Today’s lunch destination with mom was supposed to be Peggy Sue BBQ near the SMU campus in Dallas. Peggy Sue gets great write-ups in snooty “D” Magazine and excellent reviews online, so I figured this must be the go-to place for the city’s best smoked brisket and all the required accoutrements, like good sauce, greasy fries and dill pickles. Unfortunately, unless you live within walking distance or arrive in a private limo that drops you at the door, there’s no way you’ll ever get within six blocks of this place at mealtime.
Peggy Sue is located in the corner of a high-end and unnaturally busy strip mall that’s shaped like a snake pit and packed with a horde of ritzy little stores and other restaurants. From the look of it, apparently everybody in Dallas had nowhere else to go at 11 a.m. on an ordinary Tuesday. We also were flummoxed by the jammed and insufficient parking lot, which was filled with Escalades lined up bumper-to-bumper, circling for empty spots like a bunch of buzzards. We gave up, headed back to the freeway and found ourselves at the Black-eyed Pea a few blocks from home in Mesquite.
The Black-eyed Pea specializes is southern-style comfort food, the kind of place that serves a pile of free corn bread with everything and considers macaroni and cheese a vegetable. We love this place. Sam and mom ordered from the $5.99 lunch menu: he had a barbecue beef sandwich, mom ordered fried catfish. I got the grilled chopped steak smothered in the best mushroom gravy EVER. We also highly recommend their side dishes, particularly the whipped sweet potatoes, squash casserole (my personal all-time favorite) and the cheesy broccoli rice. Mom enjoyed her lunch so much she wants to go back later in the week, and that’s certainly fine with me because I spotted sugar-free cheesecake on the dessert menu. The Black-eyed Pea also offers honey butter for your corn bread, unlimited napkins, good iced tea and lots of parking.
Thank you for reading this. I’m officially hungry again.
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