After driving a ways out of town (out of town ain't very far) to sample Black's Q, I drove back over to:

29) Kreuz Market, 619 N. Colorado St, Lockhart, Tx (ranked as one of the top five Q joints in Texas by Texas Monthly with a 5.0 out of 5.0 and mentioned in almost all books related to modern Texas Q joints)

The first and most obvious thing one notes about Kreuz' is its size. It is ginormous. Shaped like a giant barn, I walked inside with wonder, mostly wondering if there was going to be cattle in any of the stalls. From way down at the end of the hallway, barely visible in the distance, a guy was giving me the "here it is" wave. So I walked to the far end of the barn, where there are numerous pits and an ordering area. I ordered a pound of brisket, a pound of ribs, and 4 of their sausages to go. They were all plopped in one pile on wrapping paper by the elderly and friendly lady who took my order. This compares to Black's where the meats I ordered were carefully and individually wrapped for each type of meat ordered, even down to wrapping the two types of sausages into two separate packages. OTOH Kruez' did throw in a whole loaf of white bread and a stick of saltine crackers. The ribs and brisket were both done in a similar style to Mueller's in Taylor, that is, salted and covered with coarse ground peppercorns. Similar to Mueller's but not nearly as good, IMO. However, both meats were very presentable and were about equal in quality to my taste. The ribs were somewhat salty and this is from someone who likes salt, so anyone who is on a salt restricted diet might consider this before visiting Kreuz'. Brisket was very good, just not wonderful. The sausages (thankfullly they only make them in one flavor) were pretty near horrible. They were absolutely dripping in fat, and when bitten into they had a mushy taste and texture. I found them to be all but inedible as well as a cardiologist's delight.

Kreuz' is famous for its "no sauce" stance, letting their cooking do the talking and it does, but it's not a Shakespearean soliloquy by any stretch. I, on the other hand, don't eat most of my Q meats with sauce but a good sauce can be both a counterpoint and additive to good Q. I can't downgrade Kreuz' for not having it, but the lack thereof doesn't make me likely to go back.

Since I grade most Q joints on their ribs and brisket, I will ignore the travesty of their sausage and give Kreuz Market a B++, but just barely. I think their Q is just a shade better than Black's but I'd rather go for the personal and more friendly staff at Black's myself.

After Kreuz Market, I drove a few blocks S on the same street to:

30) Chisholm Trail Lockhart Barbecue, 1323 S. Colorado St., Lockhart, Tx (recommended by several posters in here and mentioned in at least one book on Texas Q)

It is said that the locals all eat their Q at Chisholm Trail(CT) and they may well do it. There were many more people there than at Black's or Kreuz's but it was getting closer to the dinner hour. I think the main reason is price. CT's prices are BY FAR the cheapest I have encountered on my personal Q trail. Most places brisket is $9.99/lb or higher, at CT it was $5.95 and ribs were cheaper than that. I ordered a pound of brisket, a pound of ribs, a pound of beef ribs, and 4 sausages (only one type) to go. In other words, I got an extra pound of meat and the price was about $22 total. At Black's it was roughly $30 for one pound less and for the same thing at Kreuz' it was roughly $32.

Staff was friendly but less so than at the other two, possibly because they were busier.
The meats were all over the lot. The brisket was very good, on a par with Black's and Kreuz' but somewhat different than both, had a salt and pepper rub but not coarse ground. Very tasty. The sausages were also very good, on a par with Black's and highly recommended. OTOH, it went downhill rapidly from there. The pork ribs were really overcooked, to the point of being dried out. The beef ribs, which were really short ribs, were covered in some kind of sauce, not their regular Q sauce as far as I could tell, and I found them to be both overcooked, but not as badly as the pork ribs, and not very tasty. To be fair, I brought them home and my older daughter, who's judgement I trust on Q, liked them. No accounting for the younger generations tastes.

