The ‘big chop’ comes to Everman at old-timey Hickory Stick Bar-B-Q
In Texas, barbecue can be breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Hickory Stick Bar-B-Q dishes up brisket or ribs beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, just the way the Jones family has for 42 years.
On Fridays and Saturdays, that can include a double-thick smoked pork chop. At $12.95 with sides, it’s a bargain breakfast, lunch or dinner, or add a baked potato and salad.
Texas has other early-morning barbecue joints. At 6 a.m. daily, Meat U Anywhere opens at 6 a.m. in Grapevine and Trophy Club. So do all locations of Lakeway-based Rudy’s BBQ. (At 8 a.m., the Woodshed Smokehouse opens in Fort Worth.)
But if you’re launching a barbecue bus tour or simply grabbing brisket for later, Hickory Stick is a good first stop.
The wood-paneled dining room and smoky-yellow menu board are straight out of small-town Texas.
Even the giant sign — a cowboy with a cowbell — is a relic from the old Underwood’s Bar-B-Q of Brownwood, which once had several Fort Worth locations.
The double chop is a new addition to Hickory Stick’s traditional menu of eight smoked meats, including both turkey and boneless chicken breast, the regular brisket-sausage-ribs combo, ham, hot links, bologna and smoked chicken legs (95 cents).
If you’ve gone to Cooper’s or Sammie’s, you’ve probably seen the big, bone-in pork chops. Hickory Stick’s has a lighter rub but plenty of flavor.
If you were in a Dallas steakhouse, it’d cost $30. In Everman, it’s $12.95. (Try it with Hickory Stick’s above-average sauce, made from founder Johnnie Jones’ recipe.)
A brisket plate at Hickory Stick is still $10.95. The ribs or combo plates are $12.95.
Hickory Stick opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, closing Sundays and Mondays; 900 E. Enon Ave., 3 miles south of Loop 820, 817-478-9997, hickorystickbbq.com.
(While you’re in south Tarrant County, stop at Longoria’s BBQ in Everman and the original Jambo’s in Rendon. Then go by 4645 Dick Price Road and see how work is going on Austin pitmasters’ new Goldee’s Barbecue, coming soon.)
This story was originally published May 6, 2019 at 5:45 AM.
