Big Al’s Smokehouse in Dallas Celebrates 50 Years in Business | Eater Dallas

"Off Inwood Road, just east of Love Field, I found a Dallas barbecue institution that has been quietly smoking meat for half a century. Opened in 1974 by Al Plaskoff, Big Al’s Smokehouse is now run by his daughter Lauran Weiner, alongside pitmaster Pedro Garcia (who has been there since 1979) and general manager Jonathan McZeal (a fixture for the last 16 years). As a family- and woman-owned business celebrating its 50th anniversary, the restaurant partnered with J&R Manufacturing to use its commercial Oyler smoker and has relied on hickory wood for five decades. The menu evolved slowly—sweet tea wasn’t added until the ’90s, family-style dishes and catering grew over time, and the switch to rubs and a bark came in the early 2010s after years of purist smoking of dark meat and trimming on the block. Under Weiner the biggest change has been fresh-cut, twice-fried french fries (she insists on hand-cut fries and dislikes frozen ones); the menu also now features a Big Al’s margarita, spiked sweet tea, a daily happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m., and plans for a Sunday brunch and a larger September celebration. The restaurant is active in the community—working with programs like Second Chance to help reintroduce and hire formerly incarcerated people—and Weiner notes that hiring and maintaining staff remains her biggest challenge." - Courtney E. Smith