Star Rating: 3.5
In an effort to be fair and provide our followers with reviews that are honest and unbiased, we will start by stating some pertinent facts: First and foremost, we are “Foodies” and we’re passionate about food. We love all kinds of food – from cultures all over the world. We are transplants who have genuinely embraced the RGV and now call it home. We are not pit masters. We do not claim to be authorities on the Art of Barbecue. Simply stated, apart from personal experience and our extensive traveling domestically and abroad, all we know is if there’s one thing the South knows even better than football – it’s Bar-B-Q.
Let’s proceed by sharing some barbecue factoids:
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The most barbeque restaurants per capita can be found in the great state of Oklahoma with one for every 5,000 residents.
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Kansas City is the Barbecue Capital of the World.
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Austin, Texas has the states absolute best beef brisket and ribs.
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Top 10 U.S. states for barbecue are; Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, New York, and California (Note: having visited several cities throughout the state of New York and being a native Californian – It’s fair to say we can all agree that this alleged fact is fake news.)
That said, we’re certain after seeing comments and responses from our last review on Reyna’s that the odds of getting most of you to agree on who has the best barbecue, may prove more challenging than getting any of you to concede who actually won the 2020 presidential election – ¿A que no?
Suffice it to say, though we have opinions and enjoy sharing them with you, we know they’re just that – opinions. We are neither authorities nor uneducated fools when it comes to food. We know what we know, but most importantly, we know how little we know and with this simple admission, we free ourselves from petty argument to focus on what really matters – our mutual love and passion discovering new and amazing foods and sharing the experience with each other.
Moving along to our review of the Longhorn Cattle Company in San Benito. Again, due to the pandemic we chose to do curbside service and here’s what we ordered: (2) Poor Boys, hoagie style sandwich stuffed with chopped brisket, sliced brisket, and polish sausage served with white onions, pickles, and sauce. (1) Full Rack Baby Back Pork Ribs, (1lb) Lean Brisket, (1lb) Cap Brisket, (1lb) Sliced Turkey Breast, (1) pint of Pinto Bean Soup, (1) serving Potato Salad, (1) serving Cole Slaw, (1) Banana Pudding, (1) Turtle Cheese Cake.
Let’s start with the Poor Boys – the fresh and soft hoagie bun absolutely made the sandwich. With fresh cut white onion slices, tasty dill pickles, and a tangy barbeque sauce that put it over the top – simply outstanding. The Baby Back Pork Ribs were bursting with flavor – even without the sauce – you could savor the rub. Personally, we love pork ribs, softer, more flavorful than beef; the extra fat content makes it absorb more of the spices, take smoke deeper, and seem more addictive than any other meat. We’ve often said that all creatures, even vegetable eaters, will eat pork when done right, and these were mighty fine ribs. As for the Brisket - we sampled both the lean and cap: In our humble opinion, a good slice of lean brisket, no matter how moist, is made better by leaving the fat cap intact. The cap holds smoke and gives each bite a juicy boost. There’s also a greater amount of surface area for seasoning to cling to when the fat cap remains. From our vantage point, ‘fat is where it’s at” - making this establishments brisket, a melt in your mouth experience you won’t soon forget. Moving on to the next item on the list: (1lb) Sliced Turkey Breast, all we need to say is – we know who we’re ordering our turkey from for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. Now for the sides: The Potato salad and Cole Slaw was good, nothing out of the ordinary, but decent. Though, to our surprise, the real stand out on the menu was the Pinto Bean Soup. They knocked this recipe out-of-the-park. How can it be that in a part of the country with so many Mexican restaurants, that Longhorn Cattle Company gets the prize for the best Charro Beans in the region? Imagine, taking a humble legume and turning into a feast made for the Gods. Go figure. Finally, for the desserts: We fired up our Keurig coffee maker, plopped in our favorites k-cups and prepared to sit down to enjoy the Banana Pudding and Turtle Cheesecake. Again, the pudding was good, but our favorite was the cheesecake – topped with delicious caramel and really quite good.
Now, as we sip our coffee and wrap up this review, we can finally share something we omitted at the beginning - this wasn’t our first visit. We’ve been loyal customers for quite some time. One of the reasons we hesitated doing a review is because we figured everyone knows who is Longhorn Cattle Company Barbeque and Steak Restaurant. Considering these doors have been open for business since 1985 – what could we possibly say that 35 years hasn’t already confirmed? In our opinion this family business is a local institution. This is one special place because it is about the food. With a long-standing track record, this restaurant has earned our trust and hard-earned money by serving up good food and friendly service – consistently. Day in and day out, year after year, maintaining success by committing to hard work and continuously striving for excellence. ¿A que sí?
So, for now that’s our take and current status on this review. No doubt, you’ll suggest other establishments that offer better barbecue - why not? Isn’t that what competition is all about? Since nothing is written in stone and change is the only constant, we’ll keep you posted. For now, keep sharing and send us your feedback. We appreciate your recommendations and we’ll add them to our future review list.
With love and gratitude, thank you for your support fellow foodies, it means the world to us.
http://www.longhorncattlecompany.com
