BBQ in Texas: Home Sweet Home

The first place we headed to when we touched down in Texas was The County Line. There is nothing like their beef ribs. The view is great and the smell was so grounding. That mix of sage and who-knows-what that signals you are in Texas. Pure heaven.

Chaps Pit Beef

I pass Chaps Pit Beef on my commute. I've always been kind of scared to go there--mostly because it is in the parking lot of a strip club (and my last experience with pit beef was rather disappointing). On the weekends I never think to go there because we don't usually go that far South, and if we do we take the interstate. Things lined up just right on Saturday and we decided to give it a try.

Ross and I both got the same thing--a pit beef sandwich-medium. The beef was thinly sliced and tasty. The BBQ sauce was available on the side. It was really good! I'm surprised because I'm pretty picky when it comes to BBQ sauce. We were able to eat outside and I didn't get any sauce on my pretty dress.

Now that I've been there my anxiety has been overcome and I think it would be a good place to occasionally stop and get dinner on the way home.

Donkey Diner

We ate at Donkey Diner three times while we were in St. John. We ate there on the first Sunday we were there. I really could have just laid at home and had a sandwich, but I'm so glad I got up and we went out to eat. I wanted pizza, and Donkey Diner was close by, so we headed over there. Well, it turns out that on Sunday nights Donkey Diner only serves barbecue. Ross and I ended up sharing the beef ribs. It's rare to find a place that serves beef ribs, so we had to try them. Let me tell you--Brian makes the best BBQ I've ever had--outside of Texas. His coconut curry rice was also divine. Ross tasted Val's and had to order his own. We ended up going back and buying 3 extra sides of rice and taking them home with us for later. At 2 bucks a side, it was a tasty deal we just couldn't pass up.

On Wednesday and Friday nights Donkey Diner serves up pizza. I wasn't as impressed with the pizza as I was with the BBQ. Maybe it was because Brian didn't make it.

Donkey Diner is reputed to have the best breakfast on the island. We tried it out one morning and it was excellent. Ross had BBQ hash. It was eggs, home fries, and Brian's BBQ brisket. Yummy. Val had the blueberry pancakes and Troy and I had (cream cheese) stuffed French toast with mango-pineapple chutney. I wasn't so hot on the (cooked until mushy) chutney, but the French toast was good.

Speaking of donkeys...there are a lot of donkeys on the Coral Bay side of St. John. Every time we would see one on the road we would shout "DON-KAY!" It never got old.