Awesome Opie’s

I’ve had Opie’s before and I remember thinking it was good. But I was in a hurry and honestly, on that day it was “just BBQ”.

But I went back recently.

I was NOT in a hurry. Honestly, you should NEVER be in a hurry to eat. Why not make eating a JOY rather than a JOB. Just a one letter difference, but what a difference it makes.

I’m just coming off of a recent trip and short writeup of the City Market down in Luling. That City Market BBQ was outstanding and I had to admit it was some of the best.

But as I’m getting BBQ cracklins’ all over my keyboard from Opie’s, I might have given too much praise for City Market. That place is darned fine. Darned fine.

But Opie’s, I think, tops it.

That is right. I would put Opie’s ABOVE City Market. Maybe Opie’s had a great day (Like Nebraska Cornhusker’s victory over Florida Atlantic) and City Market was just having a GOOD day. But nonetheless – right now – mano-a-mano (sp?) I would pick Opie’s everytime.

Let dig into why…

Sausage – Honestly sausage is a tie. The Opie’s Jalapeno Cheese Sausage is crazy-good. Oh, I can hear the whiners and so called sausage purists saying you can’t put cheese inside a sausage. I know that they are thinking, the doggone thing isn’t kosher anymore. Or they might be thinking that cheese in sausage is too bourgeois. But come-on folks, this tastes AWESOME (cue sound of harps and angelic choirs).

Brisket – Holy cow. Did they drop a keg of pure butter into the thing? I’m not sure but the Opie’s brisket is probably the official post child eatery of the Atkins diet. Certainly it ought to be served in the cafeteria of Heart Hospital, right? It is melt in your mouth good.

Pork Chop – Super good. Reheats splendidly. Big, thick and juicy. Standard pork chop so it can’t be Perry-class pork chop, but for standard pork chops, LOVE IT. Love the smoke in it – and not metallic like the overrated place down in Lockhart (name withheld to protect RV52 from flat tires).

Pork Ribs – Dangest thing happened. I looked at it. The meat JUMPED off the bone. I hadn’t even touched it yet. Yes, they even had a delicious light BBQ sauce taste along with the delightful smoky flavor. Better yet, this wasn’t some Paleo skinny pig that was only allowed to smoke pot, listen to classical music, and eat kale. No this was an all-American pig that listened to rock-and-roll, ate piles of fat and nasty corn, rode his bad-arse Hog and made himself the pig we all wanna eat. This was good stuff. Kudos to Opie’s pork ribs.

Turkey – super good. But I lets move on.

Sides – Opie’s has lots of sides. But two caught my eye. They were spicy corn and tater tot casserole. Keep in mind, I’ve had some darned good hash brown casseroles. If you like the cheesy hash brown casserole from Cracker Barrel let me help you with a comparison. Cracker Barrel’s is good. But Cracker Barrel is like the all-girls 7 year old YMCA basketball team and Opies is like the San Antonio Spurs. The stuff reheats well so buy a gallon or two. You’ll thank me that you did. Your heart surgeon thanks me. Your Lipitor sales person thanks me. Your gastro doc thanks me. If you are going to die, this is the way to do it. If I ever get sentenced to death, maybe I’ll ask them if I can select the technique. Death by Opies tater tot casserole. Good stuff. Buy it. Don’t ask questions.

I go to Torchie’s Tacos once a week. If not more. I love the place. They made a VERY SPECIAL side called “street corn”. You’ll never have a better side of corn. Or so I thought. I now believe that the Torchies people have a true competitor in Opie’s spicy corn. WWWWOOOOWWWW. Just get it, ok? WARNING – It is spicy. It reheats well. WARNING – it gets spicier as it ages. You’ve been warned.

Long and the short — I would go back to Opie’s solely for their sides. The BBQ? That is just major upside.

Reader Feedback on BBQ Story

A reader (Tom) recently called me out on my last story because I put Rudy’s on the list. Hats off to Tom for calling me out. So I owe it to RV52 readers everywhere to characterize Rudy’s correctly.

He said it is overrated. I agree with him. I think Rudy’s get a lot of attention because it is everywhere and for the MOST PART you get what expect, and it is very serviceable BBQ. So I guess I’m saying that Rudy’s is the McDonalds of  the BBQ world. That is good for Rudy’s in some ways. But if you are going for the BIG DOG BEST BBQ, then it probably should not make the list. Kind of like a BBQ bridesmaid (y’all can have some fun with that analogy).

So I got to thinking – why do I go to Rudys? Well, whenever the choice is BBQ A vs Rudys, we go to BBQ A. That means whenever people are going to have BBQ and they are thinking about which BBQ place, they’ll choose something other than Rudys – not all the time, but most of the time. Keep in mind, I go to Rudys.

But when the choice is “other food” versus Rudys, then many time, Rudys wins out.

So you see, Rudys is good food, but average BBQ. I think that is fair.

Earlier, I wrote a post about RVing in a place where time might not go to fast, Comstock Nebraska. I wrote about the Dowse Sod House, and I mentioned a garden called the Centennial Garden.

As tourist attractions go, Centennial Garden would be considered very small.

But if you look at it objectively, realizing that it is a volunteer project in a very small town, then you can see that the Centennial Garden is a splendid project. On a per capita basis, it is a HUMONGOUS project.

I know how things GROW and get out of control in a garden and this place looks great.

Since we’ve already established that if you are going to visit/RV in central Nebraska, you are going to slow down and smell the roses, why not have your morning coffee in Centennial Garden.

I’m sure you can walk through it in about an hour. But what if you use the place as a place of peace and stopped and sat down in the Friendship area of the garden. Maybe if you spent some time here as part of your morning routine – you just might find a deep well of power you didn’t know you have.

I took a few pictures… enjoy…