Restaurant review: Oxtails off the hook at Les Barbecue Sandwiches | Restaurant Reviews

Although the two worlds don’t often intersect, chefs and rock musicians have an awful lot in common. Both vocations attract people with a larger-than-life personality, a drive for perfection and a passion for their profession. Les Rhodes, Jr., a Texas native who now calls Utah home, is a prime example of what can happen when these two worlds collide – and all that smoked meat is thankfully on display at the newly opened Les Barbecue sandwiches in Draper.

In true rock star fashion, Rhodes has just embarked on a national tour where he will host barbecue pop-ups across the southern US, including numerous stops in his home state of Texas. While he is away doing the Lord’s work in barbecue, interested parties are blessed with a brick-and-mortar sandwich shop that does things the Rhodes way, the Texas way, here on the Wasatch Front.

Texas barbecue prefers a low-and-slow smoke cooking that’s often applied to proteins like brisket, chicken and ribs, but one of Rhodes’ storefronts wouldn’t be complete without the self-proclaimed Oxtail King’s Favorite Protein. Barbecued oxtails are a rarity in Utah; While several of our African and Vietnamese restaurants have some great oxtail dishes on their menus, we haven’t seen them Texas-style since Rhodes came to town. Those who’ve only had a chance to enjoy Rhodes’ barbecue talents and his signature oxtails at his pop-up events now have a place to go whenever they want to indulge their cravings — and there’s even a drive -thru.

First-time visitors who haven’t yet enjoyed the primal pleasures of burrowing deep into a pile of piping hot smoked oxtails will want to start with a bowl of the famous oxtails ($40). Each bowl contains about three softball-sized oxtails, and they provide enough meat for two moderately hungry guests. The oxtail meat surrounds a beef tailbone, but keep in mind that these babies are smoked for hours before they reach your plate. All that delicious beef requires little effort to pull off the tailbones, and it’s completely saturated with flavor. Rhodes and his team don’t worry about dry rubs, marinades or sauces; they know how to dress and serve their proteins without putting those tricks to the fore. Instead, you get a concentrated dose of pure beef flavor that provides plenty of time to meditate on the nuances you never knew were there the last time you ate smoked beef.

Since the shop is billed as a sandwich shop, the sandwiches ($18) should definitely be on your list. You can choose from smoked brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken or rib meat for your sandwich, and they’ll even prepare an oxtail sandwich if they have enough in stock; they tend to run out of oxtail pretty quickly each day. However, such occasions provide a good opportunity to try some of the other barbecue talents on display, and so far I have tried the brisket sandwich.

I was happy to see that they really stuff the sandwich, so if you plan on visiting the drive-thru, try not to eat it while you’re behind the wheel. Their sandwiches also include some chopped onion and pickle, along with a dollop of homemade barbecue sauce, and the pickle is a perfect complement to all that rich protein. The brisket has all the hallmarks of classic Texas barbecue: a pink smoke ring around the edges, an impossibly tender texture, and deep flavor in every bite.

Dig deeper into the menu and you’ll see a lot of great barbecue vehicles. The current winner for me is the Frito Pie ($16) with chicken or pork. It’s similar to their nachos ($20), but they swap out the tortilla chips for some crumbly Fritos corn chips. Call me basic if you must, but getting a scoop of those crispy Fritos with some cheese, guacamole, sour cream, barbecue sauce, and spicy jalapeños makes me nostalgic for the travel tacos I ate for school lunch. Of course the Frito Pie at Les Barbecue is superior to the nonsense of the school canteen, but nostalgia is nostalgia.

The Loaded Baked Potato ($20) takes the same barbecue goodness as the nachos and Frito Pie and piles them on top of a warm baked tater tot. It’s a nice, starchy addition to whatever protein you prefer, and you can tell everyone that in addition to all that barbecue, you’re also eating a vegetable, which is always a bonus.

It’s true that we have some great regional barbecue spots in Utah, but I still feel like we have plenty of room to grow and evolve. Now Chef Les Rhodes Jr. all that Texas swagger, technique, and penchant for spectacle brings—you see it every time you open a bowl of those signature smoked oxtails—our overall barbecue status becomes more legitimate. Considering how revered pitmasters and sauce bosses are in their own communities, you have to be grateful to personalities like Rhodes, who are bringing the brisket straight to our collective backyard.