In today’s installment of “What Did Spencer Eat For Lunch?” I visited Matt’s BBQ Tacos at the Hinterland food cart on SE 50th Ave. They also opened up a spot recently in the Great Notion brewery on Alberta. At this point Matt’s BBQ is an institution, and for good reason. Bringing Texas BBQ to a foodie town that has always seriously been lacking in BBQ. For one reason or another, the PNW has never been a haven for BBQ. At some point I want to take a BBQ tour through the south and try all the regional specialties. I used to go to the original Matt’s when it was a food cart in a random parking lot on MLK and I have been hooked since. I tended to go for the sandwiches or tacos since I wasn’t throwing down on the whole “shebang” BBQ spread. I kind of pine for those days. While the 2 dedicated taco spots are still really solid, I feel like some of the magic is missing from the original, and I prefer the BBQ from the Mississippi spot as well as Matt’s other ventures, specifically Eem, which is incredible. I will do a post on Eem at some point, one of my favorite restaurants in town and a place I take friends and foodies from out of town.

Enough of the yakety yak. Let’s get to the food. I got 3 tacos: brisket, sausage and the pulled pork breakfast taco. Their brisket is incredible, probably my favorite of their meats. Their standard taco comes with pickled red onions and guacamole, which should be an industry standard. Quality smoked meats, handmade tortillas, pickled red onions and guacamole. A great lineup, though often they are a bit dry so adding salsa helps make it a more cohesive taco. As any Texan knows, ya gotta put salsa on your breakfast tacos! I recommend the brisket, but also the sausage. It might sound a bit strange (chopped sausage taco?) but it is very tasty and worth ordering. A small grievance: I added smoked jalapeños to mine, but they didn’t chop the jalapeño, leaving it whole. Chop that thing up so that I get jalapeños in each bite instead of eating the whole pepper in one bite. The pulled pork breakfast taco didn’t fare as well, wouldn’t recommend this one. It was pretty bland, the meat didn’t shine through with the eggs and beans. Required more salsa. Definitely worth going here if you’ve never been (is that even possible?) and if you want to avoid the crazy lines at the Mississippi spot. Although there was a sizable line here, the food came pretty quick, plus you can grab a drink at the bar at Hinterland. They have a nice outside setup, with heaters that make it possible to enjoy eating outside on the covered patio on a chilly day. My other grievance is their computerized ordering system and the fact that they don’t take cash. I fear the day where I can’t order from a human and pay cash…