains. Then there's the slogan "If you've seen one Chuy's... you've seen one Chuy's". Oh, I like that! Non conformity. But most of all, it was the allure of green chile. Complete with a description that the recipe comes from their favorite restaurant in Espanola, New Mexico - and that it's really HOT. OK, sold, we're going!

So the Mrs. RJG and I wandered over to the Arlington Highlands a few Sundays ago for lunch. This was our first trip there, as SE Arlington is not exactly around the corner. I'd read about the Highlands for well over a year now, and was pretty excited to see what it looked like. I'll be honest, it's disappointing. A few big box stores that you all know about, a ton of chain restaurants, and a few independent restaurants. It's almost like an outdoor restaurant mall. I don't think that was the original intention, but that's its current state. Plus the RJG is getting more and more concerned that the only interesting new businesses are restaurants. That might be good for the RJG and his blog, but that can't be good for the overall economy.

In the restaurant we go, and it's packed to the rafters. Out comes the RJG's personal nightmare - the flashing ashtray and the 20 minute warning for a table. Fine, we'll make an exception. That green chile better be good. What is it with us Americans anyway? It seems we're not happy unless we're standing in a line waiting to eat. All of these great independent restaurants that are one quarter full on Friday night, and everyone else is in a line waiting to eat chain food. You won't see this behavior in Europe.... except when the American tourists arrive. Do we just not trust a restaurant to be good unless there are a ton of people there? Herd mentality I guess.

30 minutes later we get our table. Hey, neat place! We like the decor of license plates, hubcaps, Elvis, etc... So far, so OK. Now let's get to business. Or not... Why is it that the RJG always gets the table (at a chain restaurant of course) that management forgets to assign a waiter too. Finally we get someones attention "Oh you haven't been served?". 1 minute later, Slick appears and it seems we're ready to go. A couple of Bohemia beers please. I'm guessing then, after that, someone drove to the grocery store and bought a couple of Bohemia's. Everyone around us, who had been seated later, already were drinking away and munching on chips. We don't have chips yet. Finally we get a hold of someones attention "Oh you don't have chips yet?". One minute later an annoyed girl shows up with our chips. Hooray! "Slick is still at the store buying beer" we think we heard her say.

Ugh, the chips. Are you kidding? The chips themselves are the generic kind that you get at the most basic Tex-Mex restaurants. I can live with that, if the sauce is great. Oh no - it's just blended tomatoes and a little spice. THAT'S IT!!! Blended tomatoes. It is TERRIBLE. And it's not a salsa, it's pico de gallo. Do you have another salsa we ask? Well, no, but we have a jalapeno ranch dressing. Yea, this is worth waiting in line for.

Slick arrives with our beers. Two bottles only. Mrs. RJG asks for mugs for both of us. Slick comes back with one mug. "Uh... can I get one too?" Slick is now very annoyed with us at this point, and he makes it obvious. I mean, golly, we ask for chips and a beer. What next? Do they want lunch too?

A few minutes later we order. This green chile better be DAMN good. I order two enchiladas with it "smothered in green". The Mrs. went with the Veggie enchiladas and the Hatch Green chile sauce (slightly less hot supposedly). Since we passed "Strike 3" long ago, can I just say that by now they have "struck out the side" (the RJG loves sports metaphors in his leadership role, and you can hear my organization groan every time.) Why? Because the term "smothered" must mean "two small spoonfuls". Maybe they were out? There was so little chile on it, you'd think a plateful would put them out of business on the spot. Was it good? I think so... the little bit I could savor held promise. The Mrs. fared better. Hers did have more sauce, and it was quite good actually. Oh, and the rice. Not too bad, but the Mrs. had a big hole in the middle of her rice medley. As if someone took a huge spoon and ate from it. So she made just that comment. Slick sneered. Will these people go away please, he must have asked. The charro beans were the only thing that the wife and I agreed was uniformly good. Hooray, they got something right.

The RJG generally avoids bad service reviews, because I clearly understand that can vary from visit to visit. But this was so outrageous, I feel obligated to say something. Bottom line - this is a very poorly managed restaurant. It may have lines out the door now, but it won't be long before the fickle crowd migrates to the next hip chain, and leaving behind approximately zero loyal customers.

Chuy's, take notice, and get the top management out here pronto and fix your problems, or your investment will go down the drain in a year.

For us, we're obviously not going back. It was a typical "hip chain" experience for us I'm afraid. I felt guilty that the money I spent here could've been spent on two entire meals at Fernandez Cafe for example. I've been fleeced. I got suckered.

