“The only time to eat diet food is while you are waiting
for the steak to cook."
--Julia Child
DR HOGLY WOGLY’S TYLER TEXAS BBQ
8136 Sepulveda Boulevard
Van Nuys, CA 91402
818-782-2480
My cousin, Chris, who lives in Tyler, Texas, says that
she has never heard of the place. If that’s true, Tyler, Texas is missing
something. This is a barbecue “TEN”, the
place you go because you are an unashamed to be a top of the food chain
carnivore. It is an unprepossessing,
standalone, restaurant in a row of very ordinary businesses in the wedge of a
block between Sepulveda Boulevard and Sepulveda Place. It is popular, busy, and you will probably
have to wait outside on the tiny patio unless you get there on an off
hour. There are few off hours at Dr.
Hogly Wogly’s.
The best thing you can say about the décor is that it is
what it is. It does not try to look like
a roadhouse or any other theme dreamed up by a restaurant designer. It’s just clean, a place to go to eat, not a
place you go for the atmosphere or to be seen.
The paneling on the wall that is simply 60’s vintage paneling from your
parent’s basement, not trying to look like period construction although it is
in a style popular in the 1960s. It could be considered retro, sort of. The
signs on the walls are serious, not antiques or amusing reproductions, but the
bucolic reproduction paintings definitely hark back to an earlier time when it
was considered “classy” for a restaurant to have “art” on the walls. One oddity
about the décor is that there is always a beautiful, huge flower arrangement of
fresh flowers in one corner of the room.
The seating is all red,
leatherette booths and if it seems that there are not very many of them it’s
because the room has a stated seating capacity of 49 (not sure if that includes
wait and kitchen staff). That’s why you
have to wait outside for a table.
We arrived a bit after the dinner rush to have a chance
of being seated immediately and, fortunately, hit it just right and were seated
before another crowd arrived. Our
server, Shara, was bright, perky, and quick, despite the work load.
We ordered a 3-way Combination Dinner, with beef ribs,
pork ribs, and beef brisket with sides of baked beans and cole slaw as our test
case. I also ordered an a la carte hot
link and a side of fries to sample. Shara brought our bread and butter and the
sides first (the food always arrives in this order) and then the platter of meat,
with the traditional bread and butter pickles sprinkled on top, along with the
hot link on a separate plate. When the
platter of food arrived the people in the booth across from us, who had ordered
sandwiches for their dinner, did simultaneous double takes when they saw the carnivores
delight that had been set before us.
Let’s start with the sides this time.
Bread
The bread is a made-right-here small diner loaf, soft on
the inside, with a thin, shiny crust. It
used to be the standard sort of thing you found in neighborhood restaurants
fifty years ago. You don’t find it much
these days, and you seldom find it done as well as this anywhere. They don’t give you a lot of it, you’re not
here for the bread, but will cheerfully bring more if asked.
Beans
A small, individual serving of beans baked in a sweet
sauce with seasonings and meat, cooked slowly and for a long time until they
are almost mush. Sort of like refried
beans, but flavorful. Delicious, but just
not what you think of when you think traditional baked beans that are usually
served in barbeque restaurants.
Cole Slaw
Again, this is a small, individual serving of shredded cabbage
slaw with raisins. It’s crunchy and
slightly sweet. They do it right, in my
opinion, because it is not too wet. (As
you may have guessed by now I really hate slaw drowned in dressing.)
Fries
Fries are hot, fresh and thick cut, but crispy. The serving is a genteel sufficiency.
Side servings are adequate for individual servings, but not
overly large, which emphasizes that you are here for the meat. The meat does not disappoint. It arrives the way we like it, hot, very juicy
and not drowning in someone else’s idea of what you should put on your ribs and
chicken. You get to taste the meat
before you sauce it. There are two
sauces, regular, a conventional sweet sauce, and the hot which does not go
overboard.
Hot Link
Hot links arrive with the casing sliced and strangely decorated
with a couple of bread and butter pickle slices. The links are so juicy that I suspect you
would squirt yourself when you cut into one if the cook didn’t slice it
first. This is not a macho hot link, but
is a pleasantly spicy, not too hot, and not too garlicky with just a slight
after bite, great as presented or dipped in a bit of sauce.
Brisket
I know this phrase is over used but the brisket arrives
so tender it is practically falling apart.
This tenderness is achieved without losing any flavor. Sauce does not improve this, only changes it. Great!
Spare Ribs
Spare ribs and center cut spare ribs are the only pork
ribs here. These ribs are meaty, falling
of the bone tender and full of flavor.
They don’t seem to be what I have been exposed to as a distinctly Texas
style, but are similar to the best ribs I’ve had at places in Virginia...only
better. As with all the meat here sauce
is optional.
Beef Ribs
I don’t know where they are growing the cattle that they
are getting these massively meaty beef ribs from, but they are definitely steers
I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.
These ribs are big! They are
tender, not the least bit stringy, and as for the flavor, I have had ribs in St
Louis that don’t come close to these.
I suppose that when I was twenty-one I could have
finished the whole platter by myself and gone out for a pizza later, but now,
Sharon and I can split a combination dinner at Dr. Hogly Wogly’s and bring half
of it home. One good sign of great que
is that it makes great leftovers. This
is great barbeque and it’s worth taking home and enjoying again. Nuke one leftover beef rib or a couple of
spare ribs; add a salad and you have a satisfying dinner.
Dr. Hogly Wogly’s Tyler Texas BBQ is a fine example of
what you can accomplish if you concentrate on doing one thing well. They concentrate on the barbecue, with a
somewhat limited menu, and they have been doing it since 1969. What you get here is some of the best
barbecue you can get anywhere…a real barbecue 10!
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