We found ourselves at another barbecue joint this week, which made it our third meaty stop in three weeks. So we’ve decided to make a series out of our summer’s carnivorous outings. Introducing BBQ Beat, our barbecue series where we’ll explore Houston’s suddenly growing list of barbecue joints, trucks and trailers – the old and the new, the classic and the creative. So far we’ve shown you Midtown Barbeque and Brookstreet Bar-B-Que. This week’s stop is at Pappa Charlies Barbeque.
Pappa Charlies Barbeque was launched in 2009 as a barbecue team when Wesley Jurena started competing in barbecue competitions across multiple states. Named after Jurena’s late father, Pappa Charlies was smoking its competition, and in 2014, Jurena took his meats to the street via a 20-foot trailer. It was just a year later that Pappa Charlies Barbeque moved into its first brick-and-mortar storefront in East Downtown in October 2015.
The menu is simple here: by the pound, on a plate and on the side. There’s only one meat-and-side combo here, and that’s two meats and two sides ($13.95, photo above). Meats include pork ribs (for an additional $3.50), brisket, chicken, sausage, boudin and turkey. We went with the sausage and pork ribs, and you’ll get healthy servings of each. The moist pork ribs are brushed with a sweet, tangy sauce and were the best bite of barbecued meat we’ve had in the past few weeks.
We’re usually more interested in carb-centric sides with our barbecue – mac ‘n’ cheese, potato salad – but the greens here are something special. Vinegary, spicy and still slightly crunchy, they’ll make your mouth water. (Even just writing about them gets us going.) Other sides include spicy cole slaw, potato salad, pinto beans and mac ‘n’ cheese.
You have the option of adding the meats to a sandwich, tacos or, as we did, to the the mac ‘n’ cheese. The loaded mac ‘n’ cheese ($10, photo above) is seriously sinful here. We topped ours with chopped brisket, which is tender and dotted with bits of smokey char, and the macaroni itself, well, it’s pretty great. It’s incredibly creamy (the sauce pools at the bottom of the paper boat), and even though hidden underneath barbecued meat, the cheesy flavors are up front and center. It’s the bad-for-you food that you don’t even feel bad about eating.
We’ll stop at more barbecue places around town for our BBQ Beat, but it will be hard to resist Pappa Charlies when the craving strikes.
Pappa Charlies Barbeque, 2012 Rusk, 832-940-1719, pappacharliesbbq.com
Hours: Closed Monday, Tue.-Sat 11:30 am-8 pm, Sun 11:30 am-6 pm