quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:

quote:

Originally posted by Texas Killartist:
Not very quick when it comes to TX Q Karl.
I am greatful that my nose & tastebuds are obviously MUCH better than yours.
How can you even put Pecan and Mesquite in the same category ? Much less Oak and Hickory ? If your nose and tastebuds CANNOT tell the difference, they AND you need learnin !

Tex:

Just ignore the idiot troll. All he is looking for is a rise out of people who know more than he does. He is a sniveling idiot, hanging on to his uncle, probably hoping for an inheritance he doesn't deserve. Anyone who was anything like a man would leave Texas, as he so devoutly wishes, and move to Montana, where he will be lucky if he is accepted as the new village idiot. I close with a quote which applies:

quote:

Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. Euripides

+1

This worthless loser is now polluting a informative and important thread.

Maybe its time Texas impose a visa system south, north, east and west of its borders and keep the losers out.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:

quote:

Originally posted by Texas Killartist:
Not very quick when it comes to TX Q Karl.
I am greatful that my nose & tastebuds are obviously MUCH better than yours.
How can you even put Pecan and Mesquite in the same category ? Much less Oak and Hickory ? If your nose and tastebuds CANNOT tell the difference, they AND you need learnin !

Tex:

Just ignore the idiot troll. All he is looking for is a rise out of people who know more than he does. He is a sniveling idiot, hanging on to his uncle, probably hoping for an inheritance he doesn't deserve. Anyone who was anything like a man would leave Texas, as he so devoutly wishes, and move to Montana, where he will be lucky if he is accepted as the new village idiot. I close with a quote which applies:

quote:

Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. Euripides

What a pussy!

Honestly. you Texas girls are the most tender sensitive cry-babies on planet Earth. You all act like you are Sam Houston's more Texican brother fer chrissakes.

I think brisket is terrible BBQ, it is waste meat trying to be glorified as something Texan - its garbage. If that insults your heritage, get the fawk over it and move on. I didn't attack any one of y'all until now - I expressed my opinion about a food.

Oh ya, hot dogs are NOT sausages.

Next thing ya know you girls will start a Spaghetti-os thread talking about what great eye-talian food it is...

Isn't it time for you to wander off and pop a few zits?

They should change the name of the State of Texas to "Girls making believe they are Cowboys."

Anyways - I think that brisket is bland, dry, tasteless, slow-cooked leather, that can only be consumed with copious quantities of sugary tomato based coatings with a lil cayenne pepper added so it can't be called ketchup.

And sausages are made from PORK - not beef. HOTDOGS are made from beef.

That is my story and I am sticking to it.

I don't have much to add. I just don't want to see this thread book ended by a troll like Not So Quick Karl.

Mike

Simply ignore it. His mind is a poor playpen, but he has no other.

Local High School softball team, of which my daughter is a member, had a play off game today in Greenville, Tx. As a young man told me one day, when I asked him how his T ball game went, he said, "We got smushed.", but it is 2 out of 3 and maybe we can make a better effort tomorrow. However, not to waste a good trip to new Q country, I looked on internet and came up with 2 prospects in Greenville. So we left about an hour early and stopped in at .......

#103) Johnston Street Smokehouse, 2810 Johnston Street (a couple of blocks S of town square), Greenville, Tx. Nice place with a couple of friendly ladies working the line and if the brisket had been better it would have gotten a substantially higher rating. My overall grade 2.75/5.0

Unusual for my Q trips, my wife was along, so we ordered a pound of brisket, a pound of pork ribs, a dozen "ET" links (ET=East Texas+Pittsburg links), and a pound of "Red" links, all with the idea to take most of it home.

Brisket was really disappointing, not bad, just not good, solid what we Q people call roast beef. 2.0/5

Pork Ribs were darn good, red exterior, nice eye appeal, very solid bite with somewhat sweet rub. 4.25/5

ET links, which are likely the greasiest sausages made (they are all like that, this is not a problem unique to this Q joint) and while I don't like greasy, the darn things, each about 2 inches long and I don't want to say what they look like, are addictively good eating. I wipe them off with a napkin and enjoy. 4.0/5

Red links were fair, supposed to be hot, but really were not. 3.0/5

Sauce was thin, tomato based, somewhat sweet, very similar to Bodacious sauce. I liked it, it especially helped the brisket, which needed help. 3.75/5

** Two Stars. Stick with the ribs and ET links and you'll be fine. If you try the brisket, don't say I didn't tell you so.

Day 2 of playoffs in Greenville. Second game started at 3 PM. We lost 4-2 but played much better.

We left early so we could have time for a Q lunch at the other interesting Q joint in Greenville....

#104)Ernie's Pit Barbecue, 8707 Wesley St. (Highway 34 South of I-30 about a mile), Greenville, Tx. My overall rating 1.75/5.00

According to signs, this joint has been in business since 1948, wonder of wonders. I think the current owner is fairly new to the operation.

My wife and I had a friend along, so we ordered a pound of sliced brisket, a pound of spicy sausage, and a couple of pounds of pork ribs, all for a very reasonable price of $12.25/lb. Also ordered a basket of fries. Unfortunately the price was reflective of the quality of the "Q" and I use the descriptive very loosely. There just was almost no evidence of Qing on any of the meats.

Brisket which we ordered sliced was so overtender that it came more like chopped than sliced. Absolute Roast Beef. 1.5/5

Sliced spicy sausage was not very spicy, not home made, and really not all that good, but it was the best of the 3. 2.25/5

Pork ribs were barely okay, but if they weren't cooked in an oven, whoever tried to Q them was wasting his time. No smoke, no real flavor. 2.00/5

OTOH, the fries were wonderful. Hand cut, fried perfectly. Almost worth a stop just for them. $2 for a basket full.

Even tho it was mid afternoon on Sat, there was a steady stream of customers, most seemed to be getting a sandwich and fries. Probably an excellent choice since the Q was so non-Q in quality.

Thinking back, this is probably the worst or tied for the worst Q I've tried (along with Soulman's in Rockwall). Truly the meat wasn't bad, it just had no relationship to decent Q.

* One Star. AVOID. I MIGHT go back for the fries and a sandwich, the fries were that good. Otherwise absolutely a miss.

Gato....my wife has been making Q sauce of late...loosely following an Emeril recipe. I'll be darned if it's not the best damned sauce I've ever had. I'd say it's a cross between TX and Carolina styles as it's vinegary but also thick/hot/catsupy and not too sweet.

Reason I even mention this is because if we can make it that tasty how could any of these places get it wrong?

quote:

Reason I even mention this is because if we can make it that tasty how could any of these places get it wrong?

Well, it's because the sauce is rarely needed for good Q. Most good Q cooked these days do not really use what we'd call "barbecue sauce" in the cooking. Indeed, when the Q is good, I rarely use it at all, or just taste it for the record. It's the same sort of thing as using steak sauce on a really fine steak, sometimes you do for a change, but the meat, if done right, doesn't need it.

Most of the time, these Q places use a middle of the road (for Texas) tomato based sauce. Texas sauces, as a rule, tend to be slightly sweet with moderate spices and not hot. I'm not a great fan of that style, but that's what seems to work in Texas. Personally, I like more vinegar and more heat, but that's me.

It sounds like your wife's sauce is a winner.

Roger that Gato. Understood about Q not needing sauce. I do the indirect coals on the weber and throw wet wood chips on for smoke. Meat gets a dry rub only.....sauce is just once it hits the plate. Not as good as a TX pit but ok for home.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Most of the time, these Q places use a middle of the road (for Texas) tomato based sauce. Texas sauces, as a rule, tend to be slightly sweet with moderate spices and not hot. I'm not a great fan of that style, but that's what seems to work in Texas.

What can you expect from a place where the State Food is "anything breaded and fried" and when a fat guy shows up from another State, he's the skinniest guy in town?

Not a BBQ joint but a sandwich shop that has some bbq.

Beefy King - Orlando, FL

http://beefyking.com/

This place is a Orlando institution and 30 years in and around Orlando ( i spent 25 of it outside orlando) I had never been to it. I went a few weeks back and it is awesome. Great value sandwich - the roast beef and corned beef is exceptional. I will try other stuff soon.

