The Shack, BBQ

Reviews 3

GA

Gabe

Having read numerous positive reviews about The Shack I decided that today would be a good day to try it out. My party and I were not disappointed. I wanted to try everything, but three different meats would have to suffice for my first trip. I ordered the pulled pork, sliced brisket, and jalapeno sausage. My inner BBQ connoisseur will now take over and do its best to describe my experience. The sauce: -The Shack offers four different sauces (Regular, Sweet, Spicy, and Extreme) and I tried each of them before applying any to my food. All of the sauces have a more tangy flavor than most other BBQ sauces Ive had before. If Im guessing here, Id suggest that all have a tomato sauce base and not a whole lot of sweeteners are added. None of the sauces stand out as being great when being sampled alone, however, these sauces are excellent when accompanying The Shacks brisket and pulled pork. The Extreme sauce offers no "tongue burn" but does present a strong warmth in the back of the throat like a roasted pepper would. The sweet sauce was very similar to the regular but with a little bit of added sweetener. The spicy was probably my favorite as it took the regular sauce and dialed it up a bit. I mixed it 50/50 with the sweet and ate the majority of my meal dressed in this mixture. The jalapeno sausage: -Compared to the other two meats on my plate, this sausage was very much out of place. To be clear, this is a jalapeno and cheese sausage, but the menu simply labels it as jalapeno sausage. The sausage is good, but thats as much praise as Im willing to give it. It has a good meaty taste. The natural casing seemed a little thicker/tougher than other natural casing sausages that Ive had before. The jalapenos were few and far between and the cheese really doesnt offer anything to the sausage. Like I said in the beginning, the sausage is good, but thats about it. Grade: B- The pulled pork: -When eating BBQ I typically stick to ribs, brisket, and sausage, but today was a sampling day. I am SO glad that I chose the pulled pork. It is excellent. The meat is juicy and unbelievably tender. One could easily sit down with a bowl of this pork and a fork (no sauce) and thoroughly enjoy the experience. Its a little smokey, a little more sweet, and is really satisfying. If I changed anything about it, Id suggest separating some of the fat during preparation. There were a number of decent-sized chunks of fat mixed into the meat, but that is a minor complaint. Grade: A The sliced brisket: -In eight years of living in Lubbock there hasnt been a BBQ joint around that has sold me a plate of sliced brisket that I really enjoyed. Other brisket offerings in the area are dry, lack a good smoky flavor, or are poorly seasoned. Most suffer from a combination of these issues. The Shacks brisket has nothing to worry about. The brisket is moist and I mean dripping moist. The smoke ring is eye-popping. The bark is very tasty. I ate all three of those massive slices of brisket with my fingers. With no effort whatsoever, the brisket separates and just falls apart. If I had to find at least one critique with the brisket, Id suggest that a bit more black pepper would be desirable. Grade: A+ Sides: Ive read some complaints about the mac n cheese being overly peppered. To each their own, but I enjoyed it. It was smooth with a nice peppered presence. The pinto beans are listed as spicy, but Im not sure that I agree. There was again a black pepper presence, but there was nothing truly spicy about these delicious beans. Really good flavor, the beans were prepared properly, and there was no shortage of stock/juice. The meal was wonderful. The staff were polite and quickly remedied our issue with an incorrect side item being delivered with our meal. The dining area was clean. Ill certainly be back soon to sample the BBQ ribs that had my coworker drooling even after finishing them off (without any sauce!).Great food, great people, and Ill gladly support this local business. A big "Thank you" to the owners and staff at The Shack.

JI

Jimmy Ho

My wife and I were heading back to Lubbock for her brothers wedding. The last time we were there, we hit up J & M Bar-B-Q & Catering. That did not turn out well. I still have some friends living in the LBK, and they mentioned that there was a new barbecue joint in town. The Shack BBQ had just opened up in March. It is located on the northwest side of town. We went to check it out to see if we can add this to our Lubbock rotation. When we got there, the parking lot was empty. That was odd because it was during lunch time. People in Lubbock love to dine out it seems. When we got there, I was disappointed to find out they only had ribs on Sundays. I ordered the two-meat plate with an extra meat. I got moist brisket, pulled pork, and jalapeño cheese sausage with a side of macaroni and cheese and loaded potato salad. The brisket was super solid. It was tender and flavorful. It had good smoke from the pecan, but it was missing a more developed bark. That being said, I was sad after eating the last bite because there was not anymore left. The brisket reminded me of the one from Browns Bar-B-Que. Very similar. The pulled pork was definitely good. It was juicy, and the sweet rub gave it a nice taste. The owner said they use a very similar rub on the pork ribs as well. The sausage was not bad. They procured them from the meat market located on the campus of Texas Tech. Did you know that the meat market helps fund scholarship? The sausage was not as spicy as I would like. I probably should have ordered the german style one. The homemade sides were excellent. The macaroni and cheese was creamy and cheesy. The loaded potato salad hit the spot and was fantastic. They also make four barbecue sauces in house. I enjoyed them all, but I prefer the extreme and sweet because of the spiciness and sweetness respectively. The Shack BBQ has to be one of the best in the Hub City. It is good to see that Lubbock now has a reliable BBQ joint besides Rudys. Hopefully word travels out faster about this place. It seems like they would be one of those places that should sell out of food frequently. But then again, people in Lubbock love their chain restaurants. Kyle Farris and his fiancée Kelly run the restaurant by themselves and supply it with local products. I will definitely go back when I am in town again to try the ribs. They are adding another smoker to boost ribs production.

KE

Keith Patrick

Tried moist brisket, jalapeno cheese sausage, turkey, ribs, collard greens, and loaded potato salad today. Overall I think The Shack is making some pretty good bbq, its definitely better than anything else in the Lubbock city limits. I didnt have a dessert because of my diet but I was disappointed to see canned apple pie filling in the back, the Apple Pie Cheesecake sounded interesting. Brisket: Pretty moist with a thick and well-seasoned bark, but however its held at temp is causing the bark to have a soggyness to it. The cook was pretty good, with fat rendered, Id argue the brisket was still just a touch too tight. Beyond the bark the meat lacked smokiness and flavor for me, definitely missing salt. I noticed the thick slices were very short from bark to bottom. I assume the point and flat are being separated for cooking resulting in squatty slices. Ribs: My least favorite part of the meal and its totally subjective. The cook on the ribs was good. They had enough bite but didnt hold onto the bone too hard and they hadnt been overcooked. Im not a fan of the rub, it was far too sweet and masked the flavor of the meat and the smoke. The sugar also didnt caramelize fully so the rub added an unpleasant grittyness to the meat. Spicy vs sweet could be argued all day long, but the texture wasnt enjoyable despite a good cook. Sausage: I liked this sausage. The casing was a little tough, I couldnt snap it by hand, but the fill was flavorful with enough bite to let me know the jalapeno was there. Turkey: The turkey was moist and smokey, it lacked any kind of bark but it was good, I enjoyed it. Collards: I liked the collard greens, theyre chopped large and are peppery. I ate them all, probably an argument for being too peppery but I was a fan. Loaded Potato Salad: I ate a couple of bites to taste but this isnt in my diet. It was very heavy-handed in my opinion, my wife agreed.