17 July 25 - 31, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents After the nigiri comes a wagyu tostada and an akadashi miso soup that mixes three different misos and is aged for two weeks before serving. Everything takes about an hour, includ- ing dessert and payment. The service concluded with dessert, a brownie or gelato, but this day there was a special: homemade milk tea soft serve with olive oil and Kaluga caviar. The only problem was that we didn’t catch the “and Kaluga caviar” until it was explained and placed in front of us. Oops. When we see caviar on a menu, our eyes are trained to look away. At this point, it’s a natural survival instinct against high-priced menus. So we had to take this one slow, savor the experience and come to terms with the fact that our week’s grocery bill sat in a spoonful of painfully good ice cream. When the bill was dropped off, we were fairly sure ALL of our good karma had aligned at that moment. The fat scoop (by caviar stan- dards) with the ice cream was only $12. Namo, 3699 McKinney Ave. Tuesday – Thursday, noon – 9:30 p.m.; Friday – Satur- day, noon – 10 p.m.; Sunday noon – 9 p.m.; closed Monday. ▼ BBQ COME TO PAPI BARBECUE SHOWDOWN’S MEAT PAPI HAS JOINED FORCES WITH OUTFIT BREWING. BY NICK REYNOLDS L uis Rivera Rodriguez’s first backyard smoked brisket came out perfect. He thought it was easy. Too easy. And maybe too good to be true. Turns out, it was. Rodriguez’s second, third and fourth bris- kets ... well, let’s just say they didn’t turn out as well as the first. But Rodriguez kept at it, honing his craft one smoked brisket at a time. Eventually (af- ter a TikTok post), he attracted the eye of Netflix’s Barbecue Showdown, a competi- tion-based barbecue reality series. When they DM’d him, Rodriguez didn’t think it was real (nor did his mom). “I thought it was a scam,” Rodriguez said, laughing. “And when I told my mother I was going to be filming for Netflix, she didn’t be- lieve me. She cried when she saw me on the show.” You can find Rodriguez, aka “Meat Papi,” on Season 3 of the series, where he competes for a $50,000 grand prize. You can also find him in person at one of our favorite brewer- ies, Outfit Brewing. The key connection that paved the way for Rodriguez to land at Outfit was his friendship with Outfit operations manager Zack Flagg. And with many breweries these days offering standout food options to set themselves apart, the team at Outfit felt this was a component they were missing. Recently, Outfit and Meat Papi himself treated influencers and press to a glimpse of what Outfit’s food will be like going forward. And the early returns were (very) promising. Brisket and lechon (Caribbean-style pulled pork) were served the following ways: brisket-stuffed arepas with Venezu- elan cabbage and Meat Papi’s from- scratch sauces (aside from the white crema), plantain tostones topped with brisket, yuca croquettes topped with bris- ket or lechon, “Papi” bowls of Latin rice (with either brisket or lechon) and Vene- zuelan cabbage, brisket by itself and cups of fire-roasted elote with sweet peppers, cilantro and brisket. It was all good, but the brisket (as good brisket tends to do) stole the show. On a scale grading brisket tenderness from one to 10, this brisket would’ve broken the scale. Rodriguez was born in Venezuela and raised on the south side of Chicago, and the influences of each can be seen in his cooking as he fuses a variety of flavors in his dishes. “I pay homage to Venezuelan, Mexican and American cooking. I’m Venezuelan, but I consider myself an American. I’m a little bit of everything,” said Rodriguez. “I had a good government job before this, with benefits and everything. I’ve risked all that because of how deeply I believe in this. I want Dallas to be my new home. And as much as I loved being on the show, being on television wasn’t my dream. My dream is to serve my food to people like you all. This is my Thanksgiving.” Outfit Brewing, 7135 John W. Carpenter Freeway (State Highway 183). BBQ hours Thursday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Nick Reynolds The tender brisket at Meat Papi