Texas-style barbecue lands on Northeast Dekum Street.
Ben Vaughan, an alumni of Michelin-starred La Barbecue in Austin, Texas, has brought his smoking skills to Tough Luck Bar in Northeast’s Woodlawn neighborhood. And while the barbecue joint Lil’ Barbecue is in a bar, kids are welcome. I double checked before my family visited, and sure enough we spotted high chairs.
The space is huge, with both indoor and outdoor seating and a giant ouija board mural spanning one wall. The outdoor area has covered seating and a fire pit for chilly evenings.
I checked out the menu before visiting with my husband and two kids, and was charmed by “The Tale of Bob and Cindy,” which talks about Vaughan’s father, who loves a good captain’s plate, and mother who is vegetarian, and into all the sides. You can go for a “Bob” with all the smoked meats, plus two sides, Texas toast and pickles ($60), or a “Cindy,” which is all the sides ($20). The “Holy Matrimony” includes all the smoked meats and all the sides, plus pickles and toast ($75, pictured above, left). I knew my husband would want to get the Holy Matrimony and it would give my kids a thrill as well. (A dinner at Toki in which their uncle ordered one of everything on the menu expensed to his corporate credit card still lives large in their memory.) So that’s what we did, plus an extra side of mac ‘n cheese ($5).
The Holy Matrimony came with brisket, chicken thighs, a hefty pile of pulled pork, a sausage and two ribs, plus bowls of pork ’n beans, coleslaw, housemade tater tots, Caesar salad, mac ’n’ cheese, eight halves of Texas toast, garlic dill pickles, and pickled jalapeños and red onions (pictured below). Unsurprisingly, it was a lot of food even for two adults, a teenager and a tween. (And felt like a pretty good value to boot.) The two large trays could probably feed three to four adults. It was a perfect introduction to the smoked meats menu.
My whole family agreed the smoked brisket was the breakout star of the platter. It had a thick, peppery bark and was extremely tender and flavorful. We also all gave the chicken thighs a big thumbs up. My 11-year-old also really liked the pulled pork and my husband also liked the smoked sausage. However, one of the ribs was really tender, but the other one was a bit gristly.
As for sides, we all liked the smokey, meaty beans. And my husband and I loved the cole slaw. My mac ’n’ cheese-loving 13-year-old wasn’t too keen on the queso-style mac that was just a bit too spicy for them to truly enjoy. I thought it was a kicky twist on classic cheesy mac. My 11-year-old really liked the garlic dill pickles and pickled red onions. And while a Caesar salad seemed like an unlikely side, I thought it offered a pleasantly cooling counterpart to everything else. But we all agreed the tater tots were a disappointment. The seasoning was spot on, but the insides of the tots were just gluey, as if the cooked potatoes had been run through a food processor. My husband thought deep-fried frozen tots would have been better. My kids somewhat echoed this, wishing there were plain french fries on the menu.
Something to note when dining with kids who easily find foods too spicy: Almost everything was very peppery. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but my older kiddo noted, “Grandma could not come here.” (My mother-in-law famously hates pepper.) The menu also includes a burger ($12), a grilled cheese sandwich ($10), bar snacks like a Frito pie ($9), “sausage dawgs” ($8-12), and smoked “beets ends” for vegans ($10). We probably would have been better off ordering a grilled cheese for my older kid, who said that their “mouth was on fire from everything.” So keep that all in mind if you’ve got a spice-averse kid (or MIL) in your life.
Overall, we enjoyed some high-caliber barbecue. And it was quite fun to dig into those huge platters that allowed us to try a little of everything. The next time we visit, we’ll have our order dialed in.
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