Dickey's Not Dicking Around

By Robert Wilonsky Wed., Aug. 13 2008 at 9:12 AM

Categories: Dish

The original Dickey's barbecue, founded in Dallas in 1941

Back in October, Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey's son Roland Dickey Jr. told the St. Louis Post Dispatch he expects to open 60 brand-new Dickey's Barbecue Pits by the end of 2012. Now comes this announcement from the eatery's president: He wants to open some 100 brand-new stores annually, the sooner the better, so let's get to franchising. Says Roland: "We know we want to be the largest barbecue chain in the U.S." I used to lock up my bike with a barbecue chain from Dickey's. --Robert Wilonsky

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kelly's eastside in plano does some pretty legitimate barbecue. may not quite reach to smitty's heights, but way better than any chain..
If you want good Q, y'all are looking in the wrong part of town. Record's BBQ on Lancaster, South Dallas or find the guy pulling the smoker around Fair Park area, usually just south of their around midnight. Awesome.
Agreed, Central TX has the best BBQ in the state. I used to live in driving distance of Luling and Lockhart...the heart of "BBQ Country." The little town I lived in had three BBQ joints, and two of them were better than anything in Dallas.
Eat at the original on Central at Henderson. I wish they would bring back the large wheel of cheddar cheese at the fixins stand.
Oh god, the grass is greener camp came out. When I've tried some of the supposedly great BBQ elsewhere in the state, I discovered that it is mostly hype. Really, never found anything that can even come close to the Brisket at the original Sonny's.
Now I'm really confused. Maurine, did I hit on your son or your husband?
Um, Reporter Robert Darling, I believe if I can summon all my deductive reasoning skills I can figure out that the commish is married to a Roland Dickey, and they have a son named Roland Dickey, Jr. Hence two Roland Dickey's exist - magic? Nope, parent and child. Sorry Sugar, you're not accurate, just plain ol' one weak source journalism wrong. Allow me to correct your tiny - yet it's the principle of the matter - inaccuracy. I believe the president of Dickey's Barbecue that you are chastising for wanting to - gasp - expand his business and add jobs, is Roland Dickey, Jr. the SON, not HUSBAND of commissioner Maurine Dickey. Not to blow the whole 'truth in reporting thing' out of proportion, but it's a credibility thing. And since you threw the gauntlet by blogging 'like your opinion should matter' - then double check your business.
Pesky fact checking also reveals that insignificant is one word, not two, and that the word is perhaps, not perhapes.
Well, then, consider me corrected. All apologies for the clearly disturbing error. Jr.'s the son. Got it.
Um, Laura, this is from Maurine's Dallas County bio: <blockquote>Commissioner Dickey has been married to Roland Dickey for 37 years. They have two grown sons. Maurine, Roland, and their sons are graduates of SMU. The Dickeys own Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, a franchised chain of 61 restaurants in seven states. Dickey's was originally established by Roland's father in 1941.</blockquote> http://www.dallascounty.org/department/comcrt/mdickey.html And I'm a meat-eater, thanks.
And lowly mouth-breathing, chain eater that I might be, it took me less than 2 minutes on said evil barbecue empire's Web site to see that County Commissioner Maurine Dickey is Roland Dickey Jr's mother, not his wife. Pesky fact checking. In significant, perhapes? But if you want me to care about your opinion, please take time to be accurate. I bet you're a vegetarian.
Agreed that Central TX is better than Houston. But - I'm betting that people here get to Houston a lot more than they get to City Market in Luling (my favorite) or to Lockhart - so I meant to suggest that when they go, they should see what good BBQ is all about. There are a bunch of options there that are much better than anything Dallas has to offer, but if I had to rank them, I'd go: 1. Thelma's Bar-B-Que 2. Burns Bar BQ 3. Gene's Sho-Nuff Bar-B-Que
KSK says: Kansas City has the best barbecue, bar none. Dickey's may not be the absolute best barbecue around, but I do like eating there. The sides are top-notch. ############################################### Your second line tells me why you made the first one. Bless your heart.
