Restaurant Review

Friday, June 22, 2001

Big taste at Little Joe's

Barn-red Port-A barbecue joint, servers meat smoked in pecan wood; so tasty, brisket doesn't need sauce

Good news

Little Joe had no idea a barbecue snob had been selectedto review his restaurant. I used to live in Lockhart, former home to what was widely considered one of the best barbecue restaurants in Texas. Their barbecue spoiled me, leaving me disappointed in the South Texas versions.
   Not anymore. Little Joe's is among the best.
   Bad news
   The cook took a vacation in the days before my companion and I dined at Little Joe's. That left someone else to do the cooking, resulting in salty coleslaw. We survived.
   Food for thought

At a glance 200 W. Avenue G in Port Aransas Phone: 749-2333 Entrees: $2.75 to $10.75 Credit cards: yes Checks: yes Spirits: Beer and wine coolers Wheelchair access: yes Hours: Mon.-Thur. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fri-Sat. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m. to close Food: 2 ½ stars Service: 1 ½ stars Atmosphere: 2 stars

   You can't miss Little Joe's. It's painted barn-red with mustard yellow trim. My companion and I stepped inside this small restaurant and immediately discovered a few surprises on the menu.
   Little Joe's is the only barbecue restaurant I've ever visited that offers hamburgers, sausage on a stick, turkey legs and - can you believe it? - veggie burgers! A veggie burger in a barbecue restaurant? Is that legal?
   Amy Boulanger, wife to Joe "Little Joe" Boulanger, says they sell 15 to 20 veggie burgers a day.
   Still, any true measure of a barbecue joint is taken from its meat and other traditional barbecue fare - beans, coleslaw and potato salad.
   With that in mind, I ordered the Little Joe's Plate with brisket, sausage, chicken, coleslaw, potato salad and "cowboy beans" for $10.75, while my companion went the unconventional route with a cheeseburger and french fries for $5.10.
   I won't bore you with the details of how everything is cooked, especially since some of Little Joe's ingredients are secret, other than to say the meat is smoked in pecan wood, giving it a delectable smoky taste.
   Each picnic table in this Texas-themed restaurant comes with a pitcher of barbecue sauce on it, but as any real barbecue snob will tell you, good barbecue doesn't need sauce. Little Joe's easily passes for "real" barbecue.
   The meat had such a wonderful taste on its own that I never even tried the sauce. The brisket was tender and lean, falling apart as I cut it with my plastic fork. The sausage, meanwhile, tasted much better than I expected (I'm a sausage snob, too), the result of being smoked twice - once before Little Joe's gets it and again after it arrives. Its rich, smoky flavor reminded me of cooking out over a campfire.
   My only disappointment in the meat department came from the chicken. It didn't taste bad, mind you, just a little different. What's that taste? I asked my companion. Turns out it's lemon juice used in the smoking process.
   I found a few more surprises in my side orders. The cowboy beans - cooked with sausage for added flavor - were spicy and so thick I ate mine with a fork. The potato salad, made with sliced red potatoes, offered a cool respite from the otherwise spicy food, and the coleslaw, made with oil and vinegar, tasted heavier than most slaws.
   My companion's cheeseburger (made with sirloin) came well done and accompanied by fresh lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles on a buttered sesame seed Kaiser roll. The French fries, freshly cut and seasoned with pepper and a secret salt mixture, were dripping in oil (and that's a good thing.)
   For dessert I chose Port Bayou pie, a recipe imported from New Orleans, while my companion chose banana cream pie. The Port Bayou pie is a sweet, dense combination of chocolate and pecan pie on a graham cracker crust.
   Although not quite as sweet, my companion's banana cream pie - filled with banana slices and topped with whipped cream - passed muster, too, although the crust tasted a little bland.
   Service
   Remember the coleslaw with too much salt? Seemed like the entire staff dropped by our table to apologize. First Amy, then Little Joe and, finally, the cook, T.L. Alexander. Enough already! It reminded me of that Monty Python's Flying Circus skit where the apologetic owner commits suicide after a customer complains about a dirty fork. Good thing I didn't mention the pie crust.
  
  
  

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Restaurant reviews are written by a team of freelance writers. The Caller-Times pays for the meals. From time-to-time the writers visit previously reviewed restaurants to update the information.

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