Skip to main content

Rudy's Bar-B-Q ~ regional chain : Colorado Springs, Colorado


First visit: Mar 2025

HQ: Lakeway, TX (Austin area). Founded: 1989 (Leon Springs, TX)

It's Tuesday and it's time for Mrs. RJG and I to enjoy a lunch together. We've been talking about going to Rudy's since we moved back seven years ago, so maybe it's high time we get on that. Sitting prominently on US-24 near RJG favorite Fossil Brewing, it's a noticeable location that usually gets the "we should go there sometime" statement as we drive by.

You'll see the large gas station up front, and as you walk in there will be the "country store", but not a typical convenience setup, with primarily BBQ branded goods on sale. The back is where the barbecue will be found and it's obvious that it serves as the place's primary business. They have multiple cash registers and you order from there. They asked if it was our first time at Rudy's. We said yes, and out came two samples: One of the brisket and the other with turkey. Both were excellent. I came for the half chicken and Mrs. RJG settled on the brisket sandwich with a side of the green chile stew. After a couple of moments our tray was full, and we find a park bench seat, similar to other Texas barbeque houses we remember.

We each tried a bite of the green chile. Excellent flavor loaded with ingredients including potatoes. Not spicy but hot temperature. She loved the sandwich, as the bread was of a high quality and we already knew the meat would be good. My half chicken was excellent, loaded with flavor. It was moist, tender, messy, and a delight to eat. We also received a few slices of bread. I decided to pour some of their barbecue sauce on it. Interesting to note that their "regular" sauce is indeed quite spicy. I didn't venture to their branded "Sissy Sauce". Next time I want to try their turkey meal. Mrs. RJG wants to try their beans as a side. Service was great and the prices are reasonable for this day and age. We were both full.

Overall an excellent experience and into the RJG Rotation goes Rudy's. Mrs. RJG wants to come back before the annual review. As usual I forgot to take photos. What a knucklehead.

Locations: 50 total; Texas (38); Arizona (5); New Mexico (4); Oklahoma (2); Arkansas (1 - coming soon); plus this one location in Colorado.

3/11/25

3/11/25 (new entry)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Five Guys Burgers and Fries ~ national chain : Colorado Springs, Colorado

Latest visit: Oct 2023 (Colorado Springs - Interquest) First visit: Jan 2007 (Reston, VA) Locations: 49 states + DC. Only Alaska is missing. There are 30 in Colorado (4 in the Springs). That's +3 from last year. Texas has 68 (our former locale of Southlake is closed, so Hurst would have been the closest). There are 123 in California which is their largest state presence. The original Reston location that I first went to is still going.  In what appears to be a recurring theme, I state each year this will be my last visit to Five Guys. Only to return anyway. This year's excuse is I wanted to try their new location, which very recently opened up close to our house. This is definitely the closest we've ever lived to a Five Guys - even the Reston location was further from my office at the time. And I thought maybe it would make a good choice for a weekday lunch while working from home, thus putting Five Guys back into the rotation. I put that idea to the test here this Saturda...

Denver's Old School Italian Restaurants

I know, I know... I haven't posted anything in 6 months. You were checking back every week, then every month and now I've fallen completely off your radar. Sorry about that. My only lame excuse is that I've been "saving up" for a good one. I've been wanting to write about Denver's Italian restaurants since we returned part-time last year. And you all know how the RJG feels about this style of restaurant . As someone who grew up in Dallas, perhaps I've been more drawn to cities that embrace their history rather than completely demolish it. Only recently has Dallas become more acutely aware of their past. Previously, any buildings not in use have been razed as fast as possible, to make way for the next brand new shopping center - all in the latest architecture naturally. Contrarily you have cities like St. Louis that are 19th and 20th century industrial ghost towns - places frozen in time because for most everyone who could, they just up and left to ...

Taco Casa ~ regional chain : Keller, Texas

Latest visit: Oct 2018 (Keller, TX)  First visit: 1992 (Durant, OK) We snuck into DFW to move the RJG's official Mom to Colorado Springs this past October. This was our only restaurant visit, as we were on a tight schedule. Could this be the last RJG visit in DFW (other than the airport of course)? It could very well be... wow, seems strange. Hard to believe the majority of the below review is now 10.5 years old. --- The RJG likes him some tacos. We mentioned in other posts that while Italian and Thai probably constitute our favorite restaurant experiences, taco places represent our favorite fast food excursion. And we'll boldly admit that it isn't even the authentic Mexican taco / taqueria stand that has been in vogue these last 25 years (though we like those too!). No, we like the good old fashioned American styled, crunchy taco. Taco Bell may be its iconic image, but it's hardly the best representative. Most taco chains are of the regional variety. And we've ...