TC’s Ponderosa

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Texas Monthly rating: 4.25

TEXAS MONTHLY SAYS: 2012: TC’s is an unassuming, if not downright divelike, convenience store along a spindly highway in West Texas, but it serves up the best barbecue ever smoked out in these parts. Whether your choice is the chopped beef sandwich (a pile of tender red meat), ham (lean and juicy), or ribs (served only once a week), you can’t go wrong. Don’t forget the sides, and be sure to pick up two of our favorite road snacks: the pineapple pudding (creamy and thick and topped with homemade vanilla wafers) and “firecrackers” (saltines so amped up with chile powder and crushed red pepper you’ll need a bottle of water!).

2008: The meats at this convenience store with but three tables were so pleasingly smoky we were shocked to learn the pit burns propane. TC’s only sells meat by the pound and sandwiches. Of the eight meats, seventeen-and-a-half-hour brisket and piquant beef-pork hot links were the stars. Beans and slaw are made in-house. Dark, medium-thick sauce had a vinegary nip. Fresh desserts too.