Let's face it: when restaurants are good, ordering can be a mouth-watering chore.
When there are a number of dishes on the menu that sound delicious, it can be tough to narrow things down. When a restaurant is known for a particular dish or genre of food, you feel compelled to try it. If you've eaten at a restaurant before, and you know a particular dish is good, the battle becomes "Should I go with what worked before or give something new a chance?"
It's enough to give you a headache.
The combination plate was invented to help in these situations. But, in some cases, that can only add to the indecision.
Such is the case at the Silver Spur Texas Smokehouse BBQ, which is entering its third week in its new location at 13275 Watertown Plank Rd. in Elm Grove.
The restaurant had operated for years and developed a devoted following at 19990 W. Greenfield Ave., where a fire destroyed the property nearly a year ago. Now reopened in the historic building that once housed the Elm Grove Inn, the Silver Spur has created a Southwestern feel with dark wood floors, terra cotta color schemes, longhorns and other accoutrements, including TVs tuned to sports events in two dining areas set off from a long bar near the entrance.
Anybody can open a casual restaurant, hang a cowboy picture and call themselves "Texas style." The Silver Spur has the most important accessories -- two new smokers in the kitchen -- and a huge one near the large parking lot in back.
As the name on the sign implies, the Silver Spur is known for smoky barbecue dishes like brisket, ribs, pork, chicken, turkey, sausage links and what they call the "Juicy Q," which is brisket chopped and simmered in sauce.
If you feel like ribs, try a slab of St. Louis-style beauties ($22.95 for a full rack, $12.95 for a half) and enjoy gnawing the tender meat off the bone. (These aren't like baked/steamed ribs served at other Milwaukee establishments). If you like chicken, try a platter ($15.95 whole, $10.95 half). If you love pulled pork, grab that for $11.90 or a brisket platter for $12.90. The hand-sliced turkey is $12.95.
All of the platters at Silver Spur include your choice of two sides, including creamy dill potato salad, cole slaw, ranch beans or pasta salad. If you like, you can substitute fries for the two sides and get other items a la carte.
The platters are excellent, but why limit yourself? Silver Spur offers two-meat combos ($13.95), three-meat combos ($15.95) and -- if you are really hungry -- a four-meat sampler for $17.95. If you want to try all seven meats, you can order "The Whole Shootin' Match," ($21.95).
If you have four or five hungry diners at the table, try the BBQ Feed Bag ($59.95), which includes a slab of ribs, a whole chicken, a pound of beef brisket, cole slaw potato salad, ranch beans, fries and corn muffins.
"That's definitely a lot of food," our server said when we marveled at the listing. "Nobody will leave hungry."
Two recent visits revealed all of the meats to be tender and flavorful and imbued with a pinkish-red hue and flavor that come with the custom smoking process.
In the Texas style, Silver Spur serves its meats without sauce. (It seems that folks in Texas question your meat if you serve it doused in sauce). The house sauce is served from a plastic squeeze bottle. At both visits, servers warned that "it comes out fast" and it definitely does. The sauce, which is tangy and rich but not overly sweet or spicy, has just enough kick in the aftertaste to tickle the taste buds, but not enough to make you reach for your beverage. It's an ideal accompaniment to the smoky flavor of the meat. If you feel adventurous, ask for a bottle of hot pepper sauce, which turns up the volume without being cartoonishly hot.
Though it's known for barbecue, Silver Spur also serves an impressive array of Mexican entrees, including enchiladas ($11.95 chicken, $10.95 cheese) and fajitas ($13.95 beef, $11.95 chicken). The restaurant also does steaks, pork chops and shrimp as well as burgers and sandwiches.
The Friday fish fry features beer battered cod, fries and a cup of chowder at lunch ($8.95). Dinner offerings include the fried cod ($11.95), baked cod ($12.95) and lake perch ($16.95), served with potato pancakes or fries, cole slaw, applesauce and chowder.
The appetizers, including red chile onion strings ($6.95) chips and salsa (4.95) and Silver Spur nachos ($9.95 cheese, $11.95 chicken or beef or $10.95 served "sloppy" with chili, ranch beans and jalapenos) are worth a visit as well. The main trouble with the "Texas Teasers" is that if you eat an appetizer and a couple of meats, you'll definitely be taking some of your entree home and won't have room for the desserts ($4.95), which include mud pie and cherry cobbler.
Service at Silver Spur was friendly and accommodating, though the staff at times seemed stretched by the two dining areas. The restaurant does not allow smoking inside, but owners are exploring the idea of an outdoor patio in back to recreate the garden-like feel of the previous location.
Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
