J.R. Has a New BBQ Pit: It’s the Pits

There’s something sad when an obviously talented pitmaster is undercut by his overwhelming slant towards cheapness. That’s all I could see looking around at the new J.R.’s Texas BBQ restaurant on Jibboom. Cheap bread, cheap condiments, cheap plates, cheap silverware, err plasticware. This is J.R.’s third or fourth location in and around town. They’re all in questionable locations, minimally furnished, and lacking in the homey diveyness of many of my favorite cheap restaurants.

The hotlinks had that distinct flavor of slightly old meat about them like when you take a risk and cook hamburger that’s been sitting in your refrigerator for 10 days. You can smell it from a mile away and can’t get the taste out of your mouth after a week. Likewise, I oversaw someone eating a cheeseburger that looked as if it had come out of a little league field snack bar. We’re not talking about quality here. We’re talking about the lowest common crap you can pick up at the cash and carry. This doesn’t feel like food made with love. And what is barbecue other than lovingly, slow-smoked love? dense cornbread love? overly sweet baked beans love?

This was none of those things.  The potato salad was nice however.

Having eaten the day before at the big Joe’s BBQ the contrast couldn’t have been clearer. Big Joe strives for quality in preparation and content. JR seems to be a cheapskate who likes smoking meat.