Cattleack BBQ in North Dallas was recently named the No. 3 best barbecue joint in the state by Texas Monthly.
It beat out local staples like Pecan Lodge in Deep Ellum and Lockhart Smokehouse in Bishop Arts. It's the first time the North Dallas joint, whose name plays off Cadillac, has been recognized on the list.
Owner and pitmaster Todd David says he was suprised by the honor.
Interview Highlights:
...on why he chose to cook BBQ:
"It's always been a hobby of mine since I was a kid. I've always liked eating it and going to the events and now, I like cooking it, too. We opened this originally to cater. That's why we're in this location. And then catering customers kept going, 'How do we get your food? How do we get your food?' So, we opened for take-out only on Fridays, and one thing led to another."
...on how long it takes the crew to prepare and cook the food:
"We start on Sunday; we start getting the meats ready to make sausage. On Monday, we actually start making the sausage because we make all our sausages from scratch. And then, we start getting all the sides ready. Everything here is made homemade, except for our chips and soda.
"So, it takes us all week to do that — because once Thursday and Friday hit, it's [busy], and there's nothing going on in the kitchen. We don't have a big enough staff for that. So, our staff works on the rest of the days doing all the prep work."
...on being named the No. 3 best BBQ place in Texas:
"I was real caught off guard. I was totally surprised at the ranking. We thought we would be on the list only because the photographers had already been here, but I had no idea that we would be up there with Snow's and Franklin Barbecue."
...on what drives him to cook:
"My wife and I, we do it just because we love to do it. When you don't have to do this, and you spend this much time doing it, it's going to come out pretty damn well. There's a lot of great guys out there that do it because they need to do it — and they've built it into huge businesses. They work hard, twice as hard, as we do. It does take a lot of hard work, but you don't do that in this business unless you're really into it. Otherwise, you won't turn out a great product."
