Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Beef - It's whats for Christmas


We often have family over for Christmas. We eat a noonish time meal. For about five years, we'd get a honey baked ham. But then I noticed that we had about three members, who refused to eat it. One, even turned down honey baked ham, in favor of State Fair corny dogs. Three years back, we had one guest eating corny dogs and fries, one eating fish sticks and one is a vegetarian. My dad, also must avoid salt and honey ham has a lot in it. On top of that, where my wife used to get the ham, the smallest ham they sold, was something like eight pounds. I ate ham for a week and finally threw the rest away. $60 ham and about one-third of our guest, wouldn't/couldn't eat it.
So last year, I decided to just pick up BBQ. And not just any BBQ.
Angelo's.
They opened in 1958. The year I was born and probably about the year my dad found out about them. He was a USAF fighter pilot and they used to actually divert into Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, land, grab a staff car, drive over to Angelo's and eat. Then, proceed on to Dallas to visit his parents. I remember eating in Angelo's in about 1964. They used to keep sawdust on the floor. It absorbed the juice and grease. They fought with the health department for years, until they finally had to ditch the saw dust. They have expanded the place a few times, but it is still great food, and interesting vibe in the place, and some of the coldest beer in town. Ice floating off the glasses cold.
So, last year, I decided to get four pounds of sliced beef. The two visiting college kids still wanted corny dogs, fish sticks and fries. We told their mom to fix it. Basically, I got tired of running a restaurant on Christmas for people who were pretty much unpleaseable.
The best part of it, is I drive over on Christmas eve, eat a half-plate of sliced beef, pick up the take out and head home. I get some great BBQ, two days in a row. This year, the wife decided that their cole slaw is some of the best she has ever had, so we got some of that also.
When a friend and I head into Fort Worth for the big All Ford Show, we time it to have BBQ at Angelo's.
That photo at the top, was taken on Christmas eve, at about 11:15 in the morning. 15 minutes after they had opened. I'm in the bigger of their two parking lots. The front lot was full and two rows in the bigger lot. About half the people were eating and the other half were picking up meat for the next day. I did both. Jason, grandson of the founder, sliced my beef for me.

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