Hard Eight Bar-B-Q Coppell, Texas

One of the greatest things about my travels is absorbing the local flavor and color wherever I go. This week, I was treated to a great barbeque place in Coppell, Texas -- Hard Eight Bar-B-Q.

Right off the bat, the experience is a little different -- the line to get the food runs right past the HUGE grill that has all of the various meats (Texas smoked beef brisket, ribs, chicken, jalapeno sausage, smoked sausage, steaks and turkey) and numerous sides (potatoes, corn on the cob, onions, etc.). While you are standing over the grill, you order up what you want while a grillmaster cuts up the meat right there in front of you and puts it onto the scales to weigh. You get as little or as much as you want, you pay by weight. Walk inside to the salads and cold sides, get a glass of iced tea and pay when you've gone through the line. The beans and hot sauce are simmering in the dining room -- all you care to eat.

Wow, was it good! I had the Texas brisket, definitely the essence of Texas BBQ, with a few slices of the jalapeno saugage, some corn on the cob and a green salad. Top notch grub, I'll tell you now. Just feels good eating it. I wish that I'd gotten more of the sausage -- definitely a great flavor, and not really spicy-hot at all. Just a great smoky sausage with a complementary bite of the peppers. The brisket and sauce were very, very good, too. I would have liked a little more spice in the sauce, but it's still darn good. The meat was very tender and juicy for smoked brisket. Good stuff. The day that we were there they also had grilled shrimp which were also excellent.

I give the Hard 8 my hearty recommendation for those of you that visit the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Next time I go, I'm having some of the sirloin. Slow-cooked. Thick. With all the trimmings. I can't wait!!