Decided to forgo the Civic Center Eats crowds today for an easy walk over to the Wells Fargo Center food truck location, at 17th and Sherman.  Got an update over Facebook that the N.Z’s Smokin’ Guns truck would be there.

I ordered the Brisket sandwich with the spicy habanero sauce (trying to cut down on eating pork).  The price was $8.00 and I also got a bottled water for another $1.   After ordering, it was just a few minutes for the sandwich to be ready.  The service was friendly and quick.  They accept credit cards on a smart phone device.

Here is a look at the menu:

The sandwich itself is served on a somewhat unremarkable roll.  The roll is, however, nicely toasted and added a good base for the main feature- the brisket.  According to N.Z’s website, all of their meats are applewood smoked.  The brisket itself was tender, and thick cut.  It was not dry, and had a very nice flavor, but not smokey at all.  As far as brisket goes, it was comparable to some of the better brisket I’ve had, although I would not claim to be a particularly picky BBQ eater and it seems like there are a lot of good BBQ options around Denver.  But this stuff tasted pretty authentic, and made for a decent lunch option.

The portion on the roll was generous and many pieces fell out during the eating process.  I picked up these pieces with my fingers and ate them without shame.  The meat comes with the sauce already applied, so you do not have an option (without asking, I guess) with respect to how much sauce you get.  That being said, the amount of sauce was not overwhelming at all.  It was enough to barely coat the meat and add the sauce flavor.

For being described as a “spicy” habanero sauce, it was a little bit disappointing on the heat factor to my likes.  I tend to overdo it with the heat.  This is entry-level heat from N.Z’s.  The sauce was complementary to the meat, which I say is good– It was not the main attraction here, but served to highlight the quality smoking of the beef itself.  Next time I try this truck, I will probably get the sweet sauce “Mild Mango” to see how that goes.

This is also just a meat and bread sandwich.  There is not an option to add coleslaw to the mix.  They do offer tacos that feature lettuce and cheese, which sounds interesting.  Many of the folks that were also near the truck were getting the tacos.

In terms of value, I would grade this as an A-.  Authentic smoked BBQ is always pricey, but $8 for a sandwich like this downtown is more than a fair deal.  (You could go to Subway around the corner and easily spend nearly $8 for a corporate test tube sandwich with 5% of the flavor).  The amount of beef on the sandwich justifies the price point.  Notably, the pork option is a dollar cheaper.

Final thoughts:  This is a truck where if you are wanting plain old authentic and tasty smoked brisket or pulled pork/chicken, it appears you cannot go wrong.  However, if you are looking for something more adventuresome or gourmet, this may not be your truck.  Personally, I will be going back to this truck as long as it is still roaming Denver.

http://www.nzsmokinguns.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/NZs-Smokin-Guns/