I like Dickey's - I'm a brisket kinda girl and they have never disappointed. Peggy Sue's is pretty good, but overall Dickey's is my fav. But please spare me the foodie purist routine, pretending that if anything even sniffing of 'chain' comes near you, you'll erp. Unless you're amish, it's hard to take that opinion seriously. Leave my perfectly good $5 lunch that I get in 5 minutes alone.
And Sammy's has the best sides in Dallas.
Central Texas BBQ beats Houston any day of the week. They've got nothing to beat Muellers or Coopers.
My first decision when I pick BBQ joints is the quality of the iced tea, and they better have sweet tea. Baker's ribs are top notch, but the sides at Dickey's are always better than everywhere in town. Choices, choices... Ain't it nice?
i'll have a 2 meat w/ brisket and sausage w/ baked potato casserole and green beans
Ditto, Anonymous. The worst BBQ places in Houston would make the top 10 up here. I do enjoy Pappas BBQ, but it is pricey and their tea is <channeling Wilonsky> "TERRRRRRIBLE."
Kansas City has the best barbecue, bar none. Dickey's may not be the absolute best barbecue around, but I do like eating there. The sides are top-notch.
Dallas BBQ sucks.
If you want good BBQ, go to Houston.
And your life really isn't complete until you have at least one of those yellow cups from Dickeys sitting in your kitchen cabinet.
Yeah, Dickey's is average at best. But it's still a pretty good place for decent grub at a pretty good price and their sides are great, the fried okra is the best.
I ate Dickey's BBQ once...ONCE! Sides weren't bad, but the BBQ was "terrrrrible." All BBQ chains need to be wiped from the Earth. And by the way, does anybody in north Texas know how to BBQ some mf-ing sausage? Places up here seem to think a glorified hot dog constitutes sausage (Spring Creek, I'm looking in your direction).
The <b>X-Treme Double B-B-Q Baby Back Lip Smacker Platter</b> at <i>Chilabee's</i> is totally taste-tastic! **burp**
But that's the beauty of capitalism: A man can produce a mediocre product and if he can round up enough backers he can foist it off on unwitting customers and drive superior products out of th market. Just look at book store chains.
Dickey's stinks as a barbecue joint, but it's not bad as an alternative to fast food. Look at Chili's, Applebee's, McDonalds, etc. If the process and the marketing are top notch, the food can suck and you still make money. By the way, the big lady at the register a the Dickeys in Wylie is rude and their rolls blow.
Just what we need - 100 stores serving shit on a shingle and calling it barbecue.
Baby Back Shack - S. Lamar it's good shit, man
I don't usually eat ribs, but twice now I've had the ribs at Off The Bone (new place on Lamar in the Cedars neighborhood) and I thought they were great!
The BBQ around here is a joke. The best is the Original Sonny's and that's just the slice brisket sandwich. And they do have the best sauce if you are into it. The Sonny chain sucks big time. If I want quality BBQ I smoke it myself.
There is actually a place in the Southwest Industrial Park (Grand Prairie) that smokes a lot of the meats for Dickey's... I'm not sure how much they do in-house. Regardless, I still like the place. Thankfully I work in Southlake now so the Feedstore is my BBQ of choice...
Bruce, Ribs are definitely Dickey's weak point. Out of the major chains around Dallas: Dickey's - best veggies, hot links, some locations have the best bread (better than Spring Creek), others have awful bread. Sonny Bryan's - original location - best beef brisket, fries. Other locations - avoid. Baker's - best ribs Spring Creek - best any other meat (e.g. the Turkey is incredible), second best ribs, best bread (if you want don't mind dying of a heart attack), free BlueBell Sunday at lunchtime, veggies (except baked potato) are awful. Unfortunately, every place has strong points and weak points. If you just want a beef brisket sandwich with fries, Sonny Bryan's is a slam dunk. Disclaimer: I usually eat at Dickey's but then again they are the only one that is close to my house so it is by default.
So, we've finally found the generation that wants to make money instead of BBQ?
You can go to pretty much any other barbecue joint in Dallas and get better ribs than the ones they peddle at Dickeys. I don't know if they even cook those things on a grill or in a smoker. They taste boiled to me. Or, more to the point, they suck ass. Those pre-sauced ribs you can get at the grocery store are better than those things.