In a Denton County town, BBQ, steaks and memories of ‘Bonnie & Clyde’
Always known as a set for the 1967 movie “Bonnie and Clyde,” this Denton County town is now also known for both steaks and brisket.
For half a century, diners have come to a local steakhouse, Ranchman’s Cafe, to see photos of Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty and hear about the day Hollywood staged a big-screen “robbery” of the corner bank.
Now, there’s a new Austin-style barbecue stand, Smiley’s Craft Barbecue.
Pitmaster Brendan Lamb came home from La Barbecue in Austin. He knocked around at a couple of other local restaurants and did caterings before he settled into a barbecue trailer at 1100 N. Farm Road 156 in Ponder, 11 miles north of Texas Motor Speedway.
Smiley’s is open longer hours than other barbecue stands, and there’s another difference:
Smiley’s brisket has flavor.
Look, I know the new stands are turning out some impressive barbecue. I love the bark and the peppery flavor. It’s miles better than the barbecue we used to get dished up off cafeteria lines.
But much of the new barbecue — including some made with prime brisket — has plenty of bark and pepper but no flavor. Once you’re past the bark, the brisket is plain.
Not Smiley’s. On a recent Sunday, the brisket was meltaway soft and slightly sweet. In midday when other stands are shutting down, Smiley’s had a stunningly fresh and tasty brisket from the pit.
Smiley’s pork ribs were just as impressive. The turkey and pork-belly “burnt ends” were sold out, but there was locally made Syracuse sausage.
The jalapeno corn and mac-and-cheese were sold out, too. But there were bacon-chocolate chip cookies.
There’s a reason passing trains stop in Ponder so the engineer or conductor can run over for a bag of sandwiches.
Smiley’s Craft Barbecue is open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday on Farm Road 156 at Skiles Road; 817-437-8784, facebook.com/SmileysBarbecue.
More than movie photos at Ranchman’s Cafe
It was a half-century ago.
But movie stars dined for days in Ponder’s genuine small-town Texas steakhouse, Ranchman’s Cafe.
Beatty, Dunaway and the stars and crew of “Bonnie and Clyde” discovered Ranchman’s during filming, when the corner bank was used as a set.
(The new Netflix movie “The Highwaymen” also retells the story of Depression-era bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, who were viewed as Robin Hood figures until Barrow and gang member Henry Methvin killed two highway patrol officers near Southlake.)
Framed news clippings tell the story of the movie filming and also a Denton premiere, where critics were taken from the Campus Theater on a bus tour of locations in Ponder and Pilot Point.
Ranchman’s hasn’t changed much since the days when Grace “Pete” Jackson owned it and Evelyn “Granny” Stack did the cooking. (Jackson is an extra in the movie.)
The menu now features vegetables with the lunch. One popular lunch order is a bacon-lettuce-and-fried-green-tomato sandwich.
Ranchman’s is known for its hand-pounded chicken-fried steaks and hand-packed steakburgers, but don’t pass up the simple steaks or pork chops brushed with butter and served with hand-cut fries and dinner rolls.
The dessert table usually offers blackberry, cherry and peach cobbler, plus a world-class coconut meringue pie, chocolate meringue, a very nutty pecan pie or strawberry-rhubarb.
Ranchman’s is open for lunch and dinner every day of the year except July 4, Christmas Eve and Day and New Years Day; 110 W. Bailey St., 940-479-2221, ranchman.com.
This story was originally published March 25, 2019 at 5:45 AM.