But the real game changer is the hot BBQ sauce. It is really good - best I have had. It has a real spice kick.

I wish they served it warm.

I may try and take some to Texas with me. Get TX bbq and use this sauce.

My overall grade for Beefy King A (food and value). Their BBQ sauce is A+.

Plus the decor feels like 1973 - I like that.

Mike

An interesting article from the Austin American-Statesman on a Q road trip:

http://specials.mystatesman.co...e_may2016_bbq-050816

Quick

You need to learn to read. Texas doesn't rate in the top ten States for obesity (2013).

1. Arkansas
2. West Virginia
3. Mississippi
4. Louisiana
5. Alabama
6. Oklahoma
7. Indiana
8. Ohio
9. North Dakota
10. South Carolina
11. Texas

http://stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity/

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
Quick

You need to learn to read. Texas doesn't rate in the top ten States for obesity (2013).

1. Arkansas
2. West Virginia
3. Mississippi
4. Louisiana
5. Alabama
6. Oklahoma
7. Indiana
8. Ohio
9. North Dakota
10. South Carolina
11. Texas

http://stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity/

Its a 3-year old study and does not account for all the fat 300-lb redneck inbreeds that say they weigh 190...

It's actually a two year old study. My finger missed the "4", as in 2014.

My guess is, as always, you're pretty much pulling stuff out of your ass and calling it candy.

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
It's actually a two year old study. My finger missed the "4", as in 2014.

My guess is, as always, you're pretty much pulling stuff out of your ass and calling it candy.

Does anyone seriously believe quick Karl can afford to buy a pound of brisket at a Texas bbq joint

Mike

My wife & I ate lunch at Salt Lick in Driftwood just west of Austin. Very disappointing. Pork ribs were tough, tasted like they were cooked in an electric oven, no smoke taste whatsoever. Brisket was thin sliced, overcooked, dry, much like the stuff they served as roast beef in my elementary school cafeteria. Potato salad, beans, slaw all unremarkable. Expensive to boot, won't be going back.

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
My wife & I ate lunch at Salt Lick in Driftwood just west of Austin. Very disappointing. Pork ribs were tough, tasted like they were cooked in an electric oven, no smoke taste whatsoever. Brisket was thin sliced, overcooked, dry, much like the stuff they served as roast beef in my elementary school cafeteria. Potato salad, beans, slaw all unremarkable. Expensive to boot, won't be going back.

You just described Texas BBQ, bub!

I just grilled some prime ribeyes tonight and walked one over to my neighbor who happens to run and sells grass fed beef...

She could not believe how fawking perfect her steak was and was asking me if I would teach her how I grilled it, did I marinate it (I did not), and what I put on it (just a lil kosher salt, garlic powder, and onion powder)...

Now a grilled ribeye aint BBQ, but it goes to show ya just the same. A Texas cattle rancher asking for grilling lessons from a New Yorker that can't afford dried out tasteless shit brisket (according to Baretta)...

Brisket is the scrap that all the Rich English cattle barons used to give to the ranch hands because there wasn't no way for the cattle barons to make any money selling it.

It is STILL the same cut of meat that it was back in the glorious cattle ranching days.

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
My wife & I ate lunch at Salt Lick in Driftwood just west of Austin. Very disappointing. Pork ribs were tough, tasted like they were cooked in an electric oven, no smoke taste whatsoever. Brisket was thin sliced, overcooked, dry, much like the stuff they served as roast beef in my elementary school cafeteria. Potato salad, beans, slaw all unremarkable. Expensive to boot, won't be going back.

It has become more of a destination than a place to get good Q, I'm afraid to say.

I like the smell of Driftwood (Salt Lick) from about a half mile away more than anything. I was looking at a retirement home not far from there. I couldn't convince my wife.

The barbeque was unremarkable. I felt the people came more for the tee shirt than the BBQ.

quote:

Quick Karl: You just described Texas BBQ, bub!

Most of it is just fine thank you. And grilled meat is not BBQ.

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
And grilled meat is not BBQ.

I know. I said that.

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:

quote:

Quick Karl: You just described Texas BBQ, bub!

Most of it is just fine thank you. And grilled meat is not BBQ.

