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Or Mumfords in Victoria ?

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This California BBQ Joint Was Just Named The Best Restaurant In America By Yelp

JENNIFER POLLAND

JAN. 22, 2015, 5:11 PM

Yelp has released its list of the top 100 restaurants in America — and the No. 1 spot went to Copper Top BBQ, an authentic BBQ joint in Big Pine, a small town near the Sierra Nevada in California.

Yelpers rave about the baby-back ribs, tri tips, pulled pork, and mac and cheese.

"Hands down some of the best BBQ I've ever had. Excellent BBQ. Wonderful people," Yelp user Tyler B. wrote.

The restaurant is hard to miss — it's right off the highway.

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Smoker Is for Sale in Brenham
by DAN SOLOMON
MON JANUARY 26, 2015 12:42 PM

Throwing a really, really, really, really big party and need to feed a whole bunch of people a whole bunch of smoked meats? Long dreamed of owning a “world’s largest” anything? Are you Austin BBQ magnate Aaron Franklin, and want to eradicate the famous, hours-long line at Franklin BBQ in one fell swoop? Got $350,000 lying around? If the answer to at least two of those questions is “yes,” yahtzee! The world’s largest BBQ pit is for sale, either on eBay or off of the side of the road on Highway 290 between Austin and Houston.

The details on this monstrosity are impressive, if entirely ridiculous: The capacity of the thing is 4 tons of meat, and USA Today has the details on exactly what the $350,000 asking price gets you (spoiler: It doesn’t get you anything to haul the pit around with):

Weighing 40 tons, stretching 75 feet in length, ventilated by seven smokestacks, it’s the “Undisputable Cuz,” a barbecue pit so huge law enforcement authorities have required special permits and escorts just to move it down the road.

Drivers passing through sometimes stop and take pictures of the black behemoth sitting alongside the road in Brenham, Texas perhaps drawn by the hand-painted sign proclaiming it the planet’s biggest barbecue pit and offering it for sale.

The price: $350,000. That’s without the low-mileage 18-speed Peterbilt that’s hauled it around the highways that’s on the market for $50,000.

“It has 24 doors – 12 on this side, 12 on the other,” said Terry Folsom.

That’s a whole heck of a lot of money for something that, as Texas Monthly BBQ editor Daniel Vaughn pointed out when we asked him about it, “Probably doesn’t cook very well.” (He also notes that, despite the recent publicity coming off of Folsom listing the smoker on eBay, the thing has been for sale in Brenham for several years—so let’s not count on someone buying it just yet.)

Still, the novelty of “World’s Largest BBQ Pit” is hard not to admire. Had the state bought it for Governor Abbott’s inauguration, the entire haul of brisket he famously served last week could have all been prepared in one convenient monster-sized trailer. Folsom, according to USA Today, acquired the pit as part of a business deal with the original owner, who toured with it. It’s unclear exactly why that person decided to invest what is surely a not-insignificant amount of money on this beast, but we’re pretty pumped that it exists—and, of course, that it’s in Texas.

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Still maybe you hit it on an off day.

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Originally posted by Gatogordo:
I had to make a quick business trip to Dallas yesterday, so one of my Q buddies and I did some mid-morning work and then we adjourned for more important business, Q eating. We drove from downtown to SW Dallas, an area I am somewhat familiar with since it has one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in Dallas that serves cabrito (El Ranchito, 610 W. Jefferson Blvd. Dallas)and there ain't that many that do, sad to say. At any rate after a short drive, we arrived at:

#63) Lockhart Smokehouse, 400 W. Davis, Dallas. One of the Texas Monthly top 50 with a grade of 4.5. My grade B++

We arrived with great anticipation around 12:15. There was a short line and we waited about 15 minutes for our turn. Since there were 2 of us, I vastly over ordered what we could eat, but meat-wise we had 2 beef ribs (over 1 pound each), a pound of brisket, a pound of shoulder clod, and 2 pounds of pork ribs. Because it was so different, I couldn't help but try the blue cheese cole slaw and my buddy ordered jalapeno and mac (mac and cheese).

We dug in with great anticipation, starting with what turned out to be the best, by far, the beef rib. Well cooked, well Qued, tender, a truly excellent piece of Q. I rate it a very small step behind Louie Mueller's beef rib but that is very rarified air IMO. It was downhill from there.

Next we tried the fatty brisket. It might have been very good to excellent but the rub was just too damn salty to really enjoy it. I mean, I like salt, but this stuff was high blood pressure heaven. Because this was the only one of the four meats that was grossly oversalted, I have to think there was a mistake in preparation, but I can't guess whether it might be better next time, I have to grade what I'm eating. Really tender, typical mid-Texas dark exterior, but waay too salty. Really disappointing.

Next was the shoulder clod, which is basically a large beef roast Qed. It was really quite good, tender, but because of the size, the smoke couldn't really penetrate enough to make it seem like good Q. Decent, but more like good tender roast beef with a slight Q flavor on exterior.

Finally, the pork ribs. They were decent, nice appearance, had a distinctly different rub and finish than the beef, but are definitely inferior to some other ribs I've had in the general area (Pecan Lodge and some Ft. Worth joints). Not bad, decent eating, but not nearly up to the TM 4.5 rating IMO.

They started out with no sauce, now have some due to customer demand, but we didn't try any. Frankly between the quantity of meat, and the blue cheese slaw, I just forgot to try it.

The blue cheese slaw was interesting, had like a slightly diluted blue cheese dressing flavor, with some flakes of jalapeno in it, which added some spice. An interesting concept, which I might pursue at home, but not something I would order again at this place.

