Rudy's BBQ: Albuquerque Update - Wood

To followup on an earlier post about Rudy's BBQ, in Albuquerque, where live oak wood was used and we visually verified it. Now we know, from our financial adviser who lives there, that they have it shipped out of Llano, Texas to Albuquerque. Along with some mesquite. That is way cool and definitely consistent with Texas-style BBQ.

Albuquerque Rudy's (On Carlisle)

In New Mexico it can be hard to find good Texas Style BBQ so when you find a place then you visit it alot. Rudy's is one of those places that fills the Texas BBQ niche.




The Carlisle Rudy's is one of our (DB) favorite Rudy's. We usually make at least one stop here when we visit ABQ or if we are closer we stop at the other Rudy's over on Coors which is not much different than the Carlisle location.

This Rudy's uses Live Oak for its cooking as the website claims, "Our pits are 100% wood fired with oak, a slower burning wood as opposed to mesquite." We were doubtful that Live Oak could be had in NM but upon one of our visits they had the back gate open while wood was being delivered and sure enough it was Live Oak.

As a family we all enjoy Rudy's. Our usual order is sausage, brisket, tater salad, beans, and taters. We cannot remember a time at the Carlisle Rudy's that the food was not good. Though our usual order is our favorite there are several other meats available. They serve ribs, chicken, and pork.

This Rudy's serves one our favorite smoked sausages which is hard to beat unless you head to Texas where there is so much more selections. It is definitely NOT a "store bought" style sausage. The brisket is very good with a nice flavor, moist, and tender. Rudy's uses a rub on their brisket and no sauce. Our rule of thumb is that if you need sauce on your brisket then you may be in trouble already. This Rudy's brisket definitely stands on its own without sauce.

Also it hard to say you have a BBQ shack unless you have good ice tea especially sweet tea and this Rudys definitely has that which comes in Rudy's trade mark large plastic cups.

Rudy's tater salad is just how we like it. It is a mustard salad in the traditional style from Texas. One of us (DB) has to add just a tad more mustard since he is used to a bit more mustard. Their beans are different but very good. Pinto beans boiled with some meat for seasoning and a touch of spice like jalapeno to give it a nice flavor.

If you like boiled taters (as E.M. does) then you are in luck. Rudy's uses red new potatoes that are very nice and covers them in melted butter if you ask for it.

Here is the general Rudy's Menu.

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Rating:
Brisket 3.75 (tender, a little dry, nice smoked/rub flavor)
Sausage 4.00 (yum, definitely not store bought) ****
Tater Salad 3.5 (good, needs a tad more mustard)
Beans 4.0 (nice, good with fresh onion and bread)****
Taters 4.0 (delicious even without extra butter)****
Sweet Tea 4.5 (Hits the spot, nice large plastic cups)****

Lubbock Rudy's

Well, this has been a longtime coming since I (DB) setup and started this blog a couple years ago but never posted anything to it even after eating at many BBQ places. So it is appropriate I start with a Rudy's since they are the prime source of Texas style BBQ in NM for me. Though this one is in Lubbock.

It is part of my tradition to stop at BBQ while going to and from Texas. In Lubbock I almost always stop at Rudy's too. This trip to the Utopia Shoot down in Utopia, Texas was no different.

I pulled into Rudy's parking lot here near the corner of Slide and the south Loop. As always there is a tempting Free Birds right next to Rudy's but so far it has not pulled me away from Rudy's. The Lubbock Rudy's is of the same style of most of the Rudy's I have visited, especially the ABQ ones, with a large dining area that is long tables with folding chairs with the look of the inside of a nice shed or barn. There some wooden picnic like benches along the outside with large windows that can be raised during the appropriate time of the year. The usual long bin of iced down drinks and the usual butcher/meat market like style of serving you the meat.

Though the brisket is pretty good at Rudy's I am watching my girlish figure and went with a half link of sausage, two slices of bread, a little cup of mustard tater salad, a cup of beans, and a sweet cup of ice tea.

This Rudy's has been a hit and miss for me over the years with their sausage changing brands or style and I am less pleased at times with some of the sausage. But this time the sausage was up to snuff and I really enjoyed it. Eating it plain is good in itself but I like to eat it between a halved piece of bread with mustard and a dab of the Rudy's Sause. It is down right delicious.

The tater salad is good but I always feel it needs a tad more mustard so I squirt some into it and mix it all us. The beans are very good and I like to cut up some onions and put it into it. The sweet tea is always good and I love the big Rudy's cups they sell it to you in.

All and this Rudy's visit in Lubbock was better than I expected. More like the ones in ABQ that I favor.

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Rating:
Sausage 3.75 (definitely not store bought, sometimes hit and miss)
Tater Salad 3.5 (nice, might need a tad more mustard)
Beans 4.0 (good, nice with onions and bread)****
Sweet Tea 4.0 (hits the spot, though they experiment with different brands of tea)****