Central Texas BBQ Safari

[MrHorspwer]

I've had this idea to go on a tour, a safari if you will, of all the BBQ hot-spots in the country: Texas, Kansas City, Memphis, the Carolinas. A few weeks ago, I started the safari. A co-worked was in Austin for a 1-year work assignment, so I used up my saved airline miles, hopped a plane, and headed to Texas to eat a lot of BBQ over the course of four days. I'll share my experience over the next few posts.

I know there are some Texans here on the board. This is probably old-hat to you and I envy you for that.

Right out of the airport, I headed south to for first and second lunch. First things first: 85 MPH speed limit and no traffic on a Friday? Yes, please.

Started At City Market in Luling for first lunch:

Short line for lunch. The smoke room is in the back corner where you get the meat and sides and drinks are up front. Chatted with a nice local gentleman while in line. Said he drops is once a week. Lucky. Also said City Market is better than any of the joints further north in Lockhart. I'll see about that.

The Texas Trinity: Brisket (fatty slices, of course), pork ribs, and sausage. The brisket was good, the ribs not as much, but I ended up with an end cut which was a little dry. The sausage? Un-freaking-believable! Best sausage of the trip, right off the bat. Beefy and peppery, almost crumbly inside the casing, which snapped like a twig. Like nothing I've ever had.

I headed north to Lexington for second lunch. This time, Kreuz Market in Lockhart.

The smoke room, with a bunch of people gawking at the menu board.

My choices: Pork steak, jalapeno-cheddar sausage, cheese, crackers, and a Mexican Coke. Pork steak was smoky, juicy, and GIANT. Sausage wasn't anything like City Market. Much more moist and not nearly as crumbly. Still good, just different.

At this point, I was full to the point of discomfort. I chilled in Kreuz's A/C and read a book for a bit before I headed back to Austin to meet by buddy after he got out of work. Driving back in, I stopped by Waterloo Records, pick up a couple records and continued on.

After we met up, it was time for dinner: Terry Black's BBQ. Part of the Black BBQ family of Lockhart, this restaurant is run by the twin sons of Terry Black. Arguably, one of the cooler looking smokehouses of the trip.

Because we're not complete gluttons and still had a lot of BBQ to eat, we split a beef rib. I also got a jalapeno-cheddar sausage link and some pinto beans (gotta balance all that protein with some fiber). The sausage was a lot like Kreuz. Moist and spicy. The beef rib was fatty and decadent, but I will admit I tapped out early. Three BBQ meals in a day is rough. Of special note: This was my first Big Red. It is a tasty beverage and I wish we had them up north.

We worked off the meal with a walk to The Continental Club to catch The Blues Specialists' happy hour set and have a few drinks. Can't be in Austin and not catch some live music.

 

[Sluggo0018]

That sounds like my kind of trip.

I travel a lot for work and always make a point to try the regional smoked meats from whatever area I am in.

In fact, I have two racks of pork ribs on the smoker right now.

 

[Linctex]

Jasper's BBQ in Waco - that was my ex-wife's favorite BBQ joint in town.

Vitek's and Tony DeMaria's are also VERY good.

 

[Snagglefoot]

That's very cool! Thanks for the post. I remember a place in Round Top, Texas where they opened up the veranda mid morning for beers and soft drinks and then opened at noon for lunch. The bottles were in iced water in wash bins. They had baskets of poker chips and used the honor system; you would pick up one color of poker chips for beer and another color for soft drinks. When you sat down for your meal you would give the waitress your poker chips so she knew what to charge you.

The sign at the poker chips said " Please take a poker chip every time you take a bottle from the wash bin. Lawyers and bankers, please pay cash".

By the way, the BBQ was great!

 

[MrHorspwer]

Saturday started early, at 7:00 AM, for the hour drive to the small town of Lexington. Lexington, a town of a little over 1,000, is home to Snow's BBQ. Only open on Saturday, Snow's is #1 on Texas Monthly's most recent list of the best BBQ in Texas. We were there at 8:00 AM, when they began serving. We were number 95 and 96 in line.

The pits at Snow's are varied. A couple brick pits and a couple re-purposed propane tanks. You can see Tootsie, the pitmaster, in the back corner. I think her work was about done for the day. We chatted with her for a bit after we ate. So nice. Honestly, everyone I met in Texas was extremely friendly.

After about 2 hours and 45 minutes in line, we made it up to order.

Again, the Texas Trinity and not for the last time. At the time, this was the best brisket and pork rib I have ever eaten and the sausage was in the running as well. If I ended the trip right here, I'd have been satisfied. You can see on the plate, I also grabbed a slice of lean brisket along with my typical order of fatty. Both lean and moist were amazing, with even the lean being uncannily moist. The pork ribs were tender, but had good pull and chew. The sausage was much more like City Market's and less like Kreuz and Terry Black's. Just an absolutely superb plate of food. Worth the drive and worth the wait.

From Snow's, we headed back to Austin for a nap, then moved on to Louis Mueller's in Taylor. The Mueller family is another well known Texas BBQ family.