The Q sauce was very similar to Black's, tomato based, not really sweet at all, and somewhat citrusy. I think there may have been some sauce espionage going on somewhere along the line. Small town, hard to keep secrets, but who knows?

Because of the miserable pork ribs (one should always consider the possibility that I just got a rare bad batch, but overcooking is not permissible if you want to be in the Q business long), I am forced to give Chisholm Trail a B--, but if the ribs had been as good as the brisket, I would grade them a B+ or even B++.

I just figured 3 Q joints in one afternoon was enough and left Smitty's for another day.

One kind of humorous afternote, on the way home, to avoid the horror that has become Austin's rush hour traffic, I took the toll way E of town (45?) N towards Waco. I've got 11 pounds or so of Q and sausages, partially unwrapped from my tasting, in the front of the truck. I pull up to the last toll booth and this elderly black lady is taking the change.......she takes my money, takes a big sniff and says, "I smell BARBECUE!". I laughed and said, "Yep, I'm on my back from Lockhart." She says, "Honey, you shouldn't be torturing me like that....." and I drove on North, the Q trail goes on forever........

Someone here probably has the straight scoop, but there is some family history in Lockhart BBQ, with a split resulting in one with the building and another with the name (if I recall correctly, and I probably don't). So some similarity is probably understandable.

Haven't eaten at Smitty's in a few years so maybe I need to scout it again.

Charles:

The story has been told so much I didn't want to repeat it, but it was Kreuz Market, which was purchased from the Kruez family in 1948 by "Smitty" Schmidt. He was the father to at least one boy and one girl. The boy ran the Q business of Kreuz Market probably before and, certainly after he died. He sold the business to the boy, and left the original building to the girl, which building I assume was rented to KM so the girl would have a steady income. Who knows why (but probably when the time for rental/lease renewal came up), but this arrangement didn't hold together, and she kicked her brother and Kreuz Market (the business name which he owned) out in 1999 and established, "Smitty's" in the original Kreuz Market building that same year. KM moved to its present giant barn in 1999, apparently having a parade to move the Q flames from the original pit to the current KM.

AFA I know, which isn't all that far, CT has nothing to do with this mini-family feud.

Here is a more detailed version of the "feud" from the Austin Chronicle. I have only posted the relevant paragraphs.....

quote:

The saga that grabbed national media attention began when Edgar "Smitty" Schmidt bought the meat market in 1948 from Alvin Kreuz. By the time Smitty passed away in 1990, he had sold the barbecue business to his sons, Rick and Don, but bequeathed the building to his daughter, Nina Sells.

Then in 1997, Rick and Nina began negotiating a new lease. He wanted to buy the building, and she wanted to raise the rent. The brother and sister squabble became so contentious that lawyers were soon involved. CBS covered the family feud on their newsmagazine 48 Hours and U.S. News & World Report devoted a full page to the story in their business and technology section.

Finally, Rick Schmidt decided to just move the family business down the road to a new building dominated with red aluminum siding. When Kreuz's pit boss Roy Perez and Rick's son Leeman Schmidt dragged a tub of ceremonial embers from the old place to the new place on Sept. 1, 1999, few die-hard fans doubted that the Schmidts would continue the barbecue dynasty.

I had to make a quick (well, sort of, there ain't no quick way to Tyler from my place, it is just over half the distance to Tyler as to Dallas, and I can be in Dallas in 2 1/2 hours, takes 2 hours to get to Tyler) trip to Tyler the other day to take care of some "gotta be done today" earl bidness (oil companies and the US government always want you to do something immediately, but they take their sweet time on their end until it again is urgent that you act immediately, since their time is of the essence ). I had a 3 Q joint day trip planned out, including Stanley's in Tyler (4.5 Tx Monthly rating) and Carter's in Longview (honorable mention TM ratings) as well as Big Dave's in Diana but, alas, those places will have to wait for another day......

