The BEST and WORST BBQ Chains in Texas!

I thought they were better. They were better. Oh, they were better. They were better. Wow. Definitively better. He's getting at you. I'm just telling y'all, I ain't saying that y'all ain't going to like certain things at other spots a little bit better than the Salt Lake. But as an overall experience, meat for meat, I don't know if it's going to be there. What's going on, everybody? We're here at the Dallas airport in Texas, and you know, barbecue is world famous in Texas. So we had to come here, and before our flight, try all of the most famous smokehouses here at the Dallas airport. Yo, our first spot is the Salt Lake, and Jack, you were trying to get us to go here. I was trying to get these guys to come. We were in Austin. It was like raining. It was kind of cold. I heard Salt Lake's really good though, so I'm really glad they got it at the airport because this is our first time trying it. Do you think that the airport location would live up to, obviously, you know, it's difficult to say, right? It can't be too far off. Well, they don't want to compromise the brand. Guys, Terminal A, Salt Lake, let's get it. All right, so we got our barbecue plates. David, tell the people what we have. We got the pork ribs. We've got the sausage. We've got the brisket and the pulled pork. And then some seasoned fries. You have the coleslaw and potato salad. You guys, we are in Texas. We've got to start with the brisket. Let's go. And I will say this. The service at Salt Lake was amazing. They were very, very nice. Jack, you were getting fed. I was getting fed. All right, guys, this is brisket at Salt Lake. Wow. That was pretty good. I mean, generally, you think the chains at the airport, they're not going to do as good of a job. And obviously, I don't know how it tastes at Salt Lake in Austin, but it was amazing. Pork ribs. The flavor is really good. Wow. If you can tell by the amount of sauce on my face, it's good. It's really smoky. Very sweet. I like that aspect. Man, that's good. I think about the airports is they could keep the sauce the same as the actual Salt Lake in Austin, but cooking it is always going to be different because it is an airport. Sausage. I like the skin, the exterior. Yeah. It was very juicy, very fatty on the inside. I could see when I was biting into the sausage, it was kind of like melting my mouth. I wouldn't say it blew me away. That was more similar to a Polish sausage. I felt like a microwave. That was more of that Czech, like grainy sausage. Pulled pork. Wow. It looked dry. Dry. That was surprising. You know what it is? They don't call it the Salt Lake for no reason, because the salt and pepper flavor is really pronounced on everything. All right. Baked beans. Wow. No barbecue flavor. Just straight elementary school cafeteria beans. I think it's going to be tough to beat the Salt Lake on flavoring. I give this Salt Lake a four out of five. What was your guys' favorite? Most surprising was definitely the pulled pork. Obviously, I knew the brisket was going to be pretty good. I knew the ribs were going to be pretty good, but the pulled pork, brisket was my favorite by far. Little curve ball for the pepper flavor, because that really was on everything. Before I had barbecue, I asked Texans what makes good barbecue, and they say the whole experience is not just the ribs, not just the brisket, but the corn, the french fries, the beans. It has to all fit well together. I would rate this a four out of five. I got to leave a little bit of room for improvement, but I was pretty impressed. I'm going to give this a 4.5 out of five. David, do you want to throw in a bit of a Texan accent to ... Okay. I'm just telling y'all, I ain't saying that y'all ain't going to like certain things at other spots a little bit better than the Salt Lake, but as an overall experience, meat for meat, I don't know if it's going to be there. David, our next spot is Terminal B. It's called Cousin's Barbecue. Let's go. All right, you guys, we have boarded the DFW SkyLink to Terminal B, where there is more BBQ. All right, you guys, we've arrived at spot number two, Terminal B, Cousin's BBQ. You guys, this is local to Fort Worth. Yo, they do it a little different here. They're serving it cafeteria style. All right, all right. Let's check it out. Cousin's Barbecue plate, we got four meats. Usually they only give you three, but we had to get an extra quarter pound. Pork ribs, brisket, jalapeno cheese sausage, pulled pork, mac and cheese, and then the broccoli cheesy rice. You know what's funny? It's growing up in Kent, we had this thing at school, at the school lunch, called cheesy rice, and I had no idea why they were eating that, because I was like, how are you going to serve cheesy rice at an American school, because I'm eating rice at home. And everybody would make fun of the kids who wanted seconds on the cheesy