Originally a gymnasium, Louie Mueller's is a Texas BBQ shrine. I wish I had taken more photos of the pictures and articles on the wall. The few you can see show they're all yellow and stained from the smoke. It was probably 90 outside and at least 100 in here, which is the same room as all the cookers. A line seems to always precede good BBQ. We each grabbed a Coke from the cooler at the beginning of the line. They were gone by the time we ordered. Not sure if we consumed them because of the wait or the heat.

Louie Mueller is well known for their beef rib, but I couldn't handle that two days in a row. I stuck with some brisket and a sausage. The brisket was different. Not as peppery as other places. It was moist and delicious, but had a little less smoke and was missing the really peppery bark. Everything will be judged against Snow's from now on though.

Bonus: Dessert! We stopped by Gourdough's in Austin on our way back for some doughnuts. Maybe we really are gluttons? One is chocolate and coconut icing with shredded coconut. The other is caramel, graham cracker, bananas, and pecans. Both are insane.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Sunday was another early day. Up and at 'em at 6:00 AM and out the door at 6:30 so we could be in line early. This was the real reason from the trip: Franklin BBQ in Austin. At 7:00 AM, we're number 5 and 6 in line.

By 10:45, the line looks like this:

At 11:00, we're led inside:

Per the norm, I go for the Trinity. This is better than Snow's. This is the best BBQ on Earth. I said it and I believe it. The first bite of brisket tasted like really dark chocolate. I don't know if that really comes through as a good description, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. It's rich and savory. The mouth feel is not like any brisket I've ever had, but the peppery bark is. Just phenomenal. That's not the surprise though. I expected the brisket to be good. What really wowed me were the ribs. I will be chasing these ribs for the rest of my life. I don't want to use the word boiled as a descriptor, but they were hyper-moist, like gross boiled ribs, but they didn't have that gross boiled rib texture. They had good pull and chew, like a rib should. The bark was peppery and there was just a slight tinge of chili powder and cumin in the sauce. My new BBQ goal is to make ribs like this. I will probably die never having accomplished it, but if I die eating ribs half this good, I'll die happy.

Whether you think waiting three hours for Snow's or four hours for Franklin is worth it is a matter of opinion and that's up to you. We couldn't bring ourselves to eat anything else after this on Sunday. This was the only BBQ we ate that day. I've been to the holy land though, and it's glorious. Like nothing I've ever eaten, on this trip or at any other time.

 

[JustN89]

Sounds like an awesome trip! There's some wonderful places to visit here, even if I'm not a huge fan of living in Texas.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Monday was my last day in Austin and I was on my own again. I started out in the morning headed to the southern part of Austin to Valentina's Tex Mex BBQ. For all the great tex-mex in Austin, I really came for BBQ.

No line early Monday morning at Valentina's trailer.

Quaint outdoor eating area.

Breakfast tacos with egg, potato, cheese, brisket, and salsa on a hand-made flour tortilla. This is the stuff, baby! The biggest sleeper hit of the entire trip. The tortilla is what does it. You could put shoe leather in that tortilla and I'd eat it. Everything here is so simple, but it all adds up to more than the sum of it's ingredients. I am totally going to try my hand at making tortillas at home the next time I smoke a brisket and make an attempt at replicating these tacos. Seriously, if you're in Austin, go here!

From Valentina's, I headed up to Elgin and Southside Market for only one thing: Hot gut sausage.

Decidedly meh. Seemed a lot like a chain and the sausage wasn't what I had determined to be my favorite style in Texas. I did get a Big Red and there's nothing wrong with that.

From Elgin, I headed back south, again to Lockhart and Smitty's Market. Lockhart is such a cool place. When you roll into town from the north, you first past Kreuz, then you're near Black's BBQ, then Smitty's. Just as you pass Kreuz, all you smell is wood smoke for the next half mile.

I think half of Texas' former oak trees reside behind Smitty's

Watch you step when you walk in. The literally have to walk around the fire box when entering. Wild.
https://i.imgur.com/HEHZlBvh.jpg

My final meal in Texas and it's the Trinity. The pork rib is nothing special. The brisket is good and smoky. The sausage is also well above average. Very much what I have learned to love in Texas sausage.

From here, I headed back to the airport, returned my rental car, and contemplated what I was going to do with the rest of my life and how I would ever make BBQ to compare.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Random musings:

The hospitality at every place was fantastic. When you're up at the counter ordering, it's only you and the guy or gal cutting the meat. Everyone else in line doesn't matter. It is a very personal touch that so many places don't get right. Getting your order is the only thing they're focused on.

There is a ton of great BBQ that I didn't make it to. I'd love to visit again and hit up some more, along with some of the tex mex I missed.

