Dustin Dorsey
TVWBB Hall of Fame
This past weekend I got the opportunity to check out Zavala's Barbecue in Grand Prarie, Texas near Dallas. Zavala's was recently featured in the Texas Monthy Top 50 Barbecue joints for 2021. They are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11a.m to "No mas". They also serve breakfast tacos on Tues-Friday 6am to 11am. The place is located on the corner of Brisket and Main. How cool is that?
This place serves traditional Central Texas style barbecue with a heavy Tex-Mex influence. There was a small line when we pulled up at about 10:30. It was very windy and chilly on this December morning so my wife waited in the car. The folks in line were there to check out the beef cheek.
The food is cooked on 2 1000 gallon offset smokers using a post oak and pecan.
I for once didn't get completely carried away on my food order. I ordered the chopped beef cheek, some slices of fatty brisket, some brisket boudin, "pizza pepper" sausage, and cheesy hominy, and some banana pudding along with a few tortillas to make some tacos for that beef cheek.
My tray.
The fatty brisket was perfectly tender with a central Texas salt and black pepper bark. They source their black Angus brisket from 44 Farms. The brisket was perfect and I highly recommend it. I've never had beef cheek. The beef cheek was spicy but it was more of black pepper spice than capsaicin heat. It was delicious on some tortillas with some pico and salsa. Watch out for the green salsa. That stuff lit me up! They need a warning label! The "pizza pepper" sausage is named that because of the red pepper flakes in it. It tastes nothing like pizza. It's just a good solid central Texas hot gut type sausage. I was really excited about the brisket boudin. It delivered.
If you are in the DFW area I highly suggest checking them out. I need to go back for breakfast and try those tacos. We lucked out and Tumbleweed TexStyles was having pop up event next door. They make Zavala's Barbecues tshirts as well as a lot really cool Texas themed shirts. I recommend checking them out as well. I just really like their stuff:
tumbleweedtexstyles.com
This place serves traditional Central Texas style barbecue with a heavy Tex-Mex influence. There was a small line when we pulled up at about 10:30. It was very windy and chilly on this December morning so my wife waited in the car. The folks in line were there to check out the beef cheek.
The food is cooked on 2 1000 gallon offset smokers using a post oak and pecan.
I for once didn't get completely carried away on my food order. I ordered the chopped beef cheek, some slices of fatty brisket, some brisket boudin, "pizza pepper" sausage, and cheesy hominy, and some banana pudding along with a few tortillas to make some tacos for that beef cheek.
My tray.
The fatty brisket was perfectly tender with a central Texas salt and black pepper bark. They source their black Angus brisket from 44 Farms. The brisket was perfect and I highly recommend it. I've never had beef cheek. The beef cheek was spicy but it was more of black pepper spice than capsaicin heat. It was delicious on some tortillas with some pico and salsa. Watch out for the green salsa. That stuff lit me up! They need a warning label! The "pizza pepper" sausage is named that because of the red pepper flakes in it. It tastes nothing like pizza. It's just a good solid central Texas hot gut type sausage. I was really excited about the brisket boudin. It delivered.
If you are in the DFW area I highly suggest checking them out. I need to go back for breakfast and try those tacos. We lucked out and Tumbleweed TexStyles was having pop up event next door. They make Zavala's Barbecues tshirts as well as a lot really cool Texas themed shirts. I recommend checking them out as well. I just really like their stuff:
Texas T-Shirts, Hats and Gear - Hand-drawn Texas designs
Texas apparel, shirts, hats and gear that are hand-drawn by two high school teachers. A percentage of each sale goes to scholarships for graduating seniors.
tumbleweedtexstyles.com
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