Jalapeno and mac was reported to be good with some heat to it.

All in all, this joint could have and should have earned a triple plus, but as was, with the disappointing ribs and the overly salty brisket it barely reached B++. I'd go again, just to check the brisket out one more time (or to have a beef rib which was outstanding), but not an eating experience I'd go out of my way to accomplish.

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Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Was in Texas last weekend for some work stuff, sxsw and looking at real estate in Ft Worth.

Country Line, Austin - went with a group that ordered a ton of food. Excellent stuff including the chicken wings.

Lockhart in Dallas - had the sausage and brisket - Excellent. The potato salad sucked - should have got something else - it was terrible.

Not BBQ but went to Mi Dia (DFW/Grapevine) for Mexican - beyond excellent. The wait was terribly long on a Monday night but the Micheladas made up for it.

Mike

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Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Well Charlie,got the word from my son in Austin that the city council is trying to shut down the BBQ places unless they have air controlled dept. stacks installed so that no one can smell the smoke.Hell.whats the point!!!?Is there anyone out there that does NOT love that smell (at least from Texas) Franklin has already said he would shut his doors + others as well. This is total yankee bullshit tactic tacked on to the non-smoking ordinance. I love Austin but I am getting really pissed about how the out of towners are destroying our fair city.

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Austin City Council gets an earful over barbecue smoke proposal

April 3, 2015 10:14 AM EDT

Sounding off on a proposal that would have kick-started the process of drafting rules targeted at Austin barbecue joints that emit smoke near houses, both restaurants and neighbors had the same message Thursday for the City Council: Don't do it.

Barbecue spots -- in particular, Terry Black's Barbecue and la Barbecue -- have been at odds with neighbors who say the smoke is adversely impacting their health and quality of life. So Council Member Sabino "Pio" Renteria proposed regulating restaurants and food trucks within 100 feet of residential property, either by requiring them to move their pits or installing smoke-reducing devices.

The City Council approved 9-2 a scrubbed-down proposal Thursday that calls for gathering input from neighbors and businesses in the lead-up to a "possible" writing of rules. Council Members Ellen Troxclair and Don Zimmerman voted against.

Troxclair said she was "struggling" with the notion that there needed to be citywide rules when just a few neighborhood complaints had surfaced. She asked Renteria whether neighbors and businesses could resolve their differences outside City Hall.

"I really don't think so," said Renteria, who also said he had heard from a number of neighbors.

But Skeeter Miller, owner of the County Line restaurants and president of the Greater Austin Restaurant Association, said no such attempt to reach common ground had been made.

"It would have been really, really great to have some input prior to having something as an agenda item," Miller said.

And Renteria got yelled at from the audience by LeAnn Mueller, the owner of la Barbecue, who said she had never spoken to him. (Renteria, who said he reached out to la Barbecue, prompted laughs at the meeting when he mispronounced the name of the food trailer.)

Guy Watts, who lives behind the Terry Black's on Barton Springs Road, also spoke against the way the proposal was crafted. Watts said the issue isn't how far away the smoke stacks are, but how high they are, how many there are and how often they are running.

"This is a very, very real problem for us, and 100 feet doesn't take care of the problem," said Watts, who instead pitched a city-sponsored mediation process for neighborhoods and restaurants.

Hoover Alexander of Hoover's Cooking on Manor Road said his business hasn't received a single neighborhood complaint.

"Please don't paint with a broad brush that includes us, and we're guilty by association," said Alexander, who is also a board member with the Greater Austin Restaurant Association.

That sentiment was echoed by Bruce Hughes, who lives next to la Barbecue on East Cesar Chavez Street and told the council that smoke seeps into his house through the attic. That's not the case for other barbecue spots, he said.

"I drive past Franklin's, I don't smell it," Hughes said. "I go to Hoover's, I don't smell it."

The issue will first go to the council's Economic Opportunity and Health and Human Services committees.

The council also heard from former City Council candidate Susana Almanza, who lost to brother Renteria last year. Almanza questioned why the council wasn't dealing with industrial air pollution.

"That is the issue you should be addressing," she said.

At its meeting, the council also:

-- Approved authorizing the X Games to apply for money from the state's major event trust fund in 2015, and left untouched an earlier City Council decision to allow the X Games to apply for money from the state's event trust fund in 2015 and 2016.

-- Approved creating two Austin Fire Department division chief positions and five fire specialist positions.

-- Approved an ordinance requiring Austin Energy to solicit bids for 600 megawatts of solar power generation, timed to coincide with a study of whether to replace the Decker gas plant.

There was also a rare, but not unheard of, occurrence at the council's meeting: a citizen was kicked out.

Former City Council candidate CarolAnneRose Kennedy, who likes to sing silly songs to the council in the spirit of "Keep Austin Weird," had been admonished for blowing bubbles. After refusing to stop, a city spokesperson said, Kennedy was asked to leave and interrupted the meeting by loudly protesting her removal and cursing at the security officials.

Kennedy was eventually let back in.

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There was also a rare, but not unheard of, occurrence at the council's meeting: a citizen was kicked out.

Former City Council candidate CarolAnneRose Kennedy, who likes to sing silly songs to the council in the spirit of "Keep Austin Weird," had been admonished for blowing bubbles. After refusing to stop, a city spokesperson said, Kennedy was asked to leave and interrupted the meeting by loudly protesting her removal and cursing at the security officials.

Kennedy was eventually let back in.