Smokin’ Joe’s Rib Ranch and RV Park

When I first read about a BBQ joint that doubled as an RV Park, I got one of those twinkles in my eye that only comes from uncovering yet another unique roadside gem on the college football tour. If it’s one thing I’ve been searching for, it’s a place to enjoy some delicious smoked meats in the comfort of my opulent, fiberglass mobile palace. Mind you, I don’t actually own an RV, but the allure of eating BBQ in an RV park was simply too much pass up. Oklahoma: home of catfish noodlin’ and BBQ RV Parks.

In my imagination, the pitmaster for Smokin Joe’s would be a folksy hybrid character mashup of Uncle Eddie from “National Lampoons Family Vacation”, and the famous youtube celebrity “Winnebago Man”. Draped in a vintage leisure suit this character would surely dish out my BBQ with a toothy grin and a profanity laden tirade. Reality set in quickly however, when two extremely pleasant and polite women behind the counter took my usual three meat order.

While the combination of a BBQ and RV Park is an alluring story, it’s the pile of the meat on that tray that ultimately matters. I’m here to tell you that ol’ Smokin Joe ought to consider flipping the breaker on the RV hookups because this guy flat out knows how to BBQ.

The sausage was probably the most common of the three meats. I opted for the spicy sausage, which had a decent snap to it, but was clearly packed too tightly to be made in house and chewed a little too commercial for my taste. The brisket, however, was fantastic. Note the well established crust on the brisket and deep smoke ring. Clearly Joe has spent some time perfecting this finicky meat. The only drawback was that he trimmed his brisket, so it doesn’t have quite the same moistness that some of the Lockhart notables do. Finally, the ribs stole the show. These ribs were perfectly cooked, had a deep smoke ring and silky texture. Additionally, they were enormous and meaty (the pictures don’t really do them justice) and I had all I could handle to finish three of them.

It’s always nice to discover a place north of Austin that actually serves respectable cue’. Oklahoma can be a bit of an enigma when it comes to BBQ (due to the Kansas City influence from the North), so it’s quite a treasure to discover more traditional Texas style BBQ this far north.

http://www.smokinjoesribranch.com/

Now if only we could get one in Dallas…