Quality BBQ at Taste-o-Texas!

First of all, let me say that in our opinion good barbeque is very hard to find in East Tennessee.  Some may disagree with us but if you’ve had barbeque in the better Memphis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Dallas-Ft. Worth or Austin Texas restaurants, you will know what we mean.  As a consequence of this dearth of good barbeque, we are always on the lookout for that ‘breakthrough’ restaurant in our area of the country.

Our friends Norm and Linda first alerted us to this little restaurant on TN Hwy. 72, just a mile or so from the interchange with I-75. (Exit 72) They went a couple of times and enjoyed their meals.  Then we saw positive comments on our local Facebook (Nextdoor) site.  So, after a day of exploration in our area, we decided to stop by for dinner at Taste-o-Texas.

The restaurant is in a small strip center next to a tobacco store.  It occupies space that formerly served as an Italian restaurant that specialized in pizza.  The space is clean and has been freshened up with a bit of a barbeque/Texas theme.

At Taste-o-Texas, customers order at the counter and staff brings your food to you when it is ready.  The employees were all cheerful and wanted to insure that you enjoyed your food! 

There is a big menu board as well as some printed menus that customers can order from.  Taste-o-Texas does serve beer including a nod to the State of Texas with Lone Star Beer.

As per their website, the owners of this restaurant wanted to bring authentic Central Texas Style Barbeque to the people of East Tennessee.  They initially focused on beef brisket and smoked sausage…cooked over a wood fire.  Sauce on the side.  They also state that they only use premium cuts of beef and pork for all of their barbeque.

Taste-o-Texas makes up their own barbeque sauces.  I tasted all 3 of them.  The Sassy Sauce was too bland for either of us but it is popular.  The Smokin’ Sauce was the one that Laurie used.  It had just enough ‘pop’ and heat to satisfy her palate.  The first 2 sauces were on the table but when I asked about a version with more ‘heat’ they gave me a container of “Blazing Sauce” to try.  It was pretty good…if just a little too mild for me to be ideal.

I ordered the Big Texan Platter. ($11.99) It came with a choice of 2 meats with brisket, pulled pork and sausage being my options.  I’m pretty burned out on pulled pork in general so my choices were easy to make.

The menu states that you can order lean or moist beef brisket.  I was asked which one I wanted and I chose the moist version.  It was pretty tasty!  The sausage was homemade and it was excellent!

As you can see, my dinner came with Texas toast and pickles.  Platters come with 2 sides so I chose the Cilantro-Lime Coleslaw and the Chipotle Spiced Tater Tots.  The coleslaw was good but not overly distinctive and the tater tots were…well tater tots with a little flavor fried in.  They were a step up from the original but I’d read on the website that they served French fries with Chipotle spice and I think that would have been even better. (They aren’t on the menu though)

Through the internet grapevine we’d heard that as a special, Taste-o-Texas was doing pork ribs on Saturdays.  It was Saturday so I convinced Laurie to order a full rack of ribs so I could share some with her.  The website had mentioned ‘fall off the bone’ ribs and we were delighted when our ribs were not ‘fall off the bone’.  We like to ‘worry’ our ribs a bit!

The meaty pork ribs were excellent…the best we’ve had in any restaurant in East Tennessee and on a par with many good rib joints that we’ve eaten at around the USA.  They are so popular that the owners are now offering ribs on Fridays too!  Laurie’s sides were the Mustard-Dill Potato Salad and the Fresh Green Beans.  Both were above average side offerings.  

The next time we dine at Taste-o-Texas, I’ll order a full rack of ribs and convince Laurie to order a Smoked Sausage Platter (2 links) and we’ll share back and forth!  We will visit this new establishment again…and soon!

Taste-o-Texas is located at 1562 TN Hwy. 72 North in Loudon Tennessee.  They are open from 11 AM until 7 PM Monday through Saturday.  Phone: 865-657-9684.  Website: http://www.tasteotexas.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a bit of barbeque!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave