Joe Allen’s

Joe Allen’s….What can I say about Joe Allen’s? It was my introduction to Texas Barbeque. That mesquite-smoked-fall-off-the-bone-goodness. This was my favorite restaurant in Abilene, Texas, the town I went to college in and lived for 6 years. I have missed Joe Allen’s. I have dreamt about it throughout the years living in Alaska, where you can’t get it. You can’t really make it. You’d have to get a mesquite tree log and a smoker. I suppose that is possible. I bet Carol Symond’s husband could make it.
We planned to spend a half day in Abilene and do 2 things: tour our college and show the kids where we met, and eat at Joe Allens. After a long afternoon of walking the campus, our mouths started to drool just thinking about the brisket. It was time to get on over to that restaurant. We looked it up on google maps and made our way over there.
Sammy was sleeping so Paul was planning on staying in the RV until the food arrived. The kids and I went into the new restaurant (Joe Allen’s expanded since 13 yrs ago). We sat down and ordered drinks. I got the sweet tea of course. The kids were trying to figure out what they wanted on the kid’s menu. Paul and I knew what we wanted since at least 10 years ago. We got our drinks and we started to order. The kids all gave the waitress their orders, with all their sides picked out. They could choose from ranch beans, green beans, fries, or corn. Then she finally got to me. I ordered for Paul, the combination plate with brisket and sausa….”Sorry, we’re out of brisket”, says the waitress. “What! You aren’t serious?!”, I exclaimed as I was on the verge of tears and cupped my hands over my face. “We just drove from Alaska to have brisket at Joe Allen’s, our favorite restaurant!”, I said. The waitress felt really bad. She said, “ let me give you a little more time to figure out what you would like to order.” Ok. I called Paul and he said, “let’s go somewhere else”. I agreed. After all, there wasn’t anything else I wanted there. The kids were shocked. Silas began to cry. He was looking forward to the sausage he ordered. The other kids didn’t care much because they ordered the usual chicken strips that all restaurants have.
The waitress came back and I very politely told her we would pay for our drinks and try another restaurant and I went ahead and ordered Silas’ food to go for him. He was happy. On the way out, I just had to laugh. What else could I do? I could get really mad, but that’s dumb. We tried to find another barbeque place but it closed just as we pulled up. Once again, we laughed. And I was reminded another reason why I think Texas is like another planet. Who closes for dinner at 7:45pm? Only in Texas.
We ended up at the Cotton Patch Café, where Paul worked during our newly wed months. It is a Texan, home-cooking kind of place. It was ok, just ok.
~Holly