San Diego Zoo Safari Park

4/25/11 Escondido, CA Have I gone completely nuts?? Am I really going to review BBQ served at one of the most exotic animal parks in the world? Seriously?? Hell yes I am, and imagine how the review would be if they would have let me cook up half the animals I saw! I'd start with Badger brisket, then maybe some Ocelot sausage finished off with polar bear pudding.

In all seriousness, they served BBQ and I ate it, and then I write about it so here we go.

Here's the deal on the BBQ sandwich. The meat was tough, but it was edible. I can't verify that it was some exotic animal, but then again I can't verify that it wasn't either. The sandwich came with a bag of cheese puffs (their choice) and a pickle. For 9 bucks in southern California, I'd buy it again. C-, and a large part of that is for the following reason:

There are secret animals that they will bring out if you specifically request it. You heard correctly. THERE'S A SECRET STASH OF CRITTERS that the public doesn't see. It's like the secret menu at In N' Out Burger. You can't just read it on the menu, you have to ask. My son was interested in one particular weasel-like varmint called the Honey Badger. After a couple of voice messages and a ranger station visit, the nice folks at the Safari Park agreed to take "Benzi" out for a walk so my son could check her out. Cheers to them for honoring request. It was like going to a Monsters of Rock show or the Warped Tour and knowing that if you do the secret knock on the super-secret porta potty, you are whisked down a narrow shaft in a silent elevator to see the most awesome Danzig show (or insert your favorite cheese metal band here). So greetings from Southern California! See the animals, party at the beach, take the kids to the roller coaster, but for barbecue go to Lockhart. Party down.

Eddie Deen's Crossroads Smokehouse

4/1/11 Arlington, TX So the best BBQ in the world is a toss up between Bill Miller's and the brisket sandwich at Boston Market... April Fools!! Seriously, Eddie Deen's gets A's in several areas like the RIBS. Very good balance of everything, taste, texture, color, you name it. They are tender, but not too much to let go of the bone while you're munching down. They are the smaller style, St. Louis style I think it's called. Anyway the brisket kinda sucks. Not a Bill Miller kind of sucks, but compared to the ribs at Eddie Deen's, the brisket is tough and uninteresting. No problem really, the BBQ sauce is good enough to give it some taste and soften it up a little.

Sides here are top of the line. The beans have big chunks of sausage floating around (sorry Coopers and Hard 8, it's better than the jalapino boats sailing the seas of beans). The pickle slices are the big, THICK kind that have the ridges. Much preferred over the thin, smooth pickels that have neither heart nor soul. Another supercool thing they do at Eddie Deen's is give you a bun to make a sanwich if you like. The bun tastes fresh, so they either make them on site or get them from some bakery. These were not born into a Mrs. Bairds plastic bag.

In all I'll give them an B++, ok because it's literally right accross the street from Cowboys Stadium I'll give them an A-- (that's A-minus-minus which is a fraction lower than A-minus). Congratulations to Eddie Deen's for likely achieving an "A" grade with crap brisket. What a crazy world we live in!