rice. Right. Maybe cheesy rice is a Texas thing. All right, guys, we got to just go in, man. Oh, that brisket looks incredible, actually. They said they never freeze their meats. It's all natural. I said, is it any good? He goes, it's a Texas-style barbecue. Okay. I like that answer. This is the brisket at Cousins. Oh, wow. It tastes different. It was really good, but it tasted a little bit too much like corned beef, in my opinion. It was almost charred to the point where it was like a little bit bitter, a little bit too fatty for me. If you're really into fatty brisket, I think you would prefer the one here at Cousins. Here we have the pork rib. I'm really excited about this one. See how that pulls off the bone. Not bad. Pork rib. I can tell the meat quality is really high. Really, really easy to eat. Yeah. On the bone. And it got the job done. The jalapeno cheddar sausage. I asked the guy when I was ordering, I was like, yo, which sausage should I get? The German one or the jalapeno? Jalapeno. He interrupted me right away. Jalapeno cheddar sausage. That's cheesy as hell. It tastes a little bit like you got it from the store, so I'm not like impressed by it, you know? You microwaved it. Yeah. You microwaved it. Let's get in with pulled pork. So salt licks was shredded up into smaller pieces, and it like melted in my mouth. This one, I get more of the pork feel. Almost like a carnitas. Mac and cheese. Macaroni's a little soft. This kind of tastes like kind of a Stouffer's type deal. Not bad, but not in love with that. Yo, we gotta get the broccoli and cheesy rice. Oh my gosh. I haven't had cheesy rice since elementary. Let's get it. It's nostalgic for me. I never had cheesy rice before, but it's not bad. All right, Jack, you were talking about peach cobbler on the way here. Peach cobbler's my favorite dessert of all time. Dude, this peach cobbler is busting out of the shell. Oh, you feel it? You see the crunch? I just remembered that one scene from Deuce Bigalow, male gigolo. Peach cobbler. Cheers. That's good. Oh, no. I gotta go in for a second bite. I'm going for a second one, too. My goodness. Banana pudding. I give the desserts here at Cousins a five out of five. This is my major takeaway, is I thought all the meats were really high quality, like the way it was never frozen. What was you guys' favorite? Oh, me? It had to be this. Oh, the desserts was crazy. Okay. I actually kind of like the broccoli cheesy rice. Really? Okay. Y'all saying everything but the meat. I have to actually give it to the brisket. Even though I said it kind of tasted like corned beef, I actually really like corned beef. That's not a bad thing. What's yours? Well, I give it a three out of five. I'm a 2.5 out of five. Wow. I would have given it a two if it wasn't for this dessert. Dang. Y'all were harsh. I was going to give it a 3.5 out of five. Wow. Now we are headed to Gate E for our last two barbecue spots. Let's see if any of them can top Salt Lake. All right. So we've made it to Terminal E for Sonny Brian's Smokehouse. This spot was actually started in 1910. I read that from the sign, but it is actually from the Dallas, Texas, Fort Worth area. So this is like a local chain. I think the prices are like a little bit cheaper than the other ones. And if we are in Terminal E, I mean, it's where they fly Spirit. But I'm not going to lie. Salt Lake was pretty expensive and it's progressively gotten a little cheaper. So I think we have to take that into consideration. Take it into consideration. We have the same plate as we've always been getting. We have four meats. We have the sliced brisket. We have the pulled pork. We have the pork sausage. And then we have the pork ribs here, beans, mac and cheese, and the special dessert at the end. Guys, it was $16.25. Obviously, what, $6, $7 cheaper? It was cheaper, but it does look like less food. So it kind of evens out. Brisket. $19.10. It kind of tastes how you imagine it would taste, honestly, at a gas station. Let's just move on. Let's do the pork rib. Let's see the pull test. Pull test is nice. Pork rib. That's a boiled rib, by the way. It was soft. Easy to eat. It had like a light little pepper flavor to it. This actually looks pretty good. Juicy. Not dry at all. Cut up in nice small pieces. So pulled pork. It kind of tastes like the inside of a char siu bao. It does. A little bit. Yeah, you're talking about the sweet pork flavor. I guess extra points for that. Pork sausage, guys. Not bad. I like that better than Cousin's jalapeno cheddar one. Easily. I'm trying to think if I like it. The sausage is shining. I'm actually trying to think if I like it better than Salt Lake. Yeah. I might. It was juicier than Salt Lake. You know what? I do. Wow. Mac and cheese and beans. Let's go. Cousin's mac and cheese was really bad. But this wasn't that great, either. It wasn't that great, but I like the firmness of the macaroni