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Barbacoa… Let’s see, that’s a very popular dish in southeast Texas. It’s a popular dish, especially on Sunday mornings and you see it available everywhere, you know, at places like convieience stores, gas stations and… But, what is real barbacoa like? Look to Vera’s if you are hungry for real barbacoa. Vera’s is, indeed, a family operation, as the business is operated by Adelita, Mando, Mando Jr., Meli and Mandy. This is a rather unique operation in that they cook the barbacoa in a mesquite-fired pit, in the ground. There are only one or two other operations in the state of Texas that cook barbacoa this way. Since mesquite implants such a delicious taste into the meat, you may wonder why more barbacoa isn’t prepared this way? The reasons: It is labor intensive (Mando Jr. says they start on Thursday) and the health police don’t think it’s sanitary to cook food in the ground. Mando Jr. is able to operate under a grandfather clause. Most barbacoa in Texas is cooked in the oven or a crock pot, not in a brick-lined pit like Vera’s is. The preparation of the food begins with the fire. The smokehouse-annex is located In back of the main restaurant. It is a rather unpretentious building, constructed of corrugated metal. The annex portion of the complex is dedicated to the purpose of cleaning the meat, and wrapping the meat in aluminum foil before placement into the brick-lined barbecue pit. If you like good, uncomplicated food that is “local” in taste and origin and you enjoy patronizing a local, hard-working business, and like to get mucho “bang” for your buck, Vera’s is for you! Did I not mention that you’ll get the best barbacoa that you’ve ever had? When we visit this part of the country again, we will be back for more.

Zito Pizzeria and Grill – Menu with Prices – 3030 Healy Dr, Winston-Salem

Zito’s (I’m just a customer) To all those people that have complained about the hours of operation or the hours of operation on the door not being correct. Allow me to give you some background. Zito’s is family owned and I really do mean family. Dad, mum, brother and sister. The family had a tragic accident where they lost their father…..again the circumstances of his death was tragic (sort of stuff you see in a movie and cry). This incident shook the family and it took them sometime to grieve and reset themselves. The daughter has taken the restaurant over, made some changes and re-opened in honor of her late dad and family. It was during this time that the hours of operation were inconsistent. Now obviously not everyone new about this, which brings me to my second point. Ratings we give locally owned businesses….and I do mean locally owned. I have no issue anyone giving the big chain restaurants a bad rating for food quality, service etc. These big chains don’t rely on one specific location for their overall income. This is not the same for individually owned local businesses. Before giving a “forever” rating online that can “forever” damage a local business do them and yourself a favor and complain in person to the proprietor. I will assure you more often than not you will feel better and get a real solution for yourself, while allowing the local business owner to fix an issue and continue to grow their business. Having locally owned businesses in our community is so important to the success of our community. The money stays in our city and is invested back into our community. Support your local businesses or be happy with big chains and Walmart……it’s up to you.

Cook’s Spice Rack & Chili – Menu with Prices – 910 N Grand Ave W, Springfield

I came here to try two iconic Springfield dishes: chilli and a horseshoe. Cook’s Spice Rack doesn’t have a great example of either dish.I had the horseshoe (I got a pony) with yellow sauce and ham. The ham was about an eighth inch thick and pretty tasty, and the Texas toast was ok. The yellow cheese sauce was bland — less cheese flavor than the sauce in Kraft mac n cheese, and no lemon, Worcestershire or other enhancement. The fries were crinkle cut frozen, and almost as bland as the cheese sauce. On the plus side, it was a huge amount of very filling food for the price.I tried both the Terlingua bowl of red and the greasy chilli. The Terlingua reference is to a chili cook off in that town in Texas, which was won by Joe Defrates from Springfield in 1973. His recipe is supposedly used in Chilli Man chilli, which is available in a mix from Amazon, and is excellent. The bowl of red at Cook’s Spice is a relatively tasty beef and tomato stew, but its not really chilli — there are some diced ortega chilis in it, but no chili powder or cumin. The greasy chilli here is an example of the standard Springfield chilli recipe that you find at Dew or the Chili Parlor — fine ground meat, some beans, not much chili powder, a moderate amount of cumin, and a quarter inch cover of melted beef fat, with a side of oyster crackers. Nothing remarkable about the version at Cook’s Spice Rack, except probably the cheapest oyster crackers I’ve ever seen. Just go to the Chili Parlor and get a Plus 1, or better yet, get some Chilli Man mix and make your own.

