Flickchart is coming close to the end of its trip across Texas as we head down from Wollfforth back to the big D. Join us as we visit Cattleack Barbecue, our last stop in Dallas!
Cattleack Barbecue is located in an area in north Dallas that looks far from anyone’s imagining of where a BBQ joint would be located. Sitting in what looks like a plain business park, people show up early to hop in line for Cattleack’s 10:30 AM opening. Though Dallas is full of businesses, north Dallas has become home to many wealthy suburbanites as various businesses moved their headquarters there during Dallas’s expansion. Texas Instruments’ HQ is located in the area.
Cattleack set up shop in 2013. Led by Todd and Misty David, a husband and wife team, they smoke a variety of meats with an interesting setup of a wood-fired rotisserie and indirect-heat pit. Tossing in post oak and hickory, the Davids smoke up brisket, sausage, turkey, and more. It didn’t take long for Cattleack to develop a reputation and get long lines. With an interior full of pictures of other pit masters and other neon signs, ball caps, and more, Cattleack certainly looks more typical on the interior.
I was able to partake in the brisket, pulled pork, pork ribs, hatch green chili mac and cheese, and the owner was kind enough to toss in a small beef rib as a free sample. This project has its perks. The brisket was a delicious bite, thick and moist with a wonderfully seasoned bark; top-grade brisket. The pork ribs were also tasty, with a sweet glaze and seasoning that place it near the top of the pork ribs in this project. The pulled pork was rather unique, a light brown color and an almost Carolina-like seasoning, making it more vinegary than any other pulled pork I’ve had in Texas. The beef rib was excellent, which is fitting since it came from Akaushi cattle, tender, fatty and succulent. The mac and cheese was also wonderfully spicy and cheesy. Everything you want from a Texas BBQ side.
I rate the brisket 4.5 slices out of 5, the pulled pork 4 pigs out of 4, the pork ribs 4.5 oinks out of 5, and the beef ribs 4.5 moos out of 5. I award Cattleack Barbecue 4.5 smokers out of 5!
We couldn’t get through all these Dallas joints without at least one film that covers the Dallas Cowboys. Love them or hate them, the Cowboys are about one of the most recognizable entities in all of professional sports. While called the North Dallas Bulls in this film, North Dallas Forty clearly uses them as stand-ins for the Cowboys. Taking place largely around Dallas, North Dallas Forty was a film destined to make an appearance.
On its surface, North Dallas Forty might seem a goofy, raunchy sports comedy. But it is in fact a piercing satire and commentary on professional football in the 70s, with some of the criticisms still hitting today. Nick Nolte is quite effective as the lead character in one of the best performances he has given in his career. He is charming yet ruminates with the weight of the life he is leaving. His character is the league-leading wide receiver, but his body is broken by the game. He moves with pain most of the time and resorts to drugs and booze to numb that pain.
Sports is a draining profession, and the film highlights the struggles athletes go through, battling between their need for personal health and well being, the drive to help the team, and the desire to leave a mark on the world. Mac Davis‘s skilled portrayal of the team’s QB, his friendship with Nolte’s character, and his more compliant attitude towards the team’s treatment of the players makes for a sad and nuanced relationship.
The film gets a bit muddled in the middle, not always juggling the personal relationship struggles of Nolte with the rest of the work. It occasionally lets its broad comedy take too much control as well. North Dallas Forty can feel disjointed at times.
Still, enough of North Dallas Forty works to call it one of the best and most honest sports films out there. It wrestles with the reality that, beyond the glowing lights of the field, the people playing a game struggle and work hard at competing ideals. With great performances from Davis and Nolte, not to mention Charles Durning who was born to play a grouchy assistant coach, North Dallas Forty makes you laugh and then lets you wrestle with some tough observations. And it’s all centered on Dallas and “America’s Team.”
Does anyone eat barbecue in the film?
No BBQ eaten this time!
Texas Film Chart
- The Last Picture Show
- No Country for Old Men
- Hell or High Water
- Rushmore
- A Ghost Story
- Hud
- Blood Simple
- The Tree of Life
- Boyhood
- Paris, Texas
- The Right Stuff
- Lone Star
- Chef
- Bernie
- Giant
- North Dallas Forty
- Apollo 13
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
- Leadbelly
- Krisha
- Tender Mercies
- Dazed and Confused
- Dallas Buyer’s Club
- JFK
- The Sugarland Express
- Terms of Endearment
- Urban Cowboy
- American Violet
- The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
- Planet Terror
- Frank
- Whip It
- Natural Selection
- This is Where We Live
- The Junction Boys
- The Alamo
- Song to Song
- Outlaw Blues
- Selena
- Nadine
Texas BBQ Chart
- Franklin Barbecue
- Evie Mae’s Pit Barbecue
- Pinkerton’s Barbecue
- Killen’s Barbecue
- Cattleack Barbeque
- Terry Black’s Barbecue
- Pecan Lodge
- Stiles Switch BBQ
- Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ
- Hutchins Barbeque
- Joseph’s Riverport Bar-B-Que
- Pody’s BBQ
- Tyler’s Barbeque
- Blue Moon BBQ
- Corkscrew BBQ
- 2M Smokehouse
- Vera’s Backyard Bar-B-Que
- La Barbecue
- Hays Co. Bar-B-Que
- Roegels Barbecue
- Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue
- Smolik’s Smokehouse
- Louie Mueller Barbecue
- Miller’s Smokehouse
- Lockhart Smokehouse
- Heim Barbecue
- Truth Barbeque
- Fargo’s Pit BBQ
- Gatlin’s BBQ
- City Market
- Baker Boys BBQ
- Kreuz Meat Market
- Stanley’s Famous Pit BBQ
- Micklethwait Craft Meats
- Payne’s Bar-B-Q Shak
- The Pit Room
- Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que
- The Smoking Oak
- Heavy’s BBQ
- Harris Bar-B-Que
