Dixon’s BBQ

You’ll find Dixon’s BBQ within the Whole Foods Market in Lake Highlands. Grocery store barbecue didn’t sound all that appealing, but I decided to give it a try anyway. Dixon’s is basically set up as self-​serve barbecue sitting under heat lamps for God knows how long. They’re open from 10:30 — 9:00, and I’m not sure how often they replenish the meats. I wasn’t optimistic.
I decided to sample their pork spare ribs, pork and beef garlic pepper sausage, smoked buffalo wings, and pulled pork. Chopped beef and beef short ribs were also available, but neither looked particularly appetizing. At the last minute I uncovered some sliced beef brisket, and I decided to add on a few slices of that for good measure.
The brisket didn’t have much of a crust on it, and there was no noticeable smoke ring. I couldn’t taste any smoke either. In fact, I couldn’t taste much of anything, not even salt. The meat was fairly dried out, probably a result of the tanning bed it had been warming under.
I moved on to the pulled pork, which was equally disappointing and forgettable. The meat was fairly tender, but lacked any real flavor. It certainly didn’t have any smoke to it, although I would have settled for some salt and pepper.
As for the sausage, it was a welcome change of pace. There was a decent kick from the peppers, and a good amount of black pepper too. Garlic was noticeable throughout and much appreciated. I didn’t find too much smoke in the sausage, but it was certainly much tastier than my first two meat selections.
I don’t often see smoked chicken wings on the menu at barbecue joints, so I was anxious to give it a try. The skin wasn’t so much crispy as it was chewy, and the same was true for the meat. All in all, the chicken was fairly dry and tough to eat.
Meatiness aside, the ribs had almost no crust and only a slight smokey hue. The meat itself was cooked well: each bite came cleanly off the bone, while the rest of the meat stayed put. The fat, however, was rubbery and abysmal. I couldn’t taste much aside from plain pork.
Although the heat lamps were certainly a contributing factor, the main problem here was the overall lack of flavor and lack of smoke. Dixon’s BBQ was pretty decent for grocery store barbecue, but falls short on any other scale.