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kjolly
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A Rib Too Far
So, headed out early Saturday morning to do a BBQ run to 5 classic Central Texas BBQ joints. Central Texas BBQ is unique - even in Texas. This area of Texas (roughly Austin to Giddings, to Schulenberg, to Luling) was settled by Bohemians, Moravians, and Czechs, and they brought their traditions of smoking and curing meats. The BBQ in this area could be thought of as Market BBQ - as these places (for the most part) grew out of city Meat Markets. They would smoke the less desirable cuts of meat and sell the smoked meat out of the back of the market. Places like Smitty’s, City Market in Luling, Prause’s in La Grange, and City Market in Giddings are direct descendants of those places. The other thing important (to me), is that these places make their own sausage. This is a Beef and pork sausage - not heavily spiced (salt, pepper, and red pepper) - and each place’s sausage is unique.
Anyhow, headed out early Saturday morning - to run to Gonzales - about 70 miles south - to try Gonzales Market’s sausage.
Gonzales Market - a nice looking place, just off the square in Gonzales. This is Steve, playing Monkey for the day.
The sausage was amazing, coarse grind, mostly beef, salt pepper, red pepper, and smoked perfectly. The smell got to me before I remembered to take a picture - so this almost didn’t happen.
We left out of Gonzales and took a couple of little county roads north about twenty miles to Luling. The road ran along the San Marcos river, well maintained caliche until the end where it was washboard for the last mile or so - but not bad.
Luling Market.
This is probably the best overall Central Texas BBQ around - everything is good and more important, consistently good.
Through those doors is the pit room, where they cut your meat and ask if you want bread or crackers (which in years past was all you got in the way of sides).
And a perfect breakfast II (it was only 9:45, so it could hardly be lunch yet). Moist brisket, sausage, and a rib. No sauce, no forks - fingers and meat. The sausage at Luling is excellent - more pork, less red pepper - brisket was like butter, rib was perfectly cooked - everything is cooked over oak.
Luling is an oil town, There’s over 200 working pump jacks in the city today. This one across the road from City Market behind Luling BBQ was pumping away (though you can't tell from the picture)
We left out of Luling headed to Lockhart, up county roads again. And another pump jack just as we left town
Lockhart has 3 joints that a lot of people consider in the top 10 in Texas BBQ - Smitty’s, Kreuz, and Black’s. Our first stop of the day was Smitty’s - which I would put in my top 5.
It’s right downtown as well, just a block from the courthouse.
The sign says all that needs to be said
Passing through this door is like walking into a church, the nave is dark, and quiet, and filled with smoke.
And there at the end are the oak fires, and pits full of meat, and the cutters swinging knives on the cutting block.
And it’s another pile of well-smoked meat. I got a hunk of shoulder clod here along with the brisket (that’s the meat on top of the pile). It’s leaner than brisket, harder to cook without drying out - but Smitty’s does a great job with it. Everything was good. There's a little sauce, or glaze on the ribs at Smitty's which I don't think they need - but they're good.
Now, one of the problems with this little trip was hitting 3 joints in Lockhart. The town’s not all that big, and they’re just a few blocks apart, so there wasn’t much time to digest. Steve was fading fast - but I was determined to trooper on.
So, next stop was Black’s.
Black’s is much more of a BBQ restaurant type of place nowadays, even though it’s been open since the 30’s. I’ve always thought it was off and on, but worth another shot before I crossed it off my list.
Well, the sausage was pretty good, but the brisket was greasy and the char tasted of tar - like they’d had a pit fire. The rib was just terrible - undercooked, tough - no flavor. That's strike three for them with me - they’re going off the list I guess. And I was fading as well, and frankly not looking forward to Kreuz like I should - but onward and outward.
Kreuz. Now the deal here is that Smitty’s used to be Kreuz’s. The father died and left the building to a daughter and the business to a son - and they couldn't get together on how to run it - so the brother went a few blocks away and build this BBQ palace, and the sister re-opened in the old place as Smitty’s.
I got say I don’t care for this place - too loud - to bright - not nearly enough smoke - it’s like a tourist version of a BBQ joint - much more Bill Miller than City Market.
But, what the ****. Brisket, sausage, pork rib and beef rib. The ribs were both good - the beef ribs is like brisket on a stick and when it’s done well it’s amazing. The pork rib was good, more black pepper than I care for - but well cooked. The sausage was nasty. It’s clearly machine made, fine grind - like that brown cr*p in the grocery store. The brisket was so tough I couldn’t tear it with my fingers. The sad thing was Kreuz had the largest crowd of the day - there were probably 300 people in line when we left - I think the volume is just ahead of what you can do and turn out good Central Texas BBQ.
But - really, it’s probably a good thing the brisket and ribs weren't up to snuff - no way I could have finished another ounce of meat - so back on the road to jet back to Austin ("jet" in the sense that the Ural - much like me after all that BBQ - jets gases into the atmosphere).
The good thing in making the BBQ stretch is getting to compare all five places at once. Here's what I think of these joints:
Gorgeous day, nice riding, and BBQ - can't ask for more - and at the end of the day I was definitely no mas, por favor.
The main thing I learned from this trip is that 5 joints is definitely a rib to far.
