Good golly, Molly smokes up delicious barbecue
By Matthew Gray
Advertiser Restaurant Critic
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| Molly Walker, owner of Molly's Smokehouse, specializes in tender and tasty Texas-style smoked meats and soulful cooking at her Wahiawa restaurant.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser Molly's Smokehouse 23 S. Kamehameha Highway, Wahiawa 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Mondays-Saturdays 621-4858
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My pals and I, from all over the San Fernando Valley, would zip around on our bicycles to the baseball field, the pinball arcade, and, finally, to Chris & Pitt's for the legendary Texas Chopper, for a mere 85 cents, with fries.
Add a Coke and you were well on your way to a $1 transcendental experience.
The Texas Chopper was a jam-packed affair, a barbecue sandwich beyond compare — saucy, spicy and dripping with a tangy hickory-smoke-scented red sauce.
Rejected meat scraps would be used to construct this meaty masterpiece; usually a melange of beef, pork, ham and rib pieces, with onions, chopped to small dice and stuffed into a large, long and chewy roll. Could life get any better? No way.
Cut to present-day Wahiawa, 30 years later. A lovely lady named Margaret "Molly" Walker owns and operates Molly's Smokehouse, a Texas-style barbecue restaurant, the real deal when it comes to the low (heat) and slow (cooked for a long time) method of barbecue cookery.
Molly grew up in and around San Antonio with her large family (six siblings) who were involved in food sales and event catering. They worked rodeos, sporting events, you name it; as long as hungry people amassed, Molly and family fed them. The family worked up to barbecue specialties after beginning with cotton candy and popcorn.
I was hugely impressed with the barbecued meats at Molly's.
The smoked brisket is awesome, a Texas favorite that in itself is worth a visit. The meat literally falls apart when you pick up a slice of it.
The chicken is a thing of beauty as well, smoky and dense and oh-so-good. The baby back and spare ribs are very meaty, but they're denser and provide a more advanced chew than the other meats.
When I spoke with Molly, she mentioned how important the "smoke ring" is in genuine barbecue cooking. It may sound mystical, but the smoke ring is integral to a high-quality end product.
While slow-cooking food with smoke, it is common for a thin layer of redness to develop below the surface of meats, its thickness depending on the amount of smoke used.
Experienced barbecue chefs like Molly work hard to get a good smoke ring on their meats. Molly uses kiawe wood for her smoker.
A great way to try several different items is to get a sandwich (all $6 except for the $6.25 catfish choice). Stick with the brisket or the shredded/pulled pork sandwich, which come with pickle slices, onions, barbecue sauce and a choice of good baked beans, potato salad, cole slaw, fries or fried okra. A small soft drink is included in this price.
There are many different combinations of meats and side orders to choose from.
If you're the kind who enjoys a bit of everything, Molly's offers by-the-pound prices on the meats (sausage is $7.50, smoked pork, $8, brisket, $9, spare ribs, $9.50, baby back ribs, $10.50).
You can put together your own meal this way, especially when combined with her side dishes, available by the pint ($3.75) and quart ($6.75), including collard greens, yams, black-eyed peas, macaroni & cheese, red potatoes, ranch beans and many others.
If you enjoy wonderful Southern-style desserts, be sure to try the hot peach cobbler ($3), sweet, gooey and crumbly.
Apple pie ($3.25), pecan pie ($3) and sweet potato pie ($2.75) also are a great finish to a satisfying barbecue extravaganza.
Molly's is a fine place to have a meal, but perhaps an even better choice would be to order in advance: Many of the sweets sell out early. Your meats will be in perfect condition because they'll be cooked to order.
An additional benefit of ordering in advance from the catering menu is that there's something for everyone. Give Molly's a try when you feel like homemade Cajun, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese or Hawaiian grinds, but especially when a barbecue fix is just what the doctor ordered.
Reach Matthew Gray at mgray@honoluluadvertiser.com with your comments, questions and suggestions.
