Restaurant Review: Welcome Home

Texas BBQ reopens in Tel Aviv's trendy Florentine neighborhood.

MARCH 20, 2020 09:35

The unmistakable aroma hits you the moment you walk into Texas BBQ in their newest location in Tel Aviv’s trendy Florentine neighborhood: that rich, smoky, mouth-watering smell of slow cooked meats which have spent several hours in the restaurant’s smokers.

Originally located in Ramat Hachayal, Texas BBQ reopened last month in Florentine with a new menu and a new vibe. But with the same owners, the food has stayed the same: heavenly.

The menu is simple: meat and lots of it.

Unlike the restaurant in Ramat Hachayal, guests order their meal at the cash register and pick it up to bring back to their tables when it’s ready.

We started off with wings, and while nothing beats Texas Dry Rub, as a Canadian I had to order the ones with the Sriracha maple sauce. I wasn’t disappointed, sweet with a kick of spice. The perfect way to begin a meal.

We also got the restaurant’s star appetizer, chicken waffle.

As a Canadanian transplant in Israel, I’ve never before had this southern soul food. Similar to the chicken wings, the chicken waffle came with sriracha maple sauce. While there are a number of other restaurants that serve crispy BBQ chicken, there are not many which serve chicken drenched in a sweet maple sauce.

The dish, which came with two crispy chicken pieces on top of one waffle, was truly finger-lickin’ good.

But you can’t go to a Texas BBQ place without ordering meats, and before I could even finish the last wing or my chicken waffle, the platter of the various meats I ordered was ready.

I decided to sample a bit of each kind of meat, forgoing only the chicken and salmon, because while I came to dinner extremely hungry, it would have been just too much to handle.

My combination platter consisted of slices of smoked brisket, short-ribs off of the bone, and a large chorizo sausage. These were served with pickled red onions and homemade Texas-style pickles as well as mustard.

It was a tough to decide which of the smoked beef cuts was my favorite. The lean brisket, cooked at a low-heat in an industrial-size smoker for 14 hours or more, was amazing and needed just a bit of mustard. But the asado short ribs were impeccable. While there was no bone for the meat to fall off of, there was just the right amount of fat to give the tender meat that perfect taste. With the naturally fatty beef giving the meat all the flavor necessary, there was no need to add any sauce.

While I ordered a mix of the meats, my dinner companion went for a burger.

With a choice of seven different burgers, including a vegan option (Vegan Trouble), he chose the “Overserved Burger” which comes with pulled beef short ribs, secret cheese sauce whiskey BBQ sauce and crunchy potato chips.

We could barely finish the meal but we couldn’t leave any of the mouth-watering meat behind.

Texas BBQ is a great place for take-out as well as delivery since the restaurant, like many in Tel Aviv, is working with the Wolt food delivery service app. But meat is always best served right out of the cooker, and with attentive and smiling staff, Texas BBQ is the perfect place for when you're craving a piece of Down South in the Holy Land.

TEXAS BBQ

Not kosher

Shalma Rd. 43, Tel Aviv

Phone: 03-676-8661

Open 7 days, 12 noon-11 p.m.

The writer was a guest of the restaurant.