My plan was to hit Smokey Ray's, Chuck's BBQ & More, Smokin' Okies, and Oklahoma Smoke BBQ had mentioned they might be in OKC this weekend.
A quick check on the internet and I find out Oklahoma Smoke is in Liberal. We have tickets to the Thunder game tonight so a 5 hour drive isn't going to happen and Smokin' Okies was doing a private catering.
I wasn't exactly sure where Smokey Ray's was parking these days but I knew it was somewhere on SE 29th Street and I had tried to hit Chuck's on several other occasions and had always managed to miss them. So I wasn't sure if they would be at their usual location or not but it was worth a shot.
We stopped off at Sonic to get a tea and then headed to find Smokey Ray's.We found them parked in front of a convenience store located at 4017 SE 29th street in Del City.
This was actually my second time eating at Smokey Ray's. A couple of years ago they were setup at the State Fair so I tried their ribs that day and they were pretty good.
I knew we were making another stop so I didn't want to order a dinner with all the sides. Because they have limited space on the trailer they don't offer smaller portions of meat by the pound so I went with sandwiches. I chose chopped beef for my wife and hoped it wasn't to fatty for her and pulled pork and polish sausage for me.
The chopped beef looked like it might have been slightly sauced or the red color soaking into the bun could have been from paprika or some other chili pepper in their rub. Regardless this was a really tasty sandwich. It had a little more fat than my wife likes but I loved the bites I had of it. We both agreed it had a wonderful smoky flavor and was tender and tasty.
The pulled pork sandwich was really good too. The pork was pulled nicely and not chopped, folded, spindled, and mutilated. It had a little bit of a back burn to it. So if you can't tolerate a little heat you should probably stick with the chopped beef.
This was some of the, if not the, best pulled pork I have eaten in Oklahoma. Tender and juicy with just the right amount of smoke on it. I could eat this sandwich every day for the rest of my shortened life from doing so and die a happy man..... Same could be said for the chopped beef sandwich as well.
I was pretty sure I ordered a polish sausage but I'm almost positive this was a hot link. If it wasn't a hot link it was the spiciest polish I have ever eaten. Not that it was to spicy for me but I was expecting a polish. It was still a good sausage whichever it was.
Smokey Ray's sauce is a chunkier style of sauce. I tried the hot and it had a decent amount of heat that was offset by the sweetness. Honestly though there is absolutely no reason to put any sauce on their meat.
That photo should pretty much let you know what our opinion of Smokey Ray's was. Just moments after my wife snapped this pic I started licking and chewing the foil just to make sure none of Smokey Ray's tasty Q went to waste.
Next stop was Chuck's Bar-B-Q. And at Chuck's you apparently don't need to maintain a good relationship with your dentist as their sign declares that....
Chuck's was doing a pretty brisk business and the sight of their offset smoker setting behind their yellow trailer gave me great hope for some more tasty Q. So I ordered a Rib Sandwich and a Chopped Q Sandwich.
Now I'm not sure if I got someone elses order or what happened but that pic is the rib sandwich. You can see I was given two pieces of white bread, some smoked turkey, and 3 ribs but it really didn't resemble a sandwich.
The turkey was pretty good and the ribs weren't bad either. I don't know about so tender you don't need teeth though. They were tender but not that awful fall off the bone tender. They were pull away from the bone where you bit them tender. The flavor wasn't bad and you can see they were big and meaty and had a nice color. Overall not the best ribs I have had but far from the worst either.
I have to say the Chopped Q sandwich from Chuck's was disappointing. It was pork but you see those charred looking bits there in the pic. Well those are usually the pieces that have the best flavor. Not this time. That was the most horrible, acrid tasting piece of meat I've ever put in my mouth. It tasted like it had been laying up against a smoldering log for awhile. I'm sure it hadn't been but that's what it tasted like. I tried some of the less dark pieces and they were mushy and bland.
All but a couple of bites of that sandwich are sitting in my refrigerator right now. I have some leftover sauce that I may try adding to it to see if I can choke it down but more than likely it's gonna end up in the trash.
Of the two trailers we were able to hit today. Smokey Ray's was our favorite. Unfortunately of the two it was the least busy but Chuck's really does have a better location (NE 23rd & Westminster). A lot more traffic on 23rd Street as compared to 29th street.
The proprietors of both trucks were really friendly and while I really didn't like Chuck's that doesn't mean you won't. So I wish the best of luck to both of them. I know the rising cost of gas is going to make it harder for these trucks to turn a profit over the summer. Chuck's did have the advantage of electricity to their trailer but Smokey Ray's was having to use a gas powered generator at their location. That has to be getting expensive.
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