For Urbanspoon, I labeled all the local restaurants in the chain as "Chuy's (Austin based chain)" to distinguish from the unrelated locally owned Chuys around town.

4/11/10 (new entry); 2/25/11 (Plano); 6/14/15 (Southlake) 

Thai Chili (Thai Monkey) ~ Roanoke, Texas

Last visit: Jun 2015

First visit: 2003 (Southlake)

It appears the restaurant has been renamed to Thai Monkey since we were last there.

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When we first moved to NE Tarrant in 2003, the closest Thai restaurant to us was Thai Chili in the Southlake Town Square. With their traditional Thai cooking, pleasant surroundings, and a "Kill Me" option regarding heat level, it quickly became a favorite within the RJG household. But over time, customer service waned, the cooking was inconsistent, and we were tired of paying for the markups on the wine. So we started going to Top Thai in NRH (sadly long closed), Thai Rice (Grapevine - also closed), as well as two favorites of the RJG for years to come: Bangkok Cuisine (Haltom City) and Sweet Basil (Hurst). When Sea Siam came to Keller, that seemed to end our wanderlust for Thai food. We had 3 favorites all within the NE Tarrant. The last time we dined at Thai Chili was in 2006 before the birth of this blog. And now we return. For their part, Thai Chili has recently moved out of their posh digs, and moved NW to Roanoke.

Thai Chili has a full menu of traditional Thai selections (fortunately it's a real Thai place - not "Asian" which is sadly all too common these days). The RJG's primary dish is Thai styled basil chicken, not something always offered, but Thai Chili does claim to have an authentic version. It's not (for one thing they use regular chicken and then shred it, rather than ground chicken), but it is a good facsimile. Honestly it tastes different than I remember - very heavy on the onions in particular. Which recalled Thai Rice (mentioned above) and I'm wondering if Thai Chili has new ownership - or at least new cooks. Mrs. RJG likes their Wild Chili Fire which is white meat chicken and loads of veggies. She had hers 3 star Hot and I went with 4 star Hot Hot. Neither of us could complain about the heat levels and they definitely lived up to their name. I chose not to go Kill Me this time, but probably will next, when or if we go back. We decided to forgo our usual appetizer and, as per custom, we didn't have dessert. I will say that Thai Chili's prices are considerably higher than the competition, especially when you consider....

Drink: ...unlike most Thai restaurants in the area that allows for BYOB, Thai Chili sells beer and wine. And it's not particularly cheap either. While it's nice to get Kiran Ichiban on tap, we would prefer to bring our own bottle of Chardonnay at a third of the price they charge.

Location: Thai Chili took over the old Bayou Jack's (who moved to the main square) that sits on the east side of US 377. They don't have the signage on the building yet, so keep a sharp eye out for their placard. They did a nice job of renovating the former seafood house, which was quite honestly a bit of a dive. Though pleasant, it's not near as nice as their former site in Southlake.

Notes: Overall, a good choice for Thai food when up this far north. But if you head further south, better options await you.

12/14/06; 6/8/15 (new entry)

Thai Charm ~ Haltom City, Texas

First visit: Jun 2015

We've been looking for some time to supplement our favorite 3 Thai restaurants in the area, and we've now found it!

Definitely authentic Thai, and they make sure you know that (a plus in our book). The restaurant has become famous for their Thai Boat noodles, which is not something I've tried before, but I'm most intrigued. On our first visit, I went with my test dish / staple Spicy Basil chicken. It's made with ground chicken and when they say 4 stars is hot, they mean it (even though I'm most tempted to try for their "Thai Standard" of 5 stars). The sauce wasn't quite as tangy as I've had at other authentic Thai places, but it was still very good, and the rice was perfectly cooked. Mrs. RJG had the Sweet Chili with chicken and grocery store's worth of fresh veggies. She was quite pleased overall, and we both lapped up the entire meal. Oh, and the owners could not be nicer. Just a wonderful experience all around.

Location: At the far southern edge of what we call Northeast Tarrant County right at the border of Fort Worth proper and Haltom City. You'll find Thai Charm in a newer strip mall catering to the local Asian population, which is on the NW corner of Beach and Belknap. It used to house a restaurant called Thai Belknap. All of the restaurants in this shopping center (mostly Vietnamese) are relatively narrow, but deep, which is nice especially when it's hot and sunny.

Speaking of Thai Belknap, we had tried that place a few times over the years, starting when it first opened (2005/6?) to as late as 2011, but it just never crested beyond average. Thai Charm is far better and well worth the drive.

6/6/15 (new entry)

Vertskebap ~ regional chain ***CLOSED***

First visit: Jun 2015 (Southlake)

The chain fell into debt, tried rebranding (Noon) and finally disappeared.

