IT'S BBQ OR BUST IN THE SOUTHWEST OKLAHOMA BBQ BADLANDS

Traders didn't appear to still be in business
but they still had a really nice looking
offset stick burner setup near
the west end of the building

One of the first things I learned making BBQ road trips is to be prepared for Q-raunts to either no longer be in business or to have quite possibly never even have existed despite showing up on Google Map.

So what you do is pick a couple you are sure about and cross your fingers about the rest.

When Judge #1, from the OKC Broken Rib Tour, and I took off from my house at 9:30 in the morning. We had 7 Q-raunts ready to be crossed off our list.

Since we had 7 potential Q-raunts on the list I made my first rookie mistake of the day. At about 8:00 AM, and suffering from allergies, I decided all I would have for breakfast was a Mucinex to save room for all the Q I was about to eat.

The first stop on the itenerary was to be Jack's Bar BQ Cafe in Anadarko Oklahoma. On the way through town we spotted the sign for K.I.G. Que.

K.I.G. Que burned down but the sign remains

The Q-raunt burned down a few years earlier and all that remained was the slab and the sign. From the research I did it appears they never rebuilt but may be operating on weekends from a food truck but we didn't spot it anywhere.

Jack's front door and sign

We did find Jack's Bar BQ Cafe where it was supposed to be at about 10:45 AM. We drove around the building and found their smoker and a sign posting their hours of business.

Jack's offset stick burning smoker

Now maybe the lack of smoke coming from the smoker should have given me a clue, but I was in an allergy and hunger induced fog at this point, and the sign posted with their hours said they opened at 11:00 AM. So we decided to kill 15 minutes of a beautiful Saturday morning exploring Anadarko and then come back for some BBQ.

Read the whole sign

This was where we made our second, and thankfully last, rookie mistake of the day. As we pulled back up at 11:00 AM we realized our error in not reading the entire sign when we arrived at 10:45..... DOH!!!!!

Ok, well now we wasted 15 minutes and my stomach was really getting angry with me for only having a Mucinex for breakfast.... Even worse I had a lot of doubts about the next 3 places on the list but we jumped back in the BBQ-Mobile and headed for Terry's Smokehouse BBQ in Carnegie Oklahoma.

In hindsight I really wish we had snapped pics of what we found at the next 3 stops on our list. Because as I said earlier. I did not have much hope of finding Terry's Smokehouse BBQ existing or being open and I had even less hope for the following two stops, Socki BBQ and Jamie Sue's BBQ, in Gotebo Oklahoma.

Thanks to the magic of Google Street View I can share with you what we found by clicking the links below.

Terry's Smokehouse BBQ - Carnegie Oklahoma
Socki BBQ - Gotebo Oklahoma
Jamie Sue's BBQ - Gotebo Oklahoma

So rookie mistakes and empty lots left behind us. We headed for Hobart Oklahoma and Frisco Creek BBQ. Which was one of the stops I was most looking forward to.

Open Monday to Friday

.....And Frisco Creek BBQ is only open Monday through Friday..... So we got out and took several pictures.....

It looked tasty inside

 .....and drooled a little bit.....

Plenty of parking on a Saturday

At this point I'm starting to think there is some obscure law on the books in Southwest Oklahoma preventing Q-raunts from serving Q on a Saturday..... Of course this line of thinking could be a result of becoming very, very, hangry.

I think these are meat

So before heading south to Snyder Oklahoma, and more potential disappointment, I stopped at the only thing open in Hobart Oklahoma on a Saturday, a convenience store, and grabbed a snack.... Yep, 5 stops in to a 7 stop BBQ Road Trip and that's the first piece of meat to hit my mouth.

Next Q-raunt on the list was to be J T's BBQ in Snyder Oklahoma.... Would it exist? Would it be open?? Would I snap and run out into a field eating grass and dandelion greens finally embracing rabid veganism??? ...... Well ....... Let's hope that last one doesn't happen.

Both of those signs say open!

