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A trip to Houston last week led to a trip to Killen's Barbecue in Pearland. By way of background, Chef Ronnie Killen had been running a barbecue pop-up out of his steakhouse in Pearland for a while, with waits that routinely stretched into two hours on the weekend. Earlier this year, he opened Killen's Barbecue and already they have gotten buzz that is putting it in the same breath of Lockhart's finest barbecue joints. We arrived at about 10:30am on a Tuesday. The restaurant opens at 11. We were about the fifteenth folks in line, but by opening there were probably another 40 people behind us. The line moves slooooow. I wanted to try nearly everything, and came close: Brisket was a little tougher than I would care for, but I blame myself for ordering an end cut. While it was still better than most brisket I've had, it was still missing the deep beef flavor that I've found in the brisket at Kreuz Market in Lockhart. Still, it's probably the best brisket is going to find outside of Central Texas. Beef rib was practically a dinosaur bone. Flavorful, juicy, and pretty fatty but that should be expected. I took a large portion home and this actually tasted better the second day. Pork belly (on the bone) is a unique dish to Killen's. It's smoked pork belly so it's hard to see how it wouldn't be great. A roughly one-inch thick slab of bacon that had been smoked for hours. It lived up to my expectations. Creamed corn was the surprise of the day. It was fantastic. It shouldn't be surprising since the Chef owns a steakhouse, but it's clear some thought goes into the homemade sides. Potato salad was the consistency of smashed potatoes, with a deep yellow color and a heavy flavor of mustard -- the perfect flavor to punch through all the animal fat that was being consumed. I loved it. Banana Pudding was obviously homemade with vanilla pudding, chucks of banana and Nila wafers. I wanted more, but was forced to share with my two young sons. Damn kids... Overall I'd say Killen's is already one of Texas' finest barbecue joints, but I think still has some work to get to the consistency of the places in Central Texas. Their brisket falls short of the best, but their sides are already world's better than anything you'll find at another barbecue joint. I have not tried Franklin's in Austin yet because I'm not willing to endure a three-hour line, but I'd gladly wait 30 to 45 minutes to get more of Ronnie Killen's barbecue. -
We were absolutely blown away by dinner tonight at Cuchara. A kind of last minute decision, with kids in tow, all we needed was a couple beers, a patio, and adequate food. What we got were aggressive, authentic micheladas, perfectly crafted, soulful Mexican dishes, and...a patio. We started with a trio of dishes to share (and the portion sizes really are ample enough for sharing): huitlacoche quesadillas, nopalitos, and tacos chero. The quesadillas resemble empanadas more than what I've become accustomed to, but were filled with delicious white cheese and huitlacoche. Drizzled with cream, these are served with a small side of a smoky and a bit more than medium spicy salsa. The nopalitos are served essentially as a salsa, the cactus paddles diced with tomato, onion, and cilantro, alongside a plate of crisp tortilla chips. The tacos cheer were my favorite of the starters, 3 crispy rolled tacos filled with mashed potato and topped with an eye-opening salsa verde and crumbled cheese. Addictive. The huachinango Veracruzano comes in a small cast iron skillet. A sweet plantain and amaranth cake is topped with red snapper in a rich tomato sauce with peppers (both fresh and pickled), olives, and onion. The perfect balance of all the flavors here reveals a kitchen that knows their game. Sweet met salty. Sour held hands with rich, and everyone played nicely without a cross word. Bravo. Finally, the mole verde won me over by avoiding the dullness I often find with the sauce. Many times, the pumpkin seeds round out any fun sharp edges of the sauce, but Cuchara's version had plenty of piquancy to compliment the tender cubes of pork tenderloin bathed in it. I love getting blindsided by a delicious meal, and Cuchara completely won me over tonight. We'll be back to explore more of the menu (and definitely to try the unique brunch offerings).
