Foodie Diaries

FOODIE DIARIES killen’s satisfies With medical blights, food delights

By Jim Ayres

IWAS SO HOPING IT WOULD BE OVER with. This summer, as you may know, I was stuck in the hospital for a month recuperating from a nasty foot infection.

Twice-daily IV doses of Vancomycin would surely erase everything. Perhaps it did, but another toe became infected recently. As I write this, I go back to Methodist tomorrow for an outpatient procedure to have the tip of that toe clipped off. Oh, the joy.

Anyway, I drove to Methodist’s Pearland clinic last week for the diagnosis. In my funk over having another infection, yet in my joy that I would not have a lengthy inpatient stay, I remembered that Killen’s Barbecue was just a few blocks up Broadway.

I pulled right up and grabbed my mask. Not even a face covering could “mask” the wonderful smell of wood smoked meats coming from the pit. There was a short, socially distanced line to get in, but that took mere minutes in pleasant sunshine. Walking up to where the sign told me to, I ordered a two-meat plate. Pork ribs and sausage, it would be, along with sides of potato salad and baked beans. At Killen’s they assemble your plate as you walk along the counter. They don’t skimp on portions. Suddenly my tab of $27.92, including drink, didn’t seem so bad. After all, Killen’s has been the pride of Pearland ever since it opened in 2013. Accolades have come from all over the world. Food Network calls it one of the best restaurants in America. Writers from the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have bowed to the chef (a two-time James Beard Foundation nominee). Killen’s Barbecue has made so many Top-5 lists in Texas alone it’s impossible to count them all. Well, add my praise to the heap. As I sat at my precisely distanced table, I went

directly to the carbs. The potato salad, a mustard variety, was much like the kind you can get at Photo by Katie Smith/ unsplash H-E-B, except all the seasonings (celery seed, maybe a little smoked paprika) were bolder and the potatoes cooked just so. Next, I bit into my tender, meaty, somewhat fatty pork ribs. Oh my Lord, these were barbecue You may be surprised at your own cooking skills! Heaven! So big, too. I took exulted sauce. The combination is magnificent. joy in each bite. They needed no sauce The baked beans were the best I’d to taste perfectly smoked. I cannot ever had. Sweet yet smoky from, well, say enough good about these ribs. smoke, these are the type of homeSpeaking of sauce, Killen’s offers two at made beans you’d expect in someeach table — a vinegar-forward one’s backyard on the Fourth of July. Tangy which I thought was excep- An A for effort goes to the sausage. tionally good, and a coffee-in- It tasted good but was very dense and fused one called Coffee. This sauce too hard to handle with plastic ware. was a revelation to me. Imagine I recommend a trip to Pearland adding some of your grandmother’s for what Killen’s describes as percolated coffee into a barbecue “The Best BBQ. Period.” e

Killen’s Barbecue

1201 St. Emanuel, Houston, TX 77003 832-582-7202

AGRICOLEHOSPITALITY.COM/INDIANOLA

EXCITED FOR BRUNCH? SO ARE WE!