Thankfully what we found in Snyder Oklahoma was not only an actual Q-raunt, but an actual Q-raunt that was open, and serving MEAT!!! So we placed our orders and snapped a few pics while we waited.

The dining room at J T's BBQ

Firewood and the drive-thru pick-up window

Because we still had one more stop on the list and I had gorged myself on the beef stick a few miles back up the road in Hobart. I decided to just go with a two meat dinner of ribs and chopped brisket with macaroni salad and cole slaw.

Two meat combo @ J T's BBQ

Now you may have noticed that the banner hanging over the walk-up window at J T's said Texas Style. It did not specify which Texas Style, and there are several different Texas Styles of BBQ, and it wasn't a style I am familiar with but it was tasty.

Baby back ribs and chopped brisket

The chopped brisket could maybe use a little more seasoning but it was moist, tender and had a nice smoke flavor on it.

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back

Now I'm more of a sparerib fan but these baby backs were meaty and perfectly cooked. Like the chopped brisket they could use a little more seasoning but I wouldn't hesitate to order a whole slab of these.

Judge #1 had sausage and chopped brisket with
potato and pea salads

The smoked sausage was just the typical Ekrich style sausage served in most Oklahoma Q-raunts but all the sides appeared to be homemade.

The pasta in my macaroni salad was cooked perfectly al dente. Could maybe use just a bit more dressing but I enjoyed it for the perfect pasta texture. The cole slaw was slightly creamy and well made also.

The potato salad, that Judge #1 ordered, looked similar to a Reser's brand but we were pretty certain it was homemade and he also enjoyed the pea salad.

I give props to any Q-raunt making their own sides and J T's appears to be making all of their sides in house and making them well.

If you are in Snyder Oklahoma and want some Q. I don't think you'll be disappointed in what you'll find here.

So now with our bellies full we headed towards our last stop at John & Cook's Real Pit BBQ in Lawton Oklahoma.

Mural on the back of building

We met up with Anthony Hernandez, of Los Primos BBQ Team, at John & Cook's to share some Q and talk about the upcoming competition season.

Smoked Half Chicken

Anthony ordered the smoked chicken and let me try some of it. It looked really good and I liked the flavor and texture of the skin but the meat was overcooked and mushy.

Ribs and Pulled Pork

The ribs had a nice color but I could tell by looking they were cooked to that fall off the bone tenderness which I know a lot of people like but doesn't work for me.

The flavor and smokiness of the ribs was good but the texture was mushy. I choked down a few bites while sampling some of their sauces, which were house made and tasty, but couldn't finish the ribs due to the mushiness.

The pulled pork had good color and flavor also but while it was moist it was cooked more than I prefer it to be.

I didn't order any sides but the order came with chips and a lot of slices of bread.

While I can't say I enjoyed John & Cook's meats. In their defense we were there at an off peak time and the service was great. They were also doing quite a bit of business while we were there. So it's apparently popular with the locals during all times of the day.

John & Cook's would have ended our trip had we taken the turnpike back to Oklahoma City but being the Q-hound I am. I try to stay off the main roads and take the back roads to see what kind of hidden gems I can find.

Would Boss Man's BBQ be a hidden gem?

In this case taking the back roads paid off because we found Boss Man's BBQ parked on Highway 81 in Chickasha.

Boss Man's BBQ menu board

I really wasn't that hungry but sometimes the stomach just has to man up and stretch a little to be a two-bit, hack, wanna-be, Q-blogger. So I ordered a chopped brisket and a pulled pork sandwich.

You might want a bib to eat these.

Both sandwiches were served on plain white bread and were sauced. Which made them very messy to eat. I also thought for the price ($7.00 each) they could be served on a toasted bun or something more substantial to stand up to that sauced meat.

The brisket had decent flavor but was a little undercooked and chewy. The pulled pork was well cooked but the sauce masked any flavor the meat might have had.

At this point in the day my breakfast Mucinex had worn off and we were about 9 hours into the trip. So we pointed the Q-mobile back towards Oklahoma City and called it a day.