The BBQ Shack

note: this joint is in Paola KS

The Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives TV show is a sword that cuts sharply in both directions.  As I noted in my Smokin’ Guns review, business spiked as much as 250% after a Triple D visit - a great reward for joint that’s earned it.  I visited The BBQ Shack in Paola soon after Guy Fieri had blown through town.  The place was packed… so packed, we couldn’t get a dang “Howdy-Do” from a waitress, but we did hear them telling disheartened guests that they were out of burnt ends.  We walked away.

Visiting The BBQ Shack again a couple years after the bloom was off the rose, at least we got a table and some service from a waiterette.  Formerly in a literal “shack”, TBS is now in an honest-to-gosh strip shopping center.  The vibe… you describe it for me: the walls are covered with Andy Griffith show and Three Stooges posters with an occasional splat of over-sized Asleep At The Wheel cover art.  Screams “you’ll love our barbeque” to me.

The food.  Mrs. Hurry-Up-We’re-Only-Here-For-A-Rasslin-Meet and I ordered a burnt end dinner and a 2-meat brisket and sausage dinner, both with two sides.  The sausage was the LAST THING I ever want to see at a bbq joint – softymushyspongy Ekrich beef link sausage.  The burnt ends were dark, marble-sized pieces with tons of bark and smoke ring.  However, being so small, some were fairly chewy. 

not from The Shack, just a brisket beauty shot

The brisket… OMG… the brisket.  THE BRISKET!!  It was competition quality from eye to tongue!  Beautiful walnut-colored THICK CUT beef with at least an 1/8” smoke ring and a beautiful, look-who’s-been-sleeping-in-the-smoke-pit bark.  It was pull-apart tender and grandma could’ve eaten it without her Poligrip.  If either the burnt ends or the sausage were up to expectations, this joint would be straining at the boundary between four and five piggies.  But they weren’t up to expectations, were they?

My professional assessment (based on my scoring standards):

Brisket... Taste: 9 Tenderness: 9 Appearance: 9 = Overall: 9

Burnt Ends... Taste: 9 Tenderness: 7 Appearance: 9 = Overall: 8.2

Sausage… Taste: 6 Tenderness: 8 Appearance: 7 = Overall: 7

Sides… thank the good Lord for inventing okra… and a fry kettle to perfect it.  Wifey had cornytots that made her smile.  The fries… the fries were a greasy limp mess – I thought someone had strangled some sea kelp and smeared it with 10w40.  This is an abject restaurant fail.

With the drinks, tax, & tip coming in right at the $30 mark, I consider this a fair deal for dinner.  The brisket was sensational.  Everything else drags the rating down.  Go for the brisket!

For the sake of the brisket alone,

I’m giving TBS three begrudging piggies.

site: http://www.thebbqshack.com/