#4 HEIM BBQ is Bacon Me Crazy

Heim BBQ, home of the hallucinogenic Bacon Burnt Ends

In August 2017, I visited Heim BBQ, Ft. Worth's entrant in Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ Joints.

Since they're located in Cowtown, you'd think Heim would deliver the beefy goods. You'd be right.  Their building is cool, so is the Fairmount neighborhood they're located in...very walkable and trendy. The Heimses Heims' Heim family also has a great back story (e.g. food trailer cooks with Franklin halo make good).  As with most BBQ joints, there was a line out the door when they opened, but the folks at Heim are really skilled at serving people quickly.

At the counter, I handed my Texas BBQ Passport to the kid and asked for my stamp. He was happy to see someone using it, and mentioned that he had stamped a guy who finished the statewide quest to hit all 50 BBQ joints in 9 days. I've only hit 4 in a month. I have severe stamp envy and a lot of beef between me and my Yeti.

I ordered a two-meat combo plate with sides (brisket, jalapeno sausage, potato salad and green chili mac and cheese) and some bacon burnt ends. The brisket was good and the jalapeno sausage was great...heavy on the jalapeno.

Where's the beef?!

The brisket to sides ratio was a little off though, as you can see in the picture. I mean, I want Heim's brisket and all I got was one small piece? Next time I'm buying by the pound. These are first world problems, people, a man's gotta have his brisket...especially when it's this good!

Heim also has a secret ingredient on their menu. Bacon. Sweet, sweet bacon.

You see, in addition to their delectable BBQ and sausage, Heim is famous for their bacon burnt ends. (They also put bacon in their potato salad, which was a revelation to me. Why have I never done that?) The bacon burnt ends are made from smoked pork belly, coated with rub and brown sugar. They're more bacony than bacon!

The greatness of Heim's bacon burnt ends fried my brain

While chewing on a bacon burnt end, I slipped into a blissful, smoky trance and started pondering Ft. Worth's place in the world.

Much like bacon, people can't get enough of Ft. Worth. It's what people think of when they think of Texas... stockyards, horned frogs, honky tonks. It's a big city with a small-town feel. It's where the West begins.

And then it hit me. Ft. Worth is the bacon of North Texas. It just makes everything better.

Think about it. Sometimes you're eating a sandwich and it hits you like a rasher..."This needs bacon." So you pull out a pound and start cooking. You test the first piece to see if it's crunchy enough, then eat...cook...eat...cook. Before you know it, you're done cooking and there's one piece left for the sandwich. Voila...best sandwich ever!

Isn't it obvious that Dallas needs Ft. Worth like filet mignon needs bacon?  Filet mignon is plenty satisfying on its own, but bacon just makes it that much more special. Without Ft. Worth, Dallas would be just a delectable, seasoned, high-grade hunk of beef. I think the two just go together.

Or maybe I shouldn't have eaten all of those bacon burnt ends in one sitting. Good thing they don't smoke mushrooms at Heim.

Anyway, Heim BBQ has some of the best BBQ in Texas and is a terrific place to stop for some tasty 'cue next time you're in Ft. Worth. And the hallucinogenic bacon burnt ends are definitely worth the trip.