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VertsKebap is a new chain from Austin, that opened in NE Tarrant for the first time in 2015. They claim to be born in Bursa (Turkey). Perfected in Berlin (hence the name). And jalapeno'd in Austin (lol).

A new twist on the more familiar kebab concept. Combining the Chipotle styled assembly line for creating your sandwich/wrap/salad, with the rotating skewers of meat, Vertskebap has tapped into a winning formula. All over Europe, enticing rotisseries of meat are on every corner it seems. And sadly absent from our own culture's daily cuisine. Until now that is. I had the Kebap, which is a Turkish flatbread (known locally as Pide), grilled to crispness and then opened up to place in the ingredients. I went traditional with the beef/lamb combo (generally known as gyro meat), and added veggies, feta cheese, and the Spicy Red sauce. Mrs RJG had the Verts Original with chicken. Mine was excellent, perhaps the only demerit would be that the meat wasn't as flavorful as I would have expected. However, Mrs. RJG let me have some of her chicken, and it was indeed much better. Next time I will have the same thing, but with chicken, and I will try the Hot Sauce which we presume will be hotter than even the Spicy Red. A regular sandwich is more than filling. We also had a side of fries which were thin and crisp. Just the way we like them.

A pleasant surprise is they have local craft beers on tap! And not lame ones either. The Southlake location on this visit had Deep Ellum IPA, Live Oak Hefeweizen (from Austin), and Peticolas Golden Opportunity. The latter two are not sold in cans or bottles, so tap is the only way you can try them. I had the Golden Opportunity, which proved to be the perfect thirst quencher. They even have happy hour on Tuesday nights starting at 5. They also feature Cuvee iced coffee.

As mentioned in the prelude, VertsKebap is a fast growing chain out of Austin, with locations also within the Houston and San Antonio environs. Plus Lewisville and Addison here in DFW.

6/6/15 (new entry)

Riscky's Barbeque & Deli ~ North Richland Hills, Texas

Latest visit: Jun 2015 (North Richland Hills)

First visit: Mar 2007 (Fort Worth)

As of May 12, 2022 there are 6 BBQ locations in the Fort Worth region.

We first visited this location of Riscky's in March of 2007. It was a cold dark evening, and the place was dreary / ready to close. Probably not the best idea to try the BBQ, but we were hungry, and ultimately walked away disappointed. I never felt we gave Riscky's a fair shake, and so I refrained from further comment or rating, until I had a chance to go back and give it a proper tryout. I never intended that to be 8 years later, but finally I made it back. And I'm glad I did.

Well, it's barbecue and all that goes with that. In the past, I would always get a 3 meat platter so I could try as many cuts as possible. And then walk out bloated for the rest of the day... No more doing that! I've taken on a love for smoked chicken, so as I visit various barbecue joints in the area, that will probably be my first test dish. And then I'll move to other meats as I go. With that in mind, I had the smoked chicken basket which comes with fries at the very reasonable price of $6.99. The taste possessed the requisite smoky flavor and was excellent, though perhaps a bit dry overall, so guessing this isn't one of their strength areas. The fries were hot and flavorful, nicely sliced potatoes but not too soggy. I dipped the fries into the BBQ sauce so I could try it. The sauce itself is a bit thin and lacks distinction. I'm a firm believer that sauce is unnecessary at a great barbecue joint, though it can be a great enhancer if they so choose. To my tastes, it seems an afterthought at Riscky's. Overall, a place I look forward to trying over and over, each with a different meat and side(s).

Drinks/Desserts: Soda fountain, teas, etc... No alcohol. Desserts is limited to Banana Pudding.

Location: On the south side of Hwy 26 between Harwood and Davis. Despite being in the middle of suburbia, the location feels like you're in small town Texas, with the standalone wood building and painted specials on the windows. It's counter service and plenty of booths and tables to sit and enjoy the 'cue. The building has been fortunate in that no development has taken place around it. A throwback to an earlier era, and an oasis amongst the chaos.

Notes: Riscky's is a legendary name in Fort Worth barbecue, and they started in the Stockyards all the way back to 1927, serving out of a grocery store. Today they have multiple locations in the Fort Worth area including Trailboss Burgers and Riscky's Steakhouse.

3/10/07; 6/4/15 (new entry)

Urbanspoon, Zomato, Facebook and new beginnings

In the first year of this blog, I tied the fortunes (figuratively speaking) of the RJG to Urbanspoon. I liked Urbanspoon because it was blogger friendly. The content was solely mine but it was linked to Urbanspoon. I quickly became a Prime member, and I personally added an extraordinary amount of content to the website, including many restaurant fixes. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. I had access to the folks who ran the site, and could make suggestions that were actually listened to. Over time, the RJG became the #1 blog for DFW on Urbanspoon, which is a badge I displayed prominently. I was kind of proud of it actually. A small reward for hard work. Nothing financial of course, just pride of ownership.

