We set out on the road wearing our BBQ Tour Shirts at around 10:30 in order to beat the lunch crowd down at McClard’s BBQ down in Hot Springs, AR. We were so amazed at the response we got at McClard’s wearing our shirts. I caught a few grown men crying tears of sorrow and joy when they caught sight of our shirts and took note of the epic journey we were on. We got such a positive response from the patrons of McClard’s. More than one person approached our table wanting to know the story behind out shirts. You could feel the pride that each of them felt for this restaurant that they loved. I think they appreciated that we would make McClard’s one of our stops.
The owner of McCard’s, Scott McClard, was busy working in the back preparing food, but was still kind enough to take a break and come talk with us at our table. He even gave us a tour. He spoke with us about the history of the restaurant and about the terrors of Texas BBQ.
McClard’s Bar-B-Q – Hot Spring’s, AR
Meat – 4 –
Sauce – 4 – good balance of spice and sweet
Sides – 5 – Tamales and Fries were both handmade and delicious. This was a great surprise to find tamales at a BBQ j
oint. In my expert Mexican opinion, these were the best tamales I have ever had. Once again BBQ comes through in ways that I could never had imagined. Scott, the owner, said they began making them in the 40’s because they are so cheap to produce. Originally Mr. McClard said the idea would never work, but 60 years later they have become a restaurant trademark.Sweet Tea – 1 – Once again, our desire for Sweet Tea was thwarted by Arkansas’ inability to provide the Sweet Tea we needed.
Atmosphere – 5 – Scott McClard was more than welcoming. He gave us a tour of their entire restaurant and talked with us at length about the history of the store. McClard’s had a down-home feel, and was packed out with locals.
McClard’s was our final stop outside of Texas. We packed back into the car and made our way down I-30 towards Dallas. About 20 miles from the Texas border, we decided it was time for a rest stop. To our surprise we exited at none other than Hope, AR the birthplace of both Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee. Even more to our surprise the BBQ Tour yet again had other the plans for us. As we were entering the gas station, out of the corner of his eye Timmy saw the sign for Uncle Henry’s Smokehouse beckoning us to pay a visit. He looked at Tray and said, “Should we go get a sandwich?” To this Trey chuckled and said, “Of course.”
All we had the stomach for was to split a sandwich 4 ways. By the way, f your counting this will be top #13 on our trip. That’s 2 more than we expected.
Afternoon Delight - Uncle Henry’s Smokehouse – Hope, AR
Meat – 3 –
Sauce – 4 –
We got back on the road with about 220 miles left until we made it into Dallas. We arrived to Dallas around 7 p.m. met by a massive traffic jam. It seems that the great state of Texas was utterly livid with our BBQ tour and this was her way of getting even with us. We sat in traffic for about 40 minutes and finally made it to our exit near Dallas’ West End where we would eat our final BBQ dinner together at Sonny Bryan’s.
Sonny Bryan’s – Dallas, TEXAS
Meat – 3 – tried 7 different meats – of note, they are known for their brisket (- 1 -which we thought tasted like glorified roast beef), ribs (- 2.5 - good, but you could tell they were “chain”) and sausage (- 4 – probably the best item they had to offer)
Sauce – 3.5 –
Sides – 3 – We each had our own side. Timmy hated the beans and everyone else seemed to enjoy their choices.
Sweet Tea – 2 –
Atmosphere – 3 – Good location in Dallas’ West End, but because of fire codes they don’t have a smoker on location. They have it catered in by one of their other restaurants.
We piled back into the Malibu one last time to drive the rest of the way to Waco. The drive back was filled with laughter, conversation and surprise that we still felt like speaking to one another. You would think after spending 6 days with one another that we would have had at least one blow out, but it seems that BBQ has more magical powers than anyone could have ever expected. We finally pulled into around 9:30, thus bringing the BBQ Tour of the South 2008 to an end.
On our way we each made our choice for our Individual Top Three BBQ restaurants and as a group we handed out some Top Honor’s.
Individual Top Three’s
Timmy
(1) Johnny’s
(2) Dreamland
(3) The Little Dooey
Trey
(1) Corky’s
(2) The Little Dooey
(3) McClard’s
Jonathan
(1) Corky’s
(2) Dreamland
(3) The Little Dooey
Jared
(1) The Little Dooey
(2) McClard’s
(3) Dreamland
Top Honor’s
Best Pork – The Little Dooey & Johnny’s
Best Ribs – Corky’s (by far)
Best Sweet Tea – Dreamland and The Little Dooey
Sauce – Dreamland
Best Atmosphere – Rendezvous
Coolest Owners – Barry Wood (The Little Dooey), Colleen Sprayberry (Sprayberry’s) and Scott McClard (McClard’s)
Best Quotes from Trip
“I’m not gay, I’m just lost.” – Timmy
“I’m sorry, I don’t do this much.” – Trey
“My temperature rises when I sleep because of my dreams.” – Trey
“It was really big.” – Jared
“Furst Base.” – Jonathan
“Run like a sasquatch!” – Timmy to Trey
“Grande.” – Jonathan
“Salty Fish!” – Timmy
porkin' aint easy,
Boys of the BBQ Tour
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