Bar BQ Hernandez – Menu with Prices – 501 S Glenwood Blvd, Tyler

Best bag for you buck hands down, I would recommend everyone try it. Best tacos for the price and has no competition in Tyler, Texas that can match the taste for the money. Out of the 100 times I have visit and bought tacos from this establishment I’ve probably only had one or two bad experiences. But something about the taste just keeps bringing me back. Salsa is also excellent. Only thing I didn’t like was the popusas, only bad decision I have made since I’ve been giving them my business, and will not order them again. Chicken tacos, beef tacos, Barbacoa tacos, and grilled chicken are all excellent. I would again recommend that everyone tries this place at least once, it will have you hooked after the first visit.

La cocinita Don Jose – Menu with Prices – 1627 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids

Visited La Cosinita today. Very good Mexican food. Family business. Very accommodating. Spoke with Jose and Lupita the owners. Very nice folks. We had some tacos (barbacoa, chorizo, pork and chicken) and menudo. You can tell they were all freshly made. Jose also makes his own tortilla. You can tell. They were soft and fluffy. His menudo reminds of a Filipino dish called sinanglaw. Jose does the tripe very well. It was very good. They had 2 kinda of sauce – a creamy salsa Verde and a red one. Their spiciness were just right. Jose is from Texas so I think there’s some Tex-Mex influence in his cooking. The interior is very clean. Will be going back.

Yoder Meats – Menu with Prices – 798 N West St, Wichita

What they say! Taste The Old Fashioned Flavor ? It’s a joke of a meat butcher shop! The meats Beef Chicken Turkey It’s all delivered via truck and none of the meats are home grown from Yoder Ks.Its all supplied through all the big meat companies and pre packaged.Yes they cut the meat up out of packages but it’s not a real meat locker where they have meat hanging in the back! I wasn’t impressed and you will see that it all taste the same plain.Nothing old fashioned about it. Yes they have different kinds of cheese to cinnamon rolls that come from the main office in Yoder Ks but if you want the real experience drive to Yoder! Customer service is terrible cause all they seem to hire is young people who don’t represent the company very well.Bad attitudes with being very wasteful with the products they are supposed to be selling. I have walked into this location only see them vaping on those ecigs I wonder what they do when customers don’t come in. My viewpoint is they should hire some professional people to run this business who actually care for what they are promoting/selling of the product! If you visit this location Don’t over pay for something that you can pick up cheaper at your local grocery store!

Superhero Subs – Menu with Prices – 518 Bergen Ave, Jersey City

This place went from 5 stars to 1star. On multiple occasions I have tried to get a sandwich and the business was either closed, (although their hours of operation suggested otherwise) or they were closing even though the hours of operation said something else. I took a cab 3x to this place only to be let down. 1st & 2nd time – Sunday November 6th,2016 & Sunday Nov. 13th Hours of operation say 11am-5pm I got there at 12:15 pm and the gate was down. 2nd time I got there at 2:35pm and gate was down. 3rd time Saturday November 26th,2016 Got there at 5:45pm and the lady said “sorry we’re closing, although hours of operation state they close at 9pm. I’m super disappointed and disgusted with this establishment and do not recommend!

Waco Beef & Pork Processors – Menu with Prices – 523 Precision Dr, Waco

Michael and his team run an impressive operation with the highest quality premium meats and cheeses you’ll find anywhere! One of the neatest things about these guys is that you can give them a custom recipe for the way your grandma used to make european style sausage or bologna (or any other meat related recipe) – and they can (and WILL) expertly make it for you! What’s more – they don’t just sell meat, they can tell you EXACTLY the best way to cook it, too!

