Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Barbecue Heavens
229
Sonny Bryan's & Angelo's
Cowtown Classics
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
By the time you get to Dallas, you're in the
land of cowboy barbecue, where beef is
king and sauces are thick and zesty. Barbe-
cue is such serious business here, barroom
brawls have been known to break out over
whose smoke and sauce are the best.
Just about all Dallasites agree that leg-
endary
Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse
sets the standard by which all others are
measured; it's the one classic barbecue
spot you've got to visit before you leave
Dallas. Opened in 1958 by William Jen-
nings Bryan, Jr.—the son and grandson of
two other Dallas barbecue masters, whose
own smoke shacks were opened respec-
tively in 1910 and 1935—the ramshackle
little building in a humble section of Oak
Lawn is so popular that even on 100°F
(38°C) days, you'll see businesspeople
with their sleeves rolled up, leaning against
their cars, trying in vain not to get barbe-
cue sauce all over themselves. (There are
branches all over the metroplex, but the
Inwood original has all the atmosphere.)
Inside the smoke shack, you'll order at the
counter, then carry your 'cue to eat at tiny
one-armed school desks (or outside in the
parking lot). Offerings include hickory-
smoked brisket, meaty ribs, pulled pork,
chicken, turkey, sausage, or ham, but the
definitive dish is the beef sandwich—
chopped or sliced—along with juicy hand-
made onion rings. Come early, though;
Sonny's is open only until the food runs
out, which is apt to happen before the
stated closing time.
Just north of the Cultural District over in
Fort Worth,
Angelo's
opened the same
year as Sonny Bryan's—1958—in what
looks like a large Texas Jaycees con-
vention hall, with an almost kitschy
decor of barn wood paneling,
mounted deer and buffalo heads,
metal ceiling fans, and Formica
tables. Angelo George's son Skeet still
runs the business, and his son Jason is
the current pit master, turning out fan-
tastic hickory-smoked dry-rubbed bar-
becue. The sliced beef sandwich and
beef brisket plates are the standard,
though you can also detour toward
salami, ham, turkey, and Polish sau-
sage; chicken and pork ribs are served
all day “while they last,” though hick-
ory-smoked beef ribs don't make an
appearance until the table service
kicks in after 3:30pm. Angelo's also
Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse is a requisite stop
in Dallas.
