Restaurant Brief: Hickory River

We used to have the Longhorn Smokehouse. Awesome Texas barbecue. Good ribs. Solid pork loin. Best brisket within at least 50 miles. Then they changed their name to Hickory River, and expanded, opening up places in Springfield, IL and somewhere out in Ohio. And now, they're downgraded to just so-so, because they lost the touch when it comes to brisket.

Good brisket (and really, and smoked meat) should have the red "ring" around the outside of the meat so that you see that it's smoked. And the brisket still does. The other thing that makes a brisket good is that you get the accordion effect when you pull on the ends of a slice. You can feel that the meat is juicy and tender, but not mushy and falls apart. If the beat just breaks apart, then the brisket is overcooked. You want there to be enough connective tissue left in tact so that the brisket still feels like you're eating a chunk of meat, and not ground meat. But, if you're into chopped brisket, you'll be in luck. Because even when you order the sliced brisket, it sort of becomes chopped brisket anyway.

Happily, everything else is still solid out there. Decent sides. Good pork loin and turkey. Good ribs. But man. That brisket used to be so good. Now, I would have to say that the best brisket in town is found at Famous Dave's, much to CJ's chagrin. Oh well. At least it's not that monstrosity that they serve over at Smokey Bones, which has a ton of fat on it and is sliced the wrong way.

-foodgeek