.....after taking care of the "urgent" business, I spent a couple of hours shooting the breeze with the landmen, several of which I knew from previous deals, and they all assured me that this Q place was better than Stanley's........just goes to show what landmen know......but at any rate, I took one of them who had done me some favors in the past to a late lunch at their recommended joint.........

31) The Purple Pig Cafe, 19785 SH 155 S, Flint, Tx (about 9 miles south of loop 323 around Tyler on 155 or E side of hwy) My rating....B---

After the glowing recs mentioned above, I was set for a Q feast.....alas, the Purple Pig and great Q are like first cousins, they may know each other, but not intimately (Arkansans and Okies excluded, of course ). Since I was eating lunch with someone, instead of my usual to go orders, I ordered a two meat plate (portions were generous and it came with two sides), sliced brisket and what they call pig wing ribs, which is the very lower end of the pig's ribs, sliced off, some with cartilidge and some with just meat).......the brisket, advertised as hickory smoked was quite overcooked, to the point of being crumbly, barring that, which is hard to bear for a Qphile, it might have made the level of decent Q, as was, it was one small step from being inedible. The guy I was with ordered a chopped brisket sandwich and he used a LOT of sauce to get his down......while I've mentioned it, the sauce was uninspiring as well, pretty standard tomato based sweet, not bad, but not very good either.

OTOH, the pig wing ribs (they don't have regular pork rib Q, another fault IMO) were pretty tasty, not really wonderful, but a different version of Q than I've had before and they are "biteably" sized for finger food, just like buffalo wings. They were what I'd call lightly smoked with fairly standard tasting salt, pepper, and spices rub. Great idea for a home Q fest using them like buffalo wings with appropriate hot and cheesy sauces. They were good and I ordered a couple of pounds to take home to family, but even these were not really all that great as Q, just different and, as I said, tasty.

This place wears several hats, also has a menu for "The Native American Grill", same location, which may be one reason they aren't up to snuff on their Q cooking.....hard to do good Q and fry fish, serve "healthy burgers" (whatever that may be), chicken friend ribeye (sounded good, might go back and try that one), etc. etc. all at the same place.

In short, our waitress was very friendly (one of the few joints I've been in where you can't go up and order the Q directly) and the various other foods they have may well be excellent, but as a Q joint it gets a B--- from me, you can't screw up the national Q dish of Texas, brisket, and get a decent rating.....on another day, they may be better, but I was there on this day.

If I was in that area, I might well drop in for some pig wings and a Lone Star beer or three, or try something else on their rather extensive menu for a Q joint, but as a pure Q joint, it wasn't very good.

you are being generous with your B---

IMO

Was there last week.

Unfortunately the quality had taken a down turn
from the previous visits.

Brisket was very dried out and tough.

I think their over popularity and the resultant rapid growth of their business has taken a large toll on the Q--

Either that or my taste buds have gotten more critical.

Thanks for keepin your thread goin Gato-

Hey, I'm proud we had basically the same experience at The Purple Pig, tells me mine wasn't a one shot bad deal. Hopefully they can return to the true Q path......

AFA keeping this thread going, it has become a fun and relatively, for me, inexpensive hobby. Makes those trips that I might or might not want to do normally, more fun when I throw in a Q stop or two.

You've got the taste buds and experience, and obviously still get out to Q joints, why don't you toss your hat into the ring and review some places? I'd love to hear others reviews, even of non-Q but interesting and GOOD places to eat. I mean, I absolutely love Mexican cooking, as well as Tex-Mex, but that needs another thread and I don't think I could handle trying all the Mexican rest in Texas........

BTW anyone who drives down 35 from DFW towards Austin/SA and doesn't stop in at West for some kolaches is missing a treat. Poppy seed kolaches or rolls, yuuuummmmy......although I will admit poppy seeds are sort of an acquired taste. I first had them prepared by a good guys wife while dove hunting on his place in Cent Texas.....been hooked ever since.

I had to make a run over to Ft. Worth mid-week to pick up a couple of