Sol Taqueria – Menu with Prices – 5447 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis

Sol Taqueria is a few blocks north on Nicollet Ave from my favorite, Taqueria Victor Hugo 2 which is located in Bobby and Steve’s Auto World (go figure). Since Victor Hugo is close by and much better, I would not go back to Sol Taqueria. I had the platillo which consisted of a meat of my choice, black beans, rice, a small tomato and guacamole salad, salsa verde, and tortillas. I had the barbacoa as my meat. Victor Hugo has a similar platillo except you get three tacos instead of a single meat and can thus have some variety in the meat as opposed to a single choice. The barbacoa was essentially pot roast with no south of the border spices I could detect. There were no cilantro, radishes, chopped onions, Mexican cheese, limes, etc. All of the condiments associated with tacos were missing. The beans, rice, and tortillas tasted like what you can get at a local supermarket. The location of Sol Taqueria was previously a Topper PIzza which did not last long and I am not hopeful for the current occupant. After reading my review I perhaps should have given two stars rather than three.

Steakhouse Steaks – Menu with Prices – 1232 Hugh Wallis Rd S, Lafayette

Do not buy anything from this company. Sales person named “Steve” is a scam artist promising top quality meat worthy of tailgating and feeding to your friends. I wouldn’t feed this to my dog. Bottom grade cuts of meat. Go to your local grocery store instead. Oh, and he won’t tell you the company has a NO REFUND policy. It’s printed on the bottom of the credit card receipt, but at that point you have no way to get your money back. Credit card company won’t even help because you don’t have an itemized invoice proving what was purchased. If the food was that good then why don’t they stand behind their product like real businesses do ? You know the answer. The meat is from Lonestar Steaks of Texas, google the name, what they are selling is absolute garbage.

Pollo Pollo – Menu with Prices – 901 S 10th St, McAllen

This place is awesome! It’ almost not visible from the street… but once you go into the shopping center and you find it, you won’t regret it! The food is great. I would describe it as pollo loco…. but better! I think they cook with mesquite which as a valley person… you know it’s a staple of valley bbq. Plus they’ve got great sauces… over all…. delicious!

Tortillería El Comal – Menu with Prices – 13184 Veterans Memorial Dr, Houston

First time. Wanted barbacoa and tortillas. Barbacoa was very good, not greasy. Tortillas were very good, warm just made. Salsas, cilantro and onion came with order of barbacoa. Also picked up extra container of green and red salsa. All salsas were very good. The salsa that came with barbacoa was the spiciest ( spicy but tolerable). The green salsa purchased was creamier and had bits of cilantro. Also had carnitas, was pleasantly surprised, not greasy and not dry. Glad found this place!

LARRY’S BARBACOA – Menu with Prices – 9302-9318, Elmendorf-Lavernia, San Antonio

Larry’s is a to-go place located in Southeast San Antonio, at Hwy 181 & Loop 1604, across from a Valero gas station. This is our favorite ‘hole in the wall’ for barbacoa & tamales. Their barbacoa is meaty and not too greasy. Newsflash to anyone who is not familiar with barbacoa, the meat is greasy. My husband likes it ‘juicy’ because he says that is where the favor is, but I always drain the excess grease and it still has great flavor. They serve their barbacoa with hot, thin corn tortillas, salsa or pico, and have great avocados. Their homemade tamales are amazing! I hate tamales that are big & fat, heavy on the masa and light on the meat. Larry’s tamales are perfection, made with love and TLC. They are small, full of meat, and light on masa. The flavor is delicious and the spices are perfect. I picked up several dozen to take home. Well, I was starving and they smelt great, so I decided to snack on one on the drive home, and before I knew it, I had consumed half a dozen. Yes, I’m embarrassed to admit this happened, but once you try these tamales, you will have a hard time not eating a few of them on the drive home. So don’t judge me! For many of us, we eat a lot of tamales during the holidays. If you have ever participated in a tamalada, you know it’s a lot of work. So by the time the holidays are over, we are burned out on them. But once you get past your holiday burnout, if you start to crave tamales, head over to Larry’s, because he makes & sells his tamales all year round.Finally, I want to tell you when you drive up and see this little yellow ‘shack’, you might be tempted to drive off, but if you do, you will miss some of the very best barbacoa & tamales in town.