New name, new city, same BBQ: The popular Lil JJ’s restaurant opens in north Fort Worth
It’s tough to move a restaurant to a new city.
It’s even tougher to move with a new name.
So, north Fort Worth may not know yet that Lil JJ’s Smokehouse is really a heralded barbecue restaurant from cities to the east, the former Berry Best BBQ.
Lil JJ’s Smokehouse, new at 9321 North Freeway, nestles snugly into a strip center next door to an Einstein Bros. Bagels, next to restaurant giants LongHorn Steakhouse and Lupe Tortilla.
Lil JJ’s is so new that the sign is simply taped in the window. The only way to read the menu early this week was on your phone.
But Lil JJ’s is definitely serving the familiar old-time cookout-style barbecue and “Berry beans” that put Berry Best BBQ in Texas Monthly magazine for past locations in Keller, Hurst, Watauga and North Richland Hills.
This is soft, sweet barbecue smoked over pecan wood, with a slightly sweet rub instead of the peppery (and pricey) Hill Country style like at That Big Grocery Store across the highway.
The brisket and even the pork ribs fall apart at a fork’s touch. They go with a sweeter, smoky sauce.
The choices include some unusual options: chopped chicken along with chopped beef, smoked bologna, smoked brisket Frito pie or nachos and smoked hot dogs.
And some of the best food here isn’t the meat.
In 2017, Texas Monthly magazine wrote: “Rarely does a beloved bean recipe spur the birth of a barbecue operation.”
John Berry’s friends told him his baked beans are so good, he should open a barbecue restaurant.
I know patrons who have driven across town for the beans. They’re really your basic baked beans, but with barbecue sauce and ground beef.
Lil JJ’s also offers giant baked potatoes — a must in barbecue restaurants these days — and solid sides such as sweet potatoes, collard greens, mac-and-cheese (with optional brisket) and house-made cornbread.
Do not miss the peach cobbler. Or there’s banana pudding.
(Another reason Lil JJ’s needs menus. The cobbler and pudding look much better in person than on a phone.)
Lil JJ’s is open for lunch and dinner weekdays and lunch Sundays; 817-615-9460, liljjsmokehouse.com.
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