Barbecue report: Cobb Switch BBQ in Carrollton

by Staff of Full Custom Gospel BBQ

Cobb Switch sausage, turkey, and ribs

CARROLLTON — Phil Cobb, Janet Cobb, Blair Black, Chris Andrews, Dotty Griffith...I've never seen so many names associated with one BBQ joint, but Cobb Switch BBQ is definitely getting some free buzz with that lineup. No telling how many of those cooks really inhabit the kitchen. This place just opened, but it seems the cooking has hit its groove. The efficient service may have helped by the fact that we had the only occupied table at 1 p.m. on a Saturday, but the staff was friendly and helpful.

Six hickory-smoked meats are slow smoked in a Southern Pride smoker, and I tried them all. The standout was the St. Louis style ribs with a salty and subtly sweet rub. Ruby red meat hid below the deep black smoky crust. Brisket lacked a robust smokiness, but the moist slices were tender, with a well flavored crust.

Cobb Switch sausage, brisket, and pulled pork

Pulled pork had a good balance of moist meat, smoky crust and bits of silky fat, while the turkey (an actual turkey breast) was a bit dry with little smokiness. The big disappointment was the jalapeno cheese sausage which will take you back to childhood days of cheese filled hot dogs. Better was the black pepper flecked original sausage, which could have used a boost of smoke flavor. Management has confirmed that chicken will soon be added given to customer demand. I guess those adventurous suburbanites don't realize that turkey is also poultry.

The side items could not have been better. Cole slaw and potato salad were well above the bar for typical BBQ joint fare, and the unsoggy green beans had actual flavor. Pinto beans were well cooked with good flavor, and the potato casserole was oozing with cheesiness, and flecked with bacon and onion. I attempted to order a fried pie, but was convinced that I should go with banana pudding while being basically forced to order the key lime pie in addition.

Cobb Switch key lime pie

The pie ended up being so good that I took a slice home for my wife. The butterscotch banana pudding had good flavor profile with addition of the butterscotch, but the consistency was incredible soupy.

Given the relative infancy of this place, I have to give them credit for churning out quality grub across the board. Even if none of the meats stood out as fantastic, this was a solid dining experience with few negatives beyond the cheesy frankfurters and banana soup. I'll definitely be back.

Rating ***

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CitizenKane, says:

Wow. That is a very praising assessment of this place.

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6 months ago
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luniz, says:

surprising. sounds like it may actually be worth going.

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6 months ago
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Zach Lewis, says:

This place is right by my house, and I checked it out a few weeks ago with friends. I don't think it is fair for me to give them a review based on that experiencing, because you could tell that they were still getting used to running their new place (they had major POS trouble etc.). I thought the food was pretty good (a bit on the expensive side), and was only disappointed in the bbq sauce. The place that was there before this was best known for the bar, which was in it's own room. There are not many bars in that area, and this one was open until 2 every night. I asked the manager of the new place, and he told me the bar will still be open until 2. Honestly, this is the same place that it was before ("Rick's BBQ") under new ownership/management. If you didn't notice the sign change, you wouldn't know you were not at the old Rick's.

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6 months ago
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Teresa Gubbins, says:

it's a clever bar, though, isn't it? in that it's enclosed [IE, has a door that closes]. and i noted that smoking occurs inside

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6 months ago
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jksatjandr, says:

Sounds pretty good except for the part about the BBQ lacking "a robust smokiness". Kind of kills it for me. They will always have trouble with that because of the Southern Pride BBQ pit (southern-pride.com). It is difficult to get robust smoke from one of these, because it is primarily a gas oven with a provision for burning a small log to make a little smoke....very little. The only way to get a robust smokiness is to use a professional wood burning (only) BBQ oven like the Oyler BBQ pit, made in Mesquite Texas since 1974. See the world's best commercial wood burning BBQ ovens at: jrmanufacturing.com