Need a smoked turkey after Greenberg fire? This old Fort Worth BBQ favorite has them
Texas’ barbecue restaurants rushed to adjust this week after the state’s most popular turkey smokehouse was destroyed by fire.
More than 200,000 customers scrambled for other holiday birds after Greenberg Smoked Turkeys in Tyler burned Nov. 7. The company has canceled all 2020 shipping orders.
Angelo’s Barbecue in Fort Worth still has 300 hickory-smoked turkeys to send out this year and will order and smoke more if needed, owner and pitmaster Jason George said.
“We get orders from New York to California, Florida, everywhere in the U.S.,” George said.
Turkey orders are already up this year. That’s because more families are staying home for small, traditional dinners instead of going out, he said.
Angelo’s usually ships more of its hickory-smoked briskets ($95) and pork ribs ($49.95) at Christmas than turkeys (feeds 12, $54.98) at either holiday.
But “this year turkeys are coming on stronger” for families limited by COVID-19, he said.
The Greenberg fire “just adds to it,” he said.
For Angelo’s, 2533 White Settlement Road near the Foundry District west of downtown, the 63rd year has been one of the toughest.
The annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration came just when coronavirus was taking hold, briefly forcing service to a makeshift drive-through and dining tables to a parking lot.
Worse yet, the White Settlement Road bridge from downtown won’t be finished until at least January.
So Angelo’s will endure one more holiday season on what amounts to a dead end in a soon-to-change industrial district.
“It’s been six years of that headache — we’ve just learned to deal with that,” George said.
His beard is now white.
“It’s been a lot of stress this year — change this, cut that,” he said. “We’ve just tried to make it work.”
The turkeys get the same poultry-pork rub and cook over the same wood as Angelo’s first-rate smoked chicken, George said.
And every turkey is smoked in the pits alongside ribs and briskets.
(Some barbecue restaurants buy and resell turkeys smoked elsewhere.)
If you’re dining in, Angelo’s continues to serve the familiar brisket, pork, ham, sausage, turkey, chicken and salami that made it a must-stop for generations before brisket became a fad, plus newer items like brisket tacos, smoked corn, brisket mac-and-cheese and stuffed baked potatoes
The restaurant doesn’t have a patio, but the dining room is gigantic. There’s plenty of room to spread across several tables if needed.
(Always stay at least 6 feet from anyone not living in your home. Wear masks except to take a drink or bite.)
Angelo’s is open for lunch and dinner weekdays and Saturdays, with table service after 3 p.m.; 817-332-0357, angelosbbq.com.
This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
