I finally got to Crockett, Texas (yup – named after THE Davey Crockett of Tennessee and Alamo fame) this past weekend to enjoy the incredible food that Wade and Kathy Elkins are producing at Mimsy’s Craft Barbecue. They’re located on the south side of Crockett at Loop 304 and 5th Street. It was no surprise to me that Mimsy’s was just recently named one of the Top 50 barbecue joints in Texas by Texas Monthly Magazine. The combination of Wade as an incredible pitmaster and Kathy as an amazing classically-trained chef is unbeatable. Their smoked meats are beyond delicious. And their sides are outrageous as well. It was great to see this fantastic team in action – it had been over a year since I had gotten to enjoyed Wade’s smoked meats when they still lived in the Houston metro area and he was leading the charge as pitmaster at Reveille Barbecue Co. in Magnolia, another fantastic joint that was named one of Texas Monthly’s top 25 new barbecue joints in 2019 (btw, Reveille just recently moved from Magnolia south about 20 minutes to Pinehurst – if you haven’t been, ya gotta go). Needless to say we were very excited to finally get to Crockett and devour Wade and Kathy’s amazing food.

So onto the food itself… Oh boy did we enjoy a wide variety of that stuff. We had to try the chips and smoked queso as a starter. And as anticipated, both the chips and queso were top notch. The queso was creamy, smoky and delicious, and the chips were housemade tortilla chip perfection. My wife went for a couple of the tacos – one with pulled pork and then other with chopped brisket. They were both heavy duty fully-loaded with a ton of meat. And WOW, the smoky flavor of that pulled pork was maybe the best I’ve ever had. I ordered the Texas Trio spread, with moist brisket, a huge pork rib, and their housemade sausage. All three were absolutely immaculate. The brisket had amazing bark, perfectly-rendered fat and a hearty, beefy, smoky taste. The pork rib was expertly smoked – the meat pulled away from the bone with a tug, but didn’t just fall off. And the flavor was sooooooo good. And their housemade sausage had a great snap to the casing and incredible meaty cheesy flavor. It was hard to choose from all the amazing-looking sides – but I ultimately went with the smoked maple sprouts. Holy cow — the flavor was so good, the doneness was just right, and the roasted crispy edges and leaves added a great texture as well. That would have been plenty of food for anyone. But since it was the weekend Wade wanted us to try one of their weekend specials. So he brought out a single cut smoked bone-in pork chop (they also do a double-cut serving – that would be a meal all by itself and then some). Lemme tell you – I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed any smoked pork dish more than that pork chop. It was absolute pork chop perfection – smoky, moist, flavorful, everything I could ever dream of. I’m not sure how Wade knew that I am a complete nut for creamed corn (I had a really hard time deciding to get the maple sprouts), but he brought us out their soon-to-be-famous-if-it-isn’t-already Coconut Curry Creamed Corn. Oh my holy schnikeys it was divine! That creamy delicious coconut curry flavor thrown together with the sweet corn was like heaven. I swear that has now ruined me for any other creamed corn. Oh and I can’t forget to talk about the condiments. Everything they do is housemade of course – and they’re all great. Dill pickles, bread-n-butter pickles, pickled red onions and pickled carrots and jalapeños. Soooo good. And both the standard tomato-based barbecue sauce and the mustard-based sauce are really tasty. Honestly, I think I could drink the mustard sauce straight. It’s absolutely phenomenal. Sadly I totally forgot to try the cabbage marmalade and the sweet chili sauce. So, darn, I guess I’ll have to get back there sooner rather than later.

Once we were done eating all that amazing deliciousness, Wade took us on a tour of the place. The building is absolutely huge, which makes for a great open main dining space and a good view into the kitchen. But the place is so big that they’ve got all kinds of additional space – and thus additional plans that they’re working on as well – like a meat market, retail store, drive through window, private dining space, etc. Honestly, the sky is the limit with the facilities they’ve got. I especially loved getting to see the pit room. When they opened late last year, they started off with a 1000-gallon reverse flow pit named “Evie” made by Arnis Robbins, an incredible pitmaster and pit builder out in Wolfforth, Texas where he and his wife, Mallory, have built and now run Evie Mae’s Pit Barbecue, #8 on the 2021 Texas Monthly BBQ list (sadly I have yet to make out there – but it is on my short list). That 1000-gallon beast is beautiful. They’ve also just recently added a second 1000-gallon pit named “Kimber”, a custom pit designed by Wade himself that was inspired by the incredible Moberg Smoker offset pits, built by Sunny Moberg and his team in Dripping Springs. It’s a good thing they’ve added the extra cooking capacity, as they have already got a significant catering business going in addition to the restaurant operation.

And as we were finishing the tour, we ran into a truly die-hard barbecue nut, Abe Delgado. Abe has been all over Texas on his most recent barbecue tour. So it was great fortune that I got to see and say howdy to him. Of course dumb me forgot to get a picture. But it was great to see Abe. He does great work and is a truly dedicated barbecue fiend. Check out his podcast, I Crush Barbecue Show.

I tell ya — it is worth the drive from just about anywhere to Crockett to enjoy the amazing food at Mimsy’s Craft Barbecue. So don’t hesitate to go. I absolutely promise you will not be disappointed. And tell ’em Dave, the smoked food addict, sent ya.