I really wanted to like this place. I really really did. But I did not. The ribs had a great taste, an ok texture (despite the fact that they left the membrane on), and yet they SMELLED awful.
They ran out out of the brisket so maybe I'm not being fair. However, I'm just going off what I was served.
Not much left to say. The women that ran it were really sweet and there wasn't an ounce of that presumptuous attitude that lurks many New Orleans establishments.
Walker's BBQ will be receiving a 2 out of 5 stars.
p.s. I'd like to say that maybe I'll try it again someday but I'd rather smoke my own BBQ than give second chances. I will also put a disclaimer up, Walkers is known for their couchon du lait po boys. I didn't get it because this is not a po boy blog.
Really?
This place is a bit confusing. No, it's not a haunted house. It's not a BBQ establishment. What it is is a really awesome bar located in Mid-City. They have really great cocktails, beer, cupcakes, and some BBQ...!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
o·ver·hype 
My experiences with San Antonio's BBQ Trail has been short but all so sweet. The Pitmaster at The Smoke Shack said he smokes with Pecan and Oak, and throws an onion in the smoker. I couldn't tell if he was figuratively feeding me a rack of bullshit...(aka: NY style BBQ). It got me thinking that maybe onions in the smoker might work...or maybe he is just playing a cruel joke on me. 
Once you pick an entrance to the building (tucked away under a downtown skyway, the location is split into two areas. A divey restaurant that serves powerful drinks on one side – a divey bar that serves Chinese food on the other. I mean this place has the lights down lowwwww. Red-painted walls with Asian décor and yes, still somehow, you feel like you belong here. There’s no judging here. You just sit down, shut up, and eat or drink.
Then, you have the entertainment – “One Man Band” Ray Evangelista. One guy up the stage with a guitar and a rack full of accompanying top 40, classic rock, and old timey tracks. The guy can play that guitar too – I was honestly, quite impressed with his skills. The guy can also sing the heck out of these tunes. He’s got not music or lyrics in front of him and nails every song. He works the crowd a little bit and people are honest-to-god listening and paying attention and clapping and cheering when he starts and finishes songs. Perfect for this quickly-more-and-more-awesome establishment.
Then, you have the staff. Joe is either the owner or he runs the place like a boss. He’s the nicest and charming Asian man with long gray hair who doubles as chef and server, as well as host and drinking buddy. The bartender was a super friendly blonde woman who made sure I was taken care of and then made sure all the patrons were taken care of. Super nice, service with a wink, and knows how to pour a serious drink.
The restaurant seating area was closing down when I got there, but there were open booths in the bar area for me. I got a menu and figured out what I wanted. There’s a fantastic selection of appetizers, soups, and entrees on the menu and I decided to be gutsy and get something new – Plum Chicken and Shrimp. I also needed to check out some appetizers, so I got the Tibet Plate – egg roll, fried shrimp, hulla beef, paper chicken, and rumaki. The bartender told me she’d be right over, and I just hopped up from my table and went to the bar to order - save this lady a couple of steps and make her life easier. I had heard about the Volcano drink they have here, so I ordered one. She said, “You know that’s for four people, right?” I replied, “Yes, I do.” She smiled, nodded her head, and started mixing this huge bowl of rum, brandy, and pineapple juice. Awwww yeah.
The Volcano is serious. If you’ve been to Psycho Suzi’s in Minneapolis, you’ll recognize the Polynesian tiki bowl it comes in. There’s a spot in the middle that you pour Bacardi 151 into and then light it – that’s the volcano part. Then, I saw her pour the 151 all over the top of the bowl – intentionally – to make this thing even stronger than it already is. Like I said – a serious pour. Plus, this bowl of liquor is delicious. If you’re not going anywhere for a few hours, you should get one. They are head-spinningly inexpensive.
Joe brought out the appetizers and then scuttled back to the kitchen to finish the entrée. I dug into the various fried bits on the plate. The breaded and fried shrimp was decent. Nothing fancy, but fried shrimp is always good, as long as it’s cooked all the way through. The rumaki seemed to have an evil number of toothpicks in it (be sure to find them all before you bite into it), but had a decent flavor – although a little cold on the inside for my taste. If you don’t know, rumaki is bacon wrapped around chicken/duck liver and water chestnuts and then fried. Sometimes good, sometimes not good. The paper chicken was interesting and not like anything I’ve had before. It’s a piece of chicken cooked inside an aluminum foil triangle pouch – this was just ok and I had some concerns about the temperature of this one, as well. The Hulla Beef is a skewer of beef – nothing special, as far as I could tell. Good flavor, but not much pizazz. The egg roll was actually quite good and cooked perfectly. Good amount of ingredients on the inside and the shell was light and crispy. Plus, I think I got a bonus cream cheese wonton, which was really quite good. 
The entr̩e came out next and looked pretty good. It smelled even better. The plum chicken and shrimp is in a brown garlic gravy with a bunch of water chestnuts and caramel walnuts. Wow, this was better than I was expecting. The shrimp was good and not fishy, the chicken had no gristle or tough pieces, and there was plenty of rice to accompany the dish. I should have ordered it spicy, but even without the zing of peppers, this dish was a nice surprise Рespecially with the gamble I took of getting something new.
The mac and cheese is still fantastic. We really like it here and are thrilled they use real cheese in it. Maybe not the best in the Twin Cities, but it IS the best on the Bar-B-Quest. The spicy potato wedges were fought over, once again. They are top notch and with the dipping sauce, you can’t stop eating them. Perfect again. The baked beans continue to be the best anywhere. Huge chunks of meat in the beans gives you some texture to chew on. They could be a little spicier (in my opinion), but they’re still some of the best baked beans I’ve ever had. The cole slaw again, was plain looking, but when paired with the ribs themselves, it is absolutely fantastic.
The pulled pork was pretty good, and we were all glad we tried it to see who it stacked up to the other food. With the right combinations of sauces Q Fanatic offers, you can get it dialed in just right. The pulled chicken, however, didn’t need any doctoring. It was great on its own. Much better than any of us expected, to be honest. Very tender and lots of flavor and seasoning. Perfect chicken.
Finally, the ribs were amazing as usual. The meat here just can’t be beat (or can it?). It falls off the bone but still has a good char on the outside that gives it some texture. Very little gristle and fat in these to contend with and you really enjoy every bite. Make sure you try the vodka pepper BBQ sauce – it’s the best one. This competition is getting to be TOUGH.
And of course, we had to get cookies. We weren’t playing around this time, since the “great incident of Bar-B-Quest” when HotGirlsBrother took too large a bite of LowVee’s cookie and she went ballistic. We made sure everyone had cookies immediately upon ordering (then I went back and got two more, since I wanted D.Rough to be able to share in the joy that are Q Fanatic monster cookies. I’ve decided I’m going to ask if they’ll sell me a few cookie’s worth of the dough, since I’m a huge cookie dough fiend. I’ll sign a waiver if I need to for the raw eggs – I just need that cookie dough in my face hole soon!
