After a two-week closure in January, 3 Stacks Smoke & Tap House is shiny and new with a renovated interior and an exciting rebooted menu by Chef Pete Rukes and Pitmaster Bryan Shanahan!
3 Stacks is now an all scratch kitchen boasting house-made sauces, jams, breads, and of course, sausage. I had never visited this restaurant before and didn’t know what to expect but let me just say, I was more than pleasantly surprised!
The meal started with a choice of a few of their impressive craft cocktails. We sipped on the show smoke, a margarita made with ghost tequila, cointreau, lime, agave, and and the Ol’ Barrel, a manhattan-style cocktail. The Ol’ Barrel was my personal favorite and we learned that the drink itself is barrel aged onsite giving it an extra special smokey char flavor. All in all, it was an exciting and tasty array of well-executed cocktails. It was nice to have that option at a BBQ joint since what you usually find are mostly beer selections.
Next up, we were presented with a variety of appetizers: hush puppies, flatbread, and fried green tomatoes. My personal standout was the BBQ flatbread. It’s a tasty bite of sweet and savory that would work well on its own with a beer for lunch or dinner. It’s a welcomed change of pace to have a multitude of fabulous starters to accompany the mains which of course were the top notch smoked meats.
Which brings us to star of the meal, the outstanding smoked St. Louis ribs, USDA prime beef brisket, pulled pork, turkey, shrimp & grits, and house made jalapeño cheddar sausage. The ribs and brisket were stellar and my personal favorite. I’m talking fall-off-the-bone, exceptionally flavored, lick-every-single-one-of-your-fingers good. At $14 for a half a rack of ribs and $9 a pound for the brisket, it’s an unbelievable caliber of bbq you’re getting for a reasonable price. Along with the smoked meat, were were treated to a sampling of their BLT sandwich which is a delightful combination of house smoked pork belly, fried green tomato, greens, and bbq crema.
Normally, you go to a BBQ joint for the smoked meat and the sides are an afterthought. Don’t make the mistake of ignoring the sides at 3 Stacks. We tasted the white cheddar mac and cheese which was a table favorite and the roasted garlic mashed potatoes that had me reaching for seconds and thirds.
And just when we thought we couldn’t possibly eat anything more, they bring out the show-stopping desserts. There was a warm donut and maple bread pudding and my very favorite–I will drive up to Frisco to pay money and eat this again favorite–was the caramelized banana crème brûlée. If you love banana pudding, banana cream pie, or bananas foster, this is the dessert for you. It’s a decadent twist on traditional creme brûlée that will have ordering it first to ensure you don’t run out of room.
3 Stacks’ newly revamped interior coupled with their fabulous service, cocktails, bites, and BBQ is sure to keep you coming back time and time again. I know I certainly will be!
3 Stacks Smoke & Tap House
3stacksbbq.com
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4226 Preston Road (Frisco)
(469) 287-9035
Pictures courtesy of 3 Stacks