While I took the last year off, I still frequented Urbanspoon to see what was new in the NE Tarrant area. And I noticed that they were purchased by a company called Zomato. Some of the features I liked started to disappear, but I figured they were tweaking the site to ultimately make it better. Oh they tweaked it alright. Yesterday they unveiled the new look and feel. What a complete and utter disaster. It's appalling. I couldn't figure out anything on my own (and as stated in the link above, I'm technical by trade), and all my correction privileges were taken away (though I'm still technically a Prime). It's a terrible interface. Now if you want to look for a restaurant, you have to go to the actual town first - not the area! So if you're a tourist in DFW and you want to find the name of a restaurant you heard about, then you better know exactly the suburb it's in. Say you want to go to that restaurant everyone's raving about Chef Point Cafe. I seriously doubt anyone will know it's in Watauga instinctively. But they know it's somewhere in the Dallas area. You'll have to use Google now. They took away all the cool features like "most popular" restaurants. Or if it's still there, I couldn't find it.

I don't like the new look and I don't feel a part of it. So I'm ending the relationship of Zomato with this blog going forward. I'll leave the links, and I'm sure I'll be the most popular blog in DFW forever there (but no one will ever know, because you can't find that either). It's no longer a blogger friendly site. I plan to stick with the site itself and continue to rate as the RegularJoesGuide. One thing I do appreciate about Zomato is the 10 point system (0.5 to 5 stars). That's far preferable to me then Like/Don't Like. If only I can find the restaurant I want to rate...

Zomato has done what a lot of websites try to do: Emulate Facebook. Social media. Ebay even did this! Whatever happened to the concept of "core competency"? Ebay is an auction site, not a social media endeavor. I don't want to "share" which dealers I buy from, what I buy, nor my personally built search engines. Those are my trade secrets and gives me an edge on my fellow collectors. Just like brewers don't publish their beer recipes, and major corporations don't share their inventions. It's called competitive advantage. I'm all for sharing knowledge. It's ideal for many things - and Facebook fills that void admirably. But it's not for everything in life. Urbanspoon was a restaurant rating site with reviews from users. That's sharing enough for me! But nope, Zomato has that familiar post-it note look. The as-it-happens-real-time feel. No sense of history - and no perspective whatsoever of who's posting and rating (background, biases, etc...). I go to Urbanspoon to read the reliable reviewers and I ignore the others. I'm not interested in "We're here now and umm... yummy... it's like soooo ama-zing right now. Carter is so cute when he sticks the carrot in his ear". As my friends in the deep south are fond of saying: Wellllll.... good.

So now what? Yelp isn't blogger friendly at all, and never has been. There are other, smaller sites, but their database of restaurants are so insufficient, it's not worth the hassle.

Well, that leaves Facebook. I've resisted Facebook all these years. Both personally and on this anonymous blog. I could go standalone, and just hope people see my blog via a Google search (and the few people who actually follow it on their own accord). There was a time when Google gave search advantages to blogspot, since it was their own invention. But probably some judge ruled against that, or as a proactive measure, Google stepped in front of it and changed the algorithm. I just hate the idea of featuring a restaurant, and have no one see it. My goal here is actually one of altruism: I want to see good restaurants succeed. I don't benefit personally at all, except the place in question might stay open so we can eat there. Hence, I'm completely anonymous. Believe me, I get offers all the time for a free meal via the e-mail for this blog. As they say, there is no such thing as a free meal. They want placement and advertising. I don't blame them, that's how business works. But we're not for sale. This is strictly a hobby for me and my wife (and Mr. Music!). Actually eating out is the hobby, the RJG just documents it.

So with all that said, I went ahead and created a Facebook account for the RJG.

The RJG Facebook page

The way I built this blog was based on the way Urbanspoon linked their application to it. In effect, I turned the blog into a website with links, etc... I'll probably continue that to some extent, but will also get back to it being more of a blog. So without Urbanspoon, I'm going to do things different. There will be all new reviews (with some recycled language of course - hey, I'm lazy too!) going up for each place we visit. And perhaps a new style to the reviews (still working that in my mind). I'll work from the last month's visits onward. I will link the old posts to the new ones. Of course, many restaurants on this blog will never see an update as we probably won't go back.

Don't worry, we also plan on featuring many new places never covered in the RJG prior.

We begin anew.