Little Miss BBQ
Sliced Fatty Brisket, Pulled Pork, Jalapeno Cheddar Grits, Ranch Style Beans
Spicy Pork + Beef and Onion Sausage, Bone-in Pork Ribs, 1lb Beef Rib, Coleslaw, Potato Salad
Smoked Pecan Pie
Said by many to be Texas-standard, words rarely thrown-around lightly by respectable sources, it was minutes past 10:00am that the car was parked a stone’s throw from Sky Harbor Airport, the line at Little Miss BBQ already twenty-deep and soon to swell well past two-hundred before the restaurant’s doors opened up.
Spawned from the world of Competition BBQ, one of the owners’ Austin-roots infusing the team with passion and perspective no different from the Franklins and Muellers of the world, Little Miss BBQ represents the dream of Scott and Bekke Holmes – a Pitmaster with a culinary degree and his wife who has helped both as inspiration and in the kitchen.
Opened in February of 2014, patrons and accolades flooding the industrial storefront ever since, a trip to Little Miss BBQ will be immediately familiar to those who’ve dined at Texas’ best, the wood piles rimming the parking lot ready to be loaded into an offset smoker straight from Texas, the laminated outdoor menu promising everything from sliced Brisket, pulled Pork and Turkey to jumbo Beef Ribs.
One-upping many from the Lone-star State by making their spicy-Sausage on-site, samples whetting appetites as a young server circulated the line a few minutes before their eleven o’clock opening, it was precisely as the minute-hand reached 12 that the line lurched forward, several far-back letting out a small cheer even though they would spend yet another hour in anticipation.
Perhaps a bit more packed than usual, the week between Christmas and New Year’s plus a Fiesta Bowl crowd making a long weekday lunch more accessible to some, it was on approach of the counter that the crowd watched meats unloaded from the smoker get wrapped in foil or butcher paper, the moist Protein again revealed by Chef Holmes in a slow and methodical manner as orders are placed, each tray or plate lined and tared as he smiles and thanks fans while handing out small bites and occasional burnt-ends to those most fortunate.
Keeping the menu simple, Meats by the pound or combo-plates featured alongside four Sides, classic Condiments and one Dessert, it was to a grand tally of $54 that nearly four pounds of Barbeque plus one of each side was taken to an indoor table, glasses of water filled from an outside cooler with three housemade Sauces ready in waiting.
Struck by the humble vibe, but not about to waste anymore time before tucking into the Fatty Brisket that Scott’s knife had glided through like Butter, comparisons to Aaron Franklin immediately became apparent as the peppery bark gave way to pure decadence, the prime-grade Beef more than juystifying its cost, as does the sizable Cow Rib with such a deep ring of smoke that it barely adhered to the bone beneath it.
More impressed by the warm sides than chilled ones, spicy Grits as smooth as they get while Pinto Beans are upgraded by a substantial amount of Meat, Little Miss BBQ’s pulled-Pork and Spare-Ribs are also as good as the majority found outside Kansas City, the latter slipping cleanly from the bone with each made even better by the restaurant’s Tomato-based Hot Sauce while Bekke’s Pecan Pie made a believer of even someone who claims not to enjoy such things, the smoked top-layer of Nuts helping to mellow a Maple and Brown Sugar Jam bottom.
www.littlemissbbq.com
