There's precious little for you to eat at Taste of Texas Bar-B-Q in Spencerport if you happen to be a vegetarian. There's only one salad on the menu, and that's a side salad served with an entrée that's long on meat and starch and short on the leafy green stuff that dieticians love. The only other vegetables here are either fried or served in the form of cole slaw. It's a nutritionist's nightmare, and my definition of heaven on earth. It's refreshing every once in a while to find a place that is what it is and doesn't apologize for it. Taste of Texas doesn't. The bread is squishy and white, the beer menu features PBR long necks, the tea is toothache sweet, and the barbecue is well above average.

Rich Mogab, Jr. grew up around barbecue. Family cook-outs for 200 were not unusual, with his father Rich Sr. playing pit master. When Mogab returned to his family's roots in the Rochester area several years ago, he brought his father's skill and an in-born love of smoked meat with him. He started catering in a small way, and in 2007 opened up Taste of Texas to serve as both a catering kitchen and a walk-in barbecue joint.

Mogab prepares beef brisket, pork, ribs, turkey, chicken, and sausage in a massive cast-iron smoker, imparting the sweet aroma of wood smoke to food that has already been liberally rubbed down with a deeply flavored spice mixture. The meats, all of them, are red-edged, tender, and incredibly juicy. The beef brisket is almost fork tender, both the pork loin and the turkey retain enough juice to keep them moist and deeply flavorful, the smoke and spice enhancing innate flavor rather than covering it up. All three are good in themselves, but a shot of barbecue sauce pushes them over the top from good to downright great, adding just the right tangy and spicy accent to the meaty undertones.

If you like your meat really saucy, you have two choices, the pulled pork and the barbecue beef. I found the pulled pork to be a little too wet for my taste, but I don't think I've ever had better barbecue beef anywhere. Smoked brisket is rough-chopped, mixed with barbecue sauce and onions, and cooked until the already tender beef is so soaked with sauce that it is almost candied. The result is what I imagine the gods eat when they want sloppy joes. Rich and sweet, tangy and smoky, with a very good beefy flavor, the meat and sauce very nearly overwhelm the bun and will certainly defeat all but the most hungry diner - especially if you make the rookie mistake of paying too much attention to your sides and not enough attention to the meat.

OK, paying attention to the sides isn't a mistake. In fact, while the smoked meats are good, the sides are what make this barbecue joint stand out from any other I've visited. Start with a bowl of free soup - the pinto beans in gravy were spicy and meaty without being overly heavy - and don't forget to leave a tip for charity in the jar next to the soup crock. The other sides are heavy on starches and fried items. The only vegetable that's neither creamed nor fried is "Donita's" cole slaw, a vinegar-based, fine-cut slaw that cuts through the heaviness of meat and barbecue sauce like a knife. Heaped on top of a barbecue sandwich, it makes a huge mess, but the combination really can't be beat. And it's worth whatever stains you get on your clothes.

Baked beans, another barbecue shack staple, are very well done. "Sititi's" baked beans are plump and well-cooked in a thick sauce chock full of onions and bits of bacon. Along with a sweet corn muffin (which comes with any order), you could make a meal of this all by itself. But then you'd have to pass up "Aunt Nancy's Cheesy Potato" and "Aunt Carla's Broccoli & Cheese," both of which are wonderful. The cheesy potato is essentially potatoes au gratin made with hash browns - creamy, cheesy, and thick enough that a fork easily stands up in it. This was a favorite of my 4-year-old, who only grudgingly gave me a bit of the potato to try on our first visit (on our second I made sure I got my fair share). Broccoli & cheese is actually a dish that my grandmother used to refer to as "rice casserole" - the broccoli only there to add a dash of color and a subtle green flavor to a dish dominated by milk and sharp cheese.

No family member at Taste of Texas takes credit for the deep-fried pickles and jalapenos, but that's no reason to pass them up. Sweet pickle chips and rounds of pickled jalapeno are crusted in cornmeal and deep fried, emerging from the fat in a tangled and delectable mass, the whole process somehow pulling the teeth out of the jalapenos and enhancing the savory quality of the pickles. "Mama," however, wins the side dish competition. Her fried green tomatoes are perfect, and really don't need the dish of ranch dressing with which they come served. Dipped in buttermilk and breaded in cornmeal, the coating is crispy and surprisingly light, a nice complement to the sweet and sour taste of the green tomato underneath.

Although it will be a real challenge, do yourself a favor and save room for dessert. Barbecue shacks, if they serve dessert at all, usually serve some sort of icebox pie - lemon meringue, coconut cream, etc. Taste of Texas offers the best bread pudding I've had in a very long time. Akin to a very, very moist cake, the pudding is studded with either chocolate chips or, more traditionally, raisins, and then heated and served with a warm bourbon sauce. Calling this dish decadent is an understatement. Four people can easily split a single brick-sized portion, but you'll be fighting over who gets the last bite.

Taste of Texas Bar-B-Q

122 S Union St, Spencerport

352-4227

Mon-Thu 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Fri 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat noon-9 p.m., Sun 1-8 p.m.