Pecan Cobbler

You can’t judge a barbecue joint from its exterior

318 Forum’s always-hungry reporter often has lunch at a local restaurant and tells you about the experience.

Restaurant owners spend a lot of money on aesthetics. After all, if their place looks good on the outside, it’s likely to attract customers. If it looks good on the inside, those customers are likely to enjoy their dining experience, assuming the food and service are also good.

However, you will find some of the best food at places that look like a hole-in-the-wall.

You know, restaurants that feel like they were shoe-horned into their space without a glitzy entryway and muted décor. (There’s a place in Las Vegas, Battista’s Hole in the Wall, which serves some of the city’s best Italian food.)

Lately, I’ve been driving a lot between Bossier City and Benton. There, on the right, I had noticed a (very) unassuming, plain-looking place with a modest sign reading “Uncle Henry’s Smokehouse BBQ” (4717 Palmetto Road, Benton). I asked around, and sure enough, several people told me not only had they eaten at Uncle Henry’s but that the barbecue was really good. So, on a recent Wednesday, I stopped in to test the adage that you can’t judge a book by its cover.

Entering the restaurant at 1 p.m., I was pleasantly surprised. The (not surprisingly) small dining room — I counted 30 seats — looked bright and clean, with various pieces of artwork hanging on the walls. The menu board was one of the nicest I’ve seen, featuring colorful and stylish penmanship. I had time to study it because I had to wait in line! OK, there were only three of us, and the older gentleman at the counter was placing a big order for an upcoming get-together.

But I thought, “Hey, if this guy thinks enough of Uncle Henry’s food to serve all those folks, it must be pretty good.”

At Uncle Henry’s, you order at the counter, serve yourself at the drink stand and have a seat. The friendly lady at the register didn’t give me a number. She didn’t give me a pager. I guess she is blessed with a good memory. And, with a maximum of 30 guests — and only one person besides me eating in — there wasn’t a need.

But what to eat? The colorful menu board offered a wide range of choices: six sandwiches, eight meat plates, a turkey salad and a stuffed potato.

One item that caught my eye was a smoked hamburger. Boy, doesn’t that sound good? Temptation knocked, but if I was going to tell you about a barbecue restaurant, I should stick to barbecue. Their meat plates included my choice of two sides and Texas toast. Alternatively, I could opt for a two-meat plate ($12.99) and try a couple of different options.

Wanting a little variety, that’s what I went with, and I chose brisket and ribs. Of the usual sides found at a barbecue place (baked beans, chips, coleslaw, potato salad, corn on the cob), I selected beans and slaw.

There was disappointment early on when I prepared my drink (water). I didn’t see any lemon (fresh or packets). I asked the abovementioned friendly lady if she had any lemon and was told she did not — bummer, but not the end of the world.

However, my disappointment quickly faded when the aforementioned friendly lady — yes, she was the order-taker, cashier and server — brought my food. From a distance, I could see white smoke rising from the plastic plate. This didn’t signal the election of a pope, but it did signal that my food would be hot. Cold food is bad. Cold barbecue is worse.

Beneath the smoke were three thick, nice-sized slices of brisket. Placed diagonally over those slices were two meaty-looking ribs. The servings of beans and slaw weren’t over-the-top but certainly large enough. The big slice of Texas toast looked like it was right on the edge of either being toasted just right or toasted a little too much. I would soon find out.

As for barbecue sauce, there were several squirt bottles by the drink stand. None of them had labels, but I asked (yes, the above-mentioned friendly lady), and she said the sauces were all the same. Returning to my table, I drizzled the sauce on my meats and found the sauce’s taste to be unremarkable. Frankly, there wasn’t much of any taste. The sauce simply served as something to keep from eating dry meat.

And let’s talk about the meat. My brisket was so tender. There was no need to use the plastic knife. I was able to easily tear pieces apart. I mentioned the slices were thick, and even without sauce, the brisket didn’t taste dry.

The ribs had plenty of meat on both sides.

You know how sometimes, when you take a bite, your teeth touch bone? That wasn’t the case. My first bites resulted in nothing but meat. And that meat was cooked just right. It wasn’t too tender, and it wasn’t too tough. And while the ribs looked to be overcooked, they were anything but.

As for the toast? It stayed in the toaster for just the right amount of time.

Now, to dessert. The menu board indicated I only had one choice. However, if anyone can mess up a one-choice selection, it’s me. I thought the board read “peach cobbler.” However, when I placed my order, the friendly lady said the offering was a pecan cobbler. I couldn’t remember ever having had pecan cobbler. I had never heard of it. She also said, upon my asking, that the cobbler was not made inhouse but was very good. So, upon her recommendation, I ordered a serving ($3.25).

Brisket and Ribs

Frankly, I could have done without the cobbler. It was basically a plastic container of sugar.

The dough was hard and was drowned in pecan filling.

The cost of my meal before taxes and tip was $17.74. My biggest complaint about eating barbecue at a restaurant is that it’s expensive, and often, the barbecue’s taste doesn’t justify its cost. However, this time, that was not the case. Uncle Henry’s barbecue was really good in terms of its cooking, taste and the generous amount of meat served.

I am happy to give Uncle Henry’s Smokehouse BBQ Three Forks, proving once again that, sometimes, a hole in the wall doesn’t need to be patched.