I don't think Quick Karl can buy cooked BBQ with his food stamps

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:

quote:

Quick Karl: You just described Texas BBQ, bub!

Most of it is just fine thank you. And grilled meat is not BBQ.

I don't think Quick Karl can buy cooked BBQ with his food stamps

Mike

Awww, the Great Gatsby speaks.

Easy Karl

Go around back and we'll pass you some leftovers like always.

Without going into detail, I highly recommend Evett's Bar-B-Cue on East Main in Uvalde.

I surely do wish Texas weren't such a fur piece from Oregon. I'd love to get really educated about 5-star brisket. Instead, closest I come is getting to watch Aaron Franklin Youtubes and read my BBQ books.
My single experience with Texas BBQ was stopping at the Salt Lick in Round Rock. Good, but not great.
My best culinary memory of Texas: the elk and huckleberry sliders at Tim Love's Lonesome Dove in Fort Worth -- but that ain't barbecue.

This thread would be a lot better with samples!

Growing up in IL and now in central OH good Q is not close by. This looks like a possibility: https://www.citybbq.com/menu/

My first real exposure to bbq, in the southern sense, was while in graduate school in Gainesville, FL. It was mostly cooked by friends. But, we would also go to Ed's, now closed. He was related to Sonny Tillman who started Sonny's. Ed's was better.

Catching Aaron Franklin on TV has sparked an interested in getting serious about smoking meat myself. Most bbq around here is just meat cooked and then floated in something like Sweet Baby Rays sauce.

Tom

I have no problem with Sweet Baby Ray's but I always notice at my parties that if you have sauce, about one in five people will use it. If you don't offer sauce, no one will ask for it. I believe it is a Texas thing. It is all about the meat. My wife makes an excellent sauce, but it's not worth the effort, there is so much left over.

On the other hand, go north and east, and sauce seems to become more important.

I made a killer sauce once by going to Torchy's Taco, getting their hottest sauce (habanero), and took it home. I dropped it in Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory & Brown Sugar. It didn't make a lot of noise, but had a Hell of a recoil.

Kensco, I have had a similar experience with sauce, making a Kansas City style and a Carolina style and having most of both go to waste; the pulled pork shoulder was just too darned good. I have always had takers when I took the time to make buns from scratch, though.

Some like redheads, some like blondes . . . I have always viewed barbequed meat and sushi as simply vectors for the ingestion of barbeque sauce and wasabi respectively.

My son, Adam, was graduating from UT Austin last Saturday with his BS degree in geophysics, so, in spite of my vast reluctance to a) wear a suit, b)attend any event with crowds, and c) to drive anywhere in the vicinity of Austin, Tx, I was socially pressured into attending (meaning my wife gave me THE LOOK when I told her I was seriously considering staying home). Don't get me wrong, I love and am extremely proud of Adam, but sitting thru over 2 hours of mostly droning noise (most of the speakers were female and my poor hearing won't decipher female voices on a PA system) was torture only rewarded by the 30 seconds watching my son cross the stage and get his diploma. We took him and his girlfriend and our daughter, Anne, to dinner soon after the event. We ate at Texas Land and Cattle Steakhouse (chosen mostly because it was far enough away that the thousands of people in town for the graduation ceremonies were not there) at 6007 I-35, very near 35 and 290. Most expensive steak on menu was bone in ribeye at $32, which is what I had. Very good and a definite step up from Tx Roadhouse, but not really fine steakhouse quality. I asked for, and surprisingly received, a very rare steak. Desserts at $7 for a piece of commercial cheesecake and $7.50 for a piece of pecan pie with a dot of bourbon sauce on side were a rip off IMO. Skip them.

From then on, my family and I separated, they were going to the main event, where approximately 15,000 graduates and many thousands of others gathered for another speech, etc followed by fireworks. I told them wild horses couldn't get me to go. I successfully found the hotel bar and had some beers. A better result. I love fireworks but not surrounded by tens of thousands of close people I don't know.

So, after some partying on 6th St. with Adam and some of his drunk or soon to be drunk friends, my wife and daughter returned to hotel. We checked out the next morning, started the long process of loading our car with daughter's apartment which she was moving out of because she is going to China for a bio-medical internship for the next couple of months. We partially loaded car and stopped so we could go to......

