Published: June 05, 2008 10:38 am         

Peadenville’s Hashknife hot stuff

By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

PEADENVILLE - Just over eight miles north of Mineral Wells lies what Texas Monthly calls “a mirage in the desert” - the two-year old Hashknife on the Chisholm restaurant.

In its latest issue, the magazine included Jim McLennan's digs as one of the “Top 50 barbeque joints in Texas.” Since the magazine hit the shelves and mailboxes, the Hashknife's front door and phone have been busy.

“Where in the hell is Peadenville?” asked one caller, a question McLennan said he might put on a T-shirt.

With food and gas on one side of U.S. Highway 281 and horses on the other, the “mirage” is in the backyard of the cutting horse industry and the Barnett Shale and only a skip away from Graford and Possum Kingdom Lake.

McLennan said people from all of these industries and attractions grace the doors of the transformed Shamrock gas station. He said he also gets regular diners from Jacksboro, Graham and Mineral Wells.

By the map, though, it's at the crossroads of Farm-to-Market Road 1885 and State Highway 254.

In the past week since the article was published, McLennan estimates business at the Hashknife has increased by 5 to 10 percent.

In March, Texas Monthly writers came to the Hashknife for a clandestine taste test, which McLennan said he found out about when they called in April.

When the magazine called, McLennan said he thought, “'My friends are messing with me' [when the writer] asked me for my slaw recipe and what I put on my ribs before they told me who they were.”

“I can't tell you,” he said he replied. “They told me they were from Texas Monthly and I said 'I still can't tell you.'”

Texas Monthly sent 18 “hungry reviewers” to a total of 341 barbeque joints throughout the state - traveling 14,773 miles.

“This is the first time being in the top 50 of anything in Texas. It's a big thing,” said McLennan of the paragraph his meat scored in Texas Monthly.

“His pecan-and-oak-smoked ribs were juicy and his vinegar slaw unparalleled,” the reviewer cited.

McLennan attributes his delectable success to tender ribs and “just good barbeque, cooked by an owner that cares.”

In addition to barbeque, McLennan offers hand-seasoned “grilled home potatoes, squash and chicken-frieds.” Additionally, he said his “oil field pudding” is an item in demand.

When asked why he chose Peadenville, the former Weatherford resident said he looked into opening a restaurant in Mineral Wells.

“The city wanted me to doze half the parking lot and plant cactus,” he said. “I didn't think a barbeque joint needed to be that pretty, so I came to Peadenville.”

McLennan said he likes the idea of “destination meals” and has his own selection of locales where he goes for certain types of food.

He added that he takes pride in having a location - the old filling station - that looks like a dive. Once inside the wood-paneled dining room, the dive appearance seems to fade away. McLennan credits his wife, Lesa, for the restaurant's décor - including the interior woodwork and the metal work outside.

While his doors have only been open for two years, as of June 9, McLennan refined his recipes as a “chuckman,” catering on ranches and, more recently, for the oil field business. He said he was mentored by Elwood Hamilton and had his first pit in Weatherford in 1980.

“I got the crews so fat that their wives got mad at me,” he said of his work prior to the Hashknife.

This weekend, McLennan will celebrate his second year of business at the old gas station with guitar pickers. Weather permitting, McLennan said he tries to have “some pickers out on Friday nights” in his outdoor patio.