Monday, October 15, 2012

Lone Star Let Down at the Branding Iron




Branding Iron
104 East Scott Ave.
Wichita Falls, TX




Someone once told me Wichita Falls, Texas is the only place in the world where you can be knee deep in muck and still be pelted in the face with sand.

Driving through this gritty industrial/ranching/oil town, all I can do is pity whoever is in charge of the local Tourism and Convention Bureau.

That boy has his work cut out for him.

Where the muddy Red River cuts through the dusty West Texas Plains, Wichita Falls doesn’t offer much in the way of excitement.

But that’s okay. Desolate little dots on the Texas map like Lockhart, Luling and Driftwood draw tourists to their tumbleweed-strewn farm-to-market roads seeking something more important than ruins of Spanish missions and Six Flags roller coasters.

Texas Barbeque!

Specifically, brisket.

Unfortunately, Wichita Fall’s most popular barbeque joint isn’t going to do much to boost Wichita Fall’s tourism industry.

The Branding Iron looks promising at first glance. The place is a dump.

A decades old cinder block building on the outskirts of downtown, it looks like the Branding Iron has been expanded a time or two.

I chose to sit in the back of the restaurant with a metal shed roof with insulation falling out just above the animal heads mounted on the wall.

The cinder blocks were charred black in some spots, like this section had been the barbeque pit in another life.

Cowboy paraphernalia and dead flies set the dark mood as the late lunch crowd began to file out into the blinding Texas sunshine.

A classic Frederic Remington sculpture covered in an inch of decade-old dust sat haphazardly on an antique desk, like some barbeque pit decorative afterthought.

It occurred to me that that single piece of art is probably worth more than the appraised value of the entire building.

No doubt about it, the Branding Iron comes by its divey credentials honestly.
That can be a good thing when searching for good ‘que.

But not always.

Like most Texas barbeque joints, you stand in line, grab a plastic tray and tell the guy with the knife what kind of meat you want.

With great precision, he diced up a pile of brisket and Texas hot links, dumped them on a pre-formed metal plate and slid it to me with a smile.

That should have been my first warning sign.

At legendary Texas barbeque pits like Angelo’s and Smitty’s, the cleaver-wielding pit masters scowl at you like they want to serrate your lung when they hand you your food.

In another unusual twist, here at the Branding Iron, the sides are self serve.

Maybe that’s why I uncharacteristically chose the pea salad over the bland-looking ranch-style pinto beans.

When you can scoop up your own glops of side dishes, you get a pretty good look at ‘em.

For some reason, the pea salad looked intriguing to me.

Of course Suit757 has never voluntarily eaten a salad in his life.

This isn’t that kind of salad.

Think potato salad, macaroni salad, ham salad.

Branding Iron’s pea salad was a cool, refreshing mishmash of cheese, eggs, peas and something red – maybe pimento.

Different. And interesting.

Unfortunately, that was the beginning and end of the positive part of this review.

The fried okra were overcooked into shriveled little bites of petrified veggie crunch. Even a generous application of jalapeƱo hot sauce couldn’t make them edible.

Likewise, the tableside squeeze bottle of sweet BBQ sauce couldn’t salvage the meat.

The brisket just didn’t have the firmness or flavor of good mesquite-smoked Texas brisket. Dry and tasteless, with a limp mushy texture, this brisket isn’t going to win over any true Texas barbeque connoisseurs.

The fact that it was served at room temperature didn’t help the flavor either.

Ditto for the sausage. Despite a noticeable spice kick, the hot links just didn’t have that dense smoky Texas flavor you expect when dining in the Lone Star state.

My chocolate meringue pie wasn’t bad. (Is it possible for pie to be bad?) But by the time I finished my meal, I had lost my enthusiasm for dessert.

I just wanted to shake the dust off this dusty town and get back on the road.

I left Wichita Falls with a sense of disappointment.

I wanted to find a reason to like the place.

Uncovering hidden roadside gems within homely working class towns in the forgotten middle of America is what this website is all about.

With apologies to that hapless Wichita Falls tourism guy, the Branding Iron just isn’t one of them.

Rating: Wouldn’t Wear Shirt if They Paid Me.



Branding Iron on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

  1. Let me get this straight.... you went to Wichita Falls, Texas and visited the Branding Iron? That was the finest eatery you knew in town?!

    Fat McBride's and The Pioneer(both from the same familly) are a series of restaurants that have many quality dishes. The famous enchiladas or the aged beef(if you are eating aged steaks in the area, more than likely you are eating their meat)are known throughout the region.

    Also, dusty, little towns do not tend to have over a hundred thousand people living in them. It seems like this visitor did not even bother to look up anything about the city they visited. I suppose there's no surprise, this is just a filler article by someone too lazy to more than pretend they know what they are doing.

    I hope people will in spite of this clumsy review, consider stopping in the actual town for a bite on their way through Texas. Wichita Falls is more a little cozy for oil millionaires and a supply distribution point for the area, but there are penty of interesting things there, if one actually bothered to look.

    Article Rating: Lazy

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    1. Thanks for the feed back and the suggestions for good places to eat in Wichita Falls.

      Look, this is the downside to being a Suit in Strange Places.

      In the past nine days, I've been to ten states, four time zones, twelve airports and sat on 21 planes. If I only have 45 minutes to find a place for lunch in Wichita Falls, it's bound to be hit or miss. Call it the thrill of victory...or the agnoy of defeat.

      But that's what keeps this gig interesting...and entertaining. Thanks for reading.

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  2. Haha, I concur with Caraecyn. There still are some awesome locally owned places in Wichita Falls. McBrides is a must see. The place has not changed at all for at least 25 years. Still the ambiance at the Branding Iron is amazing, and even if it did not live up to your expectations, it is worth to visit. It is a more fun experience than eating at Chili's or Bennigans again.

    Nevertheless, I enjoyed the report, and the pictures.

    Besides the interesting mix and backgrounds of people (the large Air Force training base brings an interesting mix of people from all over the US and Europe), Wichita Falls still has a tonload of locally owned stores, businesses and restaurants.
    All with their own charms and ambiance. It is worth discovering when you get some more time on your hands!

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    Replies
    1. I will definitely do that the next time I find myself in Wichita Falls...thanks for the tip!

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