No neon pig, but lots of delectable barbecue

SLIDESHOW: Q Barbecue

As a former waitress at a barbecue restaurant while in college, I don't have the best memories of smoked-meat dining. Paper-covered tables, faux-wood-paneled walls, neon pigs and a general aura of stickiness are the unsettling images that usually permeate my mind when someone mentions ribs.

Thank goodness for Tuffy Stone.

Replace sticky with sleek, neon pigs with a flat-screen TV and faux wood with a bold, carnival-like color palette, and you've got Q Barbeque, Stone's new eatery located just past Wal-Mart off Midlothian Turnpike in Midlothian.

Q is quirky -- the logo is the letter fashioned to look like a pig's nose. Q is funny -- signature merchandise bears one-liners, such as "Barbeque so good you'll lick someone else's fingers." But most important, Q knows how to smoke some meat.

In addition to owning A Sharper Palate Catering Co., Stone is an award-winning barbecue master. His Cool Smoke Team was named 2007 Team of the Year by the Kansas City Barbecue Society, an acknowledgement akin to being top on the NASCAR circuit.

During my visit one recent Friday evening, a Q employee was laughing about Stone's "barbecue nerd" tendencies. He explained that Stone is such a perfectionist that his strategies include spraying the meat with exactly four squirts of pineapple juice every two hours. I knew I was in good hands.

Q is set up for easy in-and-out ordering. You walk up to the counter, place your order, receive a number and get your food in mere minutes.

And this is where I wish things were different. Speediness is great for a quick lunch, but Q's décor is so snazzy I wanted to hang out a bit, especially considering Q has wine ($5 a glass, $20 a bottle), a variety of bottled beers and even a margarita machine ($5 each).

But without a server system,we got our food so quickly and at such an insanely hot temperature, it took away from fully enjoying all the effort that went into making Q something different. Yeah, this seems like a stupid complaint, but Q has the appeal to be so much more than quick service.

Regardless, Q's menu is pretty simple -- pounds and pints to-go, sandwiches, rib plates, and combos ranging from two to four meats with one or two sides.

We went with two combos of two meats and two sides ($12 each) making sure to try all four choices: pork, brisket, chicken and ribs.

All of Q's barbecue has the same signature characteristics: unbelievably tender, ridiculously moist and infused with just the right amount of smokiness to strike a gentle balance between the essence of the meat and the hours of smoked love.

The ribs were the standout. Encrusted with a salty, slightly spicy rub, the meat was so tender it seemed to be lounging extravagantly on the bone rather than having once been attached. And even a hint of grease? No, sir.

Q's homemade sauces include a mild version full of tang that we found offset the pork's saltiness nicely and a sweet version, which was a bit too cloying.

Baked beans brandished an unexpected yet spirited tanginess, and macaroni and cheese was made with white Cheddar and plenty of creamy goodness.

However, some sides were disappointing, mostly because they strayed a little too far from tradition. Though the corn pudding's fluffy, custardlike texture studded with whole kernels was nice, it was too peppery and not as rich as I'd hoped.

Collard greens were loaded with meaty chunks of bacon, but they were so intensely sweet and vinegary that I had to choose my bites wisely as not to incapacitate my palate for the barbecue main event.

However, a perfectly traditional ending of banana pudding ($3) complete with vanilla wafers and gooey banana slices erased the minor stumbles of our meal.

Q is a fun, new take on the barbecue restaurant concept. It's bright, cheery and, most important, tasty. But if Q's slow cooking were able to temper its fast pace, a little more time for savoring would make it all the better. .