We’re back on Flickchart Texas BBQ Road Trip for our penultimate spot on the list! We head to East Texas one last time to visit one of the best joints in the state, in Longview!
Longview is the other big city of East Texas, along with Tyler. Established in 1870 as a major railroad route in East Texas, Longview was named after its founder proclaimed that he had a “long view” from his home. His dream of a major railroad town came true, and the Mobberly Hotel opened in 1884 to cater to railroad travelers and elite social gatherings. Tragically, the hotel would be destroyed by fire in 1965. Other unfortunate history also defined the city. Longview would experience a race riot in 1919 due to the death of a Black man and attacks on the reporter investigating the death.
On the brighter side, Longview also became home to one of the longest petroleum pipelines in the world during World War II, which was vital to the US war effort. Though little else has occurred there in terms of global history, Longview has continued to grow alongside Texas, and many notable people have come from the area.
Bodcaious Bar-B-Q has been a major name for a while, and it has multiple locations all over the area. The mini-chain opened back in 1968 under the care of Roland Lindsey. Lindsey grew up running BBQ for his dad in Dallas, and started off his chain with this Longview location. Lindsey fell on poor health and the Longview location closed and stood empty.
Enter Jordan Jackson, Lindsey’s son-in-law, who had been at Stanley’s Famous Pit BBQ in Tyler. He returned back to Longview to be with his family in 2015 and reopened the location his father-in-law had built his empire from. Using all of his culinary training and his father-in-law’s knowledge, Bodacious Bar-B-Q in Longview turned out great quality once more and earned the #4 spot on Texas Monthly’s list. The place continues to be one of the busiest in East Texas.
I got to try out brisket, pork ribs, and a unique food for this region: hot links. Hot links are Cajun-spiced hot dogs or sausages and they belong to this part of Texas. The brisket certainly earned its top 5 designation on the Texas Monthly list. With a wonderful dark bark and moist bites, this brisket was fantastic and one of the best in Texas. The hot links were also delicious, spiced well and nice and tender. The pork ribs stood up among the better in the state, though they were not quite as good as the very best places’ versions. The seasoning and bark were still quite good, to be sure.
I award the brisket 4.5 slices out of 5, the hot links 4.5 hot pigs out of 5, and the ribs 4 oinks out of 5! I award Bodacious Bar-B-Q 4.5 smokers out of 5!
While Smokey and the Bandit only really takes place in Texas for about five minutes, it’s too good a movie to resist putting on the list. The film’s famous song by the co-starring Jerry Reed, “Eastbound and Down,” has become one of the most iconic songs in country music. It mentions Texarkana, which is also a location in the film. Texarkana is not Longview, but they are fairly close and are both notable East Texas towns.
Featuring Burt Reynolds as the titular Bandit, as well as the aforementioned Reed, the pair are tasked with picking up a massive batch of Coors beer and running it to Atlanta. For some reason that’s illegal, which is never explained in the film (and was not really true). The film is a fun cat-and-mouse road trip chase movie across the highways with Jackie Gleason‘s foul-mannered Texas sheriff pursuing the Bandit across multiple state lines.
There is a sheen of camp over the entire film. Gleason’s character is larger than life, Reed jives in his southern drawl, and there is lots of over-the-top trucker talk. The film make it seem like the whole south is full of an interlaced community of truckers who are all pals. Maybe that was or is still true to an extent, but the film has a lot of campy fun with it.
Reynolds has a great personality and has a good rapport with Reed. Sally Field also enters the film as a romantic interest of Reynolds, and she gets caught up in the big beer run. She has a great chemistry with Reynolds and sustains a strong presence among the men.
Of course the film features great music from Reed, adding to the good ol’ fun adventure feel of the movie. Smokey and the Bandit is one of those classic road movies that manages to meet its reputation through sheer force of will. Director Hal Needham is no ground-breaking auteur, but as a former stuntman he knows how to stage all the car stunts quite well. Even with the minimal time spent in Texas, Texas is part of the culture shown in this movie, with 70s southern Americana on full display.
Does anyone eat barbecue?
A diablo sandwich and Dr. Pepper are consumed. Whatever a diablo sandwich is is left vague, but maybe it is BBQ! Anything with Dr. Pepper is pretty Texan, either way.
Texas Film Chart
- The Last Picture Show
- No Country for Old Men
- Hell or High Water
- Rushmore
- A Ghost Story
- Hud
- Office Space
- Blood Simple
- The Tree of Life
- Boyhood
- Paris, Texas
- The Right Stuff
- Lone Star
- Chef
- Bernie
- Giant
- North Dallas Forty
- Smokey and the Bandit
- 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
- Pure Country
- The Alamo
- Song to Song
- Outlaw Blues
- Selena
- Nadine
Texas BBQ Chart
- Franklin Barbecue
- Evie Mae’s Pit Barbecue
- Pinkerton’s Barbecue
- Bodacious Bar-B-Q
- Killen’s Barbecue
- Cattleack Barbeque
- Terry Black’s Barbecue
- Pecan Lodge
- Stiles Switch BBQ
- BBQ on the Brazos
- 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
- 4-T’s Bar-B-Q
- The Smoking Oak
- Heavy’s BBQ
- Harris Bar-B-Que