better. Yeah, the other one tastes like... Mush. Like tofu. Yeah. Beans? Yeah. How you would imagine out of the can? No bueno. Okay, the question is now. For dessert. Oh, yeah. We have peach cobbler a la mode. So it's kind of warm. Melting the ice cream. Obviously, I would say Cousin's set the bar pretty high for peach cobbler, so. These slices of peaches are way bigger, too. Not bad. It's no Cousin's, but... I feel like I can make this. Overall, I give Sonny Bryant a two out of five. I give it a 2.5 out of five. I think I'm at a one. I get why I never heard this place, but... By far, this definitely is ranking number three out of three. On to the fourth spot. All right, you guys. We have arrived at the Big Dog. Dickie's is the biggest American barbecue chain in the entire world. We're here right now. This is our fourth spot. We got to see where it ranks compared to everything else at the airport. Since 1941. Let's check it out. This is what allowed Dickie's to grow from one store to 500. We have two, three meat plates here. We have the brisket. We have the pork rib. We have the pulled pork. We have a Polish sausage. We have the jalapeno cheddar sausage that we're going to compare to Cousin's. And then you have the smoked turkey. I'm just saying that they got to beat Sonny Bryant's. They better beat Sonny Bryant's. All right, guys. Basically, I would say right off the bat, this is a crumbly brisket. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not the floppy brisket that's sticking together. Oh, that's tough. Really lame. Really dry. The flavor wasn't bad, but it wasn't that flavorful. Probably ranks number three. Just only ahead of Sonny Bryant. All right. Yeah. It looks like it kind of came from a mid-tier steakhouse. Hold on. Look at this. This looks good. I'm actually excited about this bite. Pork rib here at Dickie's. Really soft. Really just disintegrates in my mouth. I would say flavor-wise, maybe not as flavorful as I would have liked, but texture-wise, I loved it. We moving on, guys. We got pulled pork. Visually, I would say it looks pretty good. I really like the texture, but the flavor wasn't crazy. You couldn't really sense what was Texas BBQ about it. If you would have just got that pork at a Cuban spot, one of those Sophie's Cuban ones. It would have been good. Dickie's sausage. I like that better than Cousin's. I mean, that's not better than Cousin's. It's better. I would say that tastes like an old boy Alberto beefsteak. Now, this Polish sausage is going to be compared to the Sonny Bryant's. I like it. Sausage is good. I don't know, man. Dickie's kind of surprised me today. All right, guys. This is smoked turkey. I'm excited about this one. How do you guys compare it to the barbecue we had at the Houston Rockets game? That turkey was good. The Houston Rockets barbecue, that turkey was so juicy. This is actually not bad. It's good. It's mac and cheese. I like this one, actually. Really? Yeah. The texture was better, but the flavor of the cheese was... All right, beans. Not better than Cousin's, though. Not better than Cousin's. We got the waffle fries. It's a little peppered. Well, these are fresh out of the fryer, so they're really good. Wow. I like it. Show them some crisp. All right, guys. Pecan pie. Oh, that is so sweet. I'd say that was pretty good. It's damn good. Damn. All right, you guys. Real quick. What's the ranking of desserts that we had? This is number two. The peach cobbler and the banana cream is number one. And Sonny Bryant is... All right, you guys. We have to assign a rating to Dickie's. I give it a three out of five. I feel like it really deserves a 3.5 out of five for me, which is the same score that I gave Cousin's. I'm with you, Andrew. I'm a 3.5. I'm a little disappointed by the brisket. Right. But everything else was on point. I'll give you this. The decor at Cousin's is better than Dickie's. Where does it rank in order from the best barbecue at the DFW Airport to the worst barbecue at DFW Airport? Obviously, we got to go Salt Lake. Salt Lake. If you have time and you're even in a different terminal, don't take the SkyLink train to Terminal A to get Salt Lake. It's actually worth it. It's tough between Dickie's and Cousin's. I'm going to say Cousin's because you can find Dickie's anywhere. I do think they talked a big game that maybe fell short a little bit. But at the end of the day, it was close, but then Dickie's third. And then, obviously, Wade coming in. Sonny Bryant. I agree. I would put Cousin's a little bit over Dickie's. Just overall, the vibe was better. I think they had more options there. They had the pepper sauce on the table. What did you guys take away from trying four barbecue spots in a row? Because I know for myself, being from Seattle and then living in L.A., barbecue is not a priority. I guess you kind of compare it to Chinese food, right? You have some Chinese food made