#105) Stubb's Bar-B-Q Restaurant, 801 Red River St., Austin. Tx for their well known Sunday Gospel Brunch. This is not a complete Q review, but based on what we had, which included some fine brisket, my overall rating, at least for the Gospel Brunch is a 4.5/5.0.

As this location is right in downtown Austin, parking is a problem, but there is a kind of junky parking lot for Stubb's about a 1/2 block N and a 1/2 block E kind of behind the restaurant, which, with it's indoor and outdoor stages on two levels is fairly large.

We didn't have reservations, and the line, when we got there about 10:15 (opens at 10:30 for brunch) was a 1/2 block long and I was worried about getting in, but we made it. Seating on the lower level which is the smallish room with live band, (today's was a group of black women belting out gospel music and apparently pleasing the crowd) is $24.95 and non-band viewing is $20.95. I wouldn't say it is cheap, but if you go hungry or hungry and hung over, it is a fine experience.

Not too long ago, I read a list of "not to be missed buffets" and Stubb's Sunday Gospel Brunch was on it. While I really enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone trapped in Austin on Sunday morning, I certainly wouldn't put it in the "not to be missed" on a national level.

Fair selection of standard breakfast fair (see Stubb's Gospel Brunch site for more info), plus fried catfish (the piece I got (I love fried catfish) was very good) and Spinach Enchiladas. Then there was a gentleman slicing brisket, sausage, and Qed chicken.


I loaded up and dug into a very fine fatty end brisket. Not Pecan Lodge quality but very fine. 4.5/5

The sausage, a pork/beef combo, was better than average, but not anything extra. 3.5/5

I don't normally get Qed chicken, but since it was there, I grabbed a thigh, and it was very good. 4.25/5

There was some of the famous Stubb's Q Sauce on the table, which I found to be average plus. Tomato based, slightly sweet, spicy. Good but nothing to blow your skirt up. 3.5/5

Finally, we shared a couple of slices of pie.

Blueberry, which obviously came out of a canned filling was too sweet for my liking but my daughter liked it so I'll give it a 2.75/5.0

Pecan, which was covered in whole pecan halves was very good, better than normal commercial. 4.0/5

Restaurant has an open bar with local drafts and a busy bartender. Apparently has a make your own bloody mary area, but since we were driving and working afterwards, I reluctantly passed on any alcohol, sticking with iced tea, which they didn't give away at $2.95 for a glass.

*** Three Stars. Recommended and well worth a visit on a Sunday morning coming down. I'd recommend reservations, which I suspect are nearly essential, if you want band view seating. Personally I'd pay not to be near the band, but that's me.

Ahh, a good Texas quote:

quote:

"Texas does not, like any other region, simply have indigenous dishes. It proclaims them. It congratulates you, on your arrival, at having escaped from the slop pails of the other 49 states." - Alistair Cooke of the BBC on Texas cuisine in The Americans.

I enjoyed lunch at Rudy's today on 290 in Houston and ordered a 1/2 pound of extra moist brisket and a half link of sausage with coleslaw. The brisket was outstanding as usual, the sausage and slaw were good.

While I am not quite a BBQ connoisseur, Rudy's brisket has always been a favorite of mine.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Ahh, a good Texas quote:

quote:

"Texas does not, like any other region, simply have indigenous dishes. It proclaims them. It congratulates you, on your arrival, at having escaped from the slop pails of the other 49 states." - Alistair Cooke of the BBC on Texas cuisine in The Americans.

Being from South Louisiana, I feel we have earned the right to take exception to that statement.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeBurke:
I enjoyed lunch at Rudy's today on 290 in Houston and ordered a 1/2 pound of extra moist brisket and a half link of sausage with coleslaw. The brisket was outstanding as usual, the sausage and slaw were good.

While I am not quite a BBQ connoisseur, Rudy's brisket has always been a favorite of mine.

What!? No lunch invite . . . damn!

quote:

What!? No lunch invite . . . damn!

Just drink a bottle of barbecue sauce and cut out the vector.