A video featuring Cattleack Barbeque has been online for one day and it already has nearly 200,000 views. (It’s over 450,000 now.) Seems like the topic, “Why Texans Call This The Best BBQ Spot In Dallas,” is a popular one.
Cattleack Barbeque is a Dallas-area barbecue restaurant open for lunch on Thursdays, Fridays and one Saturday a month. That's right: Customers can eat at Cattleack only about nine days a month, and never in the evenings. It can be difficult to get in because of the long lines, but that's only bolstered Cattleack's popularity as one of the best barbecue joints in Texas — and certainly one of the best in Dallas.
Texas Monthly ranked Cattleack as Texas' No. 3 barbecue joint, and co-owner Todd David has become a brand name in the Texas barbecue community. The restaurant also appeared on Incredible Edible America in 2017 and was named one of Thrillist's best barbecue joints in America.
It's located near Galleria Dallas, in an unassuming warehouse development on the Dallas-Farmers Branch border.
Food Insider follows a typical day at Cattleack. It starts at 2 a.m., when a pitmaster shows up to toss briskets into eight massive smokers. (Meanwhile, the rest of us are merely dreaming of our next meaty meal.) According to Food Insider, the restaurant smokes about 50 briskets for each lunch crowd and about 1,000 pounds of meat total.
Customers wait, and wait and wait — some for an hour — to try David's barbecue. The owners are good about sending emails when the lines are short, so people close by can run over and get a bite; sign up at the bottom of this page to get those emails.
David is best known for his peppery brisket, but the restaurant serves plenty of other proteins, including sausage and ribs. Anyone who isn't a barbecue aficionado might not be familiar with beef ribs, a huge hunk of beef served on the bone. Beef ribs make a more traditional pork rib look like a chicken wing in comparison — and Food Insider's out-of-towners are wowed by them.
The video's host Medha Imam says Cattleack's beef rib is "literally the size of my face," and cameraman Jake Gabbard takes a giant bite.
The secret is out on Cattleack Barbeque among barbecue fans in Texas. It appears as though Food Insider’s spotlight will give this small, Dallas spot a national boost.