Because this is BITOG, I can't skip talking my rental car. I ended up with a 2019 VW Jetta. I was initially disappointed because I reserved and paid for a midsize, not a standard. At the end of the trip, I'm glad I didn't raise a fuss about it. The thing averaged 38.5 MPG and I drove 400 miles over the weekend and used just over a half tank of fuel. It had Apple Car Play and the A/C worked well enough. A low oil message did pop up on the hour drive back from Lexington. A quick check confirmed that, yup, it was down a quart. A quick checked showed it should be using 0W20 meeting VW 508.00 spec. Well, Advance and Auto Zone had none and I figured the wrong oil is better than no oil so I grabbed a bottle of Mobil 1 0W20 meeting Dexos1G2 and dumped it in. What do you know, it didn't blow up. Turns out there is like one current commonly available oil: Castrol EDGE Professional LL IV FE. Yeah, good luck finding that in store. I doubt Avis is using it for their service either.

The start/stop system was a little different compared to my wife's Equinox. It is really sensitive to the brake pedal. Even thinking about moving your foot off the brake will cause it to restart. On my wife's car, you have a good amount of movement before it begins a restart. Also, the VW waited way too long to restart on it's own. It was getting uncomfortably warm inside with the A/C off before it'd restart. Seems GM put more of an emphasis on occupant comfort compared to VW. Actualy restarts in the VW were quick and unobtrusive. I know the Jetta had an 8-speed, but I'm not sure if it was a DCT. The 2-1 downshift was sometimes clunky when coming to a stop. Everything else was fine. Power was adequate, it was quiet, etc.

This isn't the end of the BBQ Safari. After the 4th of July holiday, I'll be taking the family on a road trip and visiting Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, and Nashville, hitting another list of the best BBQ joints along the way.

 

[KJSmith]

My Memphis suggestions.

Central Market in Memphis.

Ribs. The best.
Sausage is like grocery store sausage but the mustard BBQ sauce makes it work.
Don't waste money on Brisket.


Charlie Vertigos

Just go for the ambiance.
They open late IIRC.
They will let you in before they open, but they just serve ribs, not the full menu.



As you are aware, your not done in Tx yet.

Soooo many more places.

Great report so far.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Originally Posted by KJSmith

Central Market in Memphis.

Charlie Vertigos


Both on my list, along with Payne's.

In KC, I'm going to try to visit Joe's Kansas City and Arthur Bryant's.

St. Louis is Pappy's. Nashville is Peg Leg Porker.

 

[tony1679]

Gates in K.C! Best BBQ sauce on the planet (I buy by the case), second being Michael Symon's Coffee BBQ sauce (found at the B Spot).

KCK has the chicken wings. Amazing, but could be skipped for a better location.

But to the haters, Arthur Bryant's is a decent 2nd. Not a fan of the sauce, but I do agree it's not what makes the Q. I'm just

for a great sauce. Never had anything in Texas to compare, meat or sauce.

 

[KJSmith]

If you can pull yourself away from BBq for one lunch...…

Arnolds in Nashville is the place.
A lunch buffet of the best southern cooking.
Well worth the veisit.

I said Central Market but I think its Central BBQ in Memphis.
Your on the right track.
Having a bit of envy here.

 

[JustN89]

If anyone ever flies back through DFW and has a bit of a layover, there's a BBQ place just north of the airport (within 10-15 minutes away) called Hard 8. It's the best BBQ place I've been to in the past 16 months I've been here.

 

[Saul]

Here in the southern New Mexico mountains is a BBQ place called Mad Jacks. Its texas style and the owner learned in Lockhart. I have been to Blacks, Mad Jacks is better. He still goes back to lockhart once a month to get post oak. Real nice guy, he has a line out the door every day off the week and completely sells out of brisket every day. Wait is sometimes 2 hours.

http://specials.mystatesman.com/mad-jack-barbecue/

 

[aquariuscsm]

Brisket HAS to have burnt crunchy ends!! That's what makes brisket!

Bodacious in Arlington is the best bbq I've ever had in my life!! It's the only bbq I've ever had where there's absolutely no gristle or waste. It's wonderful!!

https://www.bodaciousbbqarlington.com

 

[MrHorspwer]

Originally Posted by tony1679
Gates in K.C!


If I had another day in KC, Gates would be on the trip.

There is not much else to do in KC though and I don't think the wife and kids will have that much patience.


Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
Bodacious in Arlington


Yes, Bodacious is on my list of DFW establishments, as is Heim BBQ.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Quote: There is not much else to do in KC though and I don't think the wife and kids will have that much patience.


How long are you staying in KC?

KC has an interesting toy and doll house museum for kids (south of downtown of UMKC campus), an indoor Legoland at Crown Center.
Arabia steamboat museum at City Market is very interesting because most of its load was well preseved when it went down in the Missouri River. The story behind the excavation and what the steamboat contained is a highlight of this area..

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

In my mind, you've gone about this all wrong. I absolutely love Texas BBQ and think it's unmatched. I think you've already been to some of the best places in the country. You are going to be disappointed in comparing other regions to Texas, especially the Carolinas.

I look forward to your future exploits where you possibly prove me wrong.

I also agree Texas has some of the friendliest people in the world. My only problem is that if I lived there I'd probably end up at 400 lbs, and wouldn't make my next birthday.

 

[KJSmith]

Originally Posted by MrHorspwer
Originally Posted by tony1679
Gates in K.C!


Yes, Bodacious is on my list of DFW establishments, as is Heim BBQ.


Pecan Lodge?