Kevo
So, headed out early Saturday morning to do a BBQ run to 5 classic Central Texas BBQ joints. Central Texas BBQ is unique - even in Texas. This area of Texas (roughly Austin to Giddings, to Schulenberg, to Luling) was settled by Bohemians, Moravians, and Czechs, and they brought their traditions of smoking and curing meats. The BBQ in this area could be thought of as Market BBQ - as these places (for the most part) grew out of city Meat Markets. They would smoke the less desirable cuts of meat and sell the smoked meat out of the back of the market. Places like Smitty’s, City Market in Luling, Prause’s in La Grange, and City Market in Giddings are direct descendants of those places. The other thing important (to me), is that these places make their own sausage. This is a Beef and pork sausage - not heavily spiced (salt, pepper, and red pepper) - and each place’s sausage is unique.
Anyhow, headed out early Saturday morning - to run to Gonzales - about 70 miles south - to try Gonzales Market’s sausage.
Gonzales Market - a nice looking place, just off the square in Gonzales. This is Steve, playing Monkey for the day.
The sausage was amazing, coarse grind, mostly beef, salt pepper, red pepper, and smoked perfectly. The smell got to me before I remembered to take a picture - so this almost didn’t happen.
We left out of Gonzales and took a couple of little county roads north about twenty miles to Luling. The road ran along the San Marcos river, well maintained caliche until the end where it was washboard for the last mile or so - but not bad.
Luling Market.
This is probably the best overall Central Texas BBQ around - everything is good and more important, consistently good.
Through those doors is the pit room, where they cut your meat and ask if you want bread or crackers (which in years past was all you got in the way of sides).
And a perfect breakfast II (it was only 9:45, so it could hardly be lunch yet). Moist brisket, sausage, and a rib. No sauce, no forks - fingers and meat. The sausage at Luling is excellent - more pork, less red pepper - brisket was like butter, rib was perfectly cooked - everything is cooked over oak.
Luling is an oil town, There’s over 200 working pump jacks in the city today. This one across the road from City Market behind Luling BBQ was pumping away (though you can't tell from the picture)
We left out of Luling headed to Lockhart, up county roads again. And another pump jack just as we left town
Lockhart has 3 joints that a lot of people consider in the top 10 in Texas BBQ - Smitty’s, Kreuz, and Black’s. Our first stop of the day was Smitty’s - which I would put in my top 5.
It’s right downtown as well, just a block from the courthouse.
The sign says all that needs to be said
Passing through this door is like walking into a church, the nave is dark, and quiet, and filled with smoke.
And there at the end are the oak fires, and pits full of meat, and the cutters swinging knives on the cutting block.
And it’s another pile of well-smoked meat. I got a hunk of shoulder clod here along with the brisket (that’s the meat on top of the pile). It’s leaner than brisket, harder to cook without drying out - but Smitty’s does a great job with it. Everything was good. There's a little sauce, or glaze on the ribs at Smitty's which I don't think they need - but they're good.
Now, one of the problems with this little trip was hitting 3 joints in Lockhart. The town’s not all that big, and they’re just a few blocks apart, so there wasn’t much time to digest. Steve was fading fast - but I was determined to trooper on.
So, next stop was Black’s.
Black’s is much more of a BBQ restaurant type of place nowadays, even though it’s been open since the 30’s. I’ve always thought it was off and on, but worth another shot before I crossed it off my list.
Well, the sausage was pretty good, but the brisket was greasy and the char tasted of tar - like they’d had a pit fire. The rib was just terrible - undercooked, tough - no flavor. That's strike three for them with me - they’re going off the list I guess. And I was fading as well, and frankly not looking forward to Kreuz like I should - but onward and outward.
Kreuz. Now the deal here is that Smitty’s used to be Kreuz’s. The father died and left the building to a daughter and the business to a son - and they couldn't get together on how to run it - so the brother went a few blocks away and build this BBQ palace, and the sister re-opened in the old place as Smitty’s.
I got say I don’t care for this place - too loud - to bright - not nearly enough smoke - it’s like a tourist version of a BBQ joint - much more Bill Miller than City Market.
But, what the ****. Brisket, sausage, pork rib and beef rib. The ribs were both good - the beef ribs is like brisket on a stick and when it’s done well it’s amazing. The pork rib was good, more black pepper than I care for - but well cooked. The sausage was nasty. It’s clearly machine made, fine grind - like that brown cr*p in the grocery store. The brisket was so tough I couldn’t tear it with my fingers. The sad thing was Kreuz had the largest crowd of the day - there were probably 300 people in line when we left - I think the volume is just ahead of what you can do and turn out good Central Texas BBQ.
But - really, it’s probably a good thing the brisket and ribs weren't up to snuff - no way I could have finished another ounce of meat - so back on the road to jet back to Austin ("jet" in the sense that the Ural - much like me after all that BBQ - jets gases into the atmosphere).
The good thing in making the BBQ stretch is getting to compare all five places at once. Here's what I think of these joints:
- City Market - Luling - still my #1 all around - everything was excellent
- Gonzales Market - Gonzales - that sausage was amazing, its easily hundred mile sausage for me. Gotta go back and try the brisket and ribs - but the sausage is worth the trip.
- Smitty's - Lockhart - Good, sometimes great, they're pretty consistent and you can't beat the ambiance
- Kreuz - Lockhart - Inconsistent - I think they suffer from a problem with volume - and it's like eating in a bus station
- Black's - Lockhart - Sorry, I'm taking Black's off my list - this is my third disappointing visit
Gorgeous day, nice riding, and BBQ - can't ask for more - and at the end of the day I was definitely no mas, por favor.
The main thing I learned from this trip is that 5 joints is definitely a rib to far.
Kevo