for a certain demographic, and then you have Chinese food made for a higher demographic. The way they kind of talk about it and argue about it, it's almost like our parents would argue over which spot had the best. Peking duck or char siu. Steamed crabs. Yes. I want to ask you guys, are you surprised by the desserts at the barbecue chains? Dude, I will tell you this, man. I don't know how much butter and sugar they pack into those things, but those are delicious. Save some room for dessert, man. For real. It creates the whole experience. Obviously, this video was about barbecue. In the airport, we tried four different levels. You guys decide what's right for you. But I do want to end this since this was our last video in Texas. Your favorite and your least favorite thing you had on the whole trip. Well, least favorite, I already know what it is. Sonny Bryan. Okay, we just ate it. All right. I was not really a big fan of Torchy's tacos. Oh, I was going to say something from that first concession stands at NRG Stadium. Oh, at the Texas game. Okay. Some of that hot dog. Yeah, and then I would say the best thing that I ate, the bone marrow for $4.95 at Fun 54. Oh. Thinking of Nam Gao, there's two dishes that I'm really thinking about right now. It was one, the small crispy pancake, which was essentially the smaller version of the Bun Xeo. And then the pork and shrimp crystal dumpling. For me, I would say my favorite is we had in the Texas game, Killin's. The brisket. The brisket. Oh, my God. I still remember that brisket. Number two would be that Chinese Vietnamese restaurant we went to. Vin Wah. Oh, that rice. You were going in on the crab rice. That rice was just hitting the spot. What was the most overrated thing? You thought that when you tried it, you're like, that was cool, but it wasn't all what people said it was. The fries that hopped out. Yeah. I do not like those fries. Yeah, I told you they were all right. They came cold. Say they didn't come cold in the middle. The metal's cold, so the metal even ate more heat away. That's my opinion, man. I kind of understand. It was a little cold. They could have heated it up a bit. Because we had the Parmesan fries at Chop House, and I thought they were better. They were better. Oh, they were better. They were better. Clearly. Wow. He's getting at you. Half your heart is Hop Dottie. Just take the knife out of my back. I swear. Take it out. The next tattoo you get is Hop Dottie. Right across the forehead. Okay. I appreciate the realness. The fries at Hop Dottie. Oh, man. Torchy's, I didn't know what to do with that. I just didn't like any of the flavors. I liked the egg for the breakfast taco, but that was about it. I just think it was super overrated. I don't know if it was the timing, but Mickleway. I had heard so much about it, man. Now it could have been because it was cold. The people at Mickleway are so nice. It just didn't quite meet the expectations. Jack, what's your most overrated? It's going to be Mickleway. Because the Torchy's tacos, I would eat it. I get it's not like super fancy. It's not like- Trashy tacos. There was a lot of macros in it, a lot of protein, a lot of egg. That's the next one. Oh, yo. My macros. It's like $6 for all that egg. We just had a lot of good food in Texas, man. I think people don't expect there to be such good Asian food in Texas. They really don't. Now, did we eat the best Korean food in Texas? No. Was it the best Chinese food? No, but Southeast Asian food in Texas, I think it's really, really good. All right, guys. Thank you so much for watching our travels through Texas. From Houston to Austin to Dallas. Now it's time to go home. I think I'm going to talk to people more. Yeah. I don't know if it'll work. What do you mean, in LA? Yeah, I mean, if enough people burn me, then I'll retreat to my shell. Until it wears off. We're bringing that Texas friendliness back. We were saying that we ran into not as many people in Texas, but we spoke to more people when we were here. All right, you guys. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure you let us know what you thought of the whole trip in the comment section below. Along with everything else, just give it a like, subscribe, turn on your notifications. And until next time, we're out. Peace. Yo, what's going on, everybody? Just want to let you know we do have a brand new podcast called the A3N Podcast. We're talking about all types of stuff. We're going to have all types of guests on the show. Obviously, if it's me and David, we're going to get really deep and personal and real. Also, we have a highlights channel. If you guys don't want to listen to the whole entire podcast, there's going to be the highlight clips there that you guys can just check out. Check out the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Himalaya, A3N Podcast. Leave us a review and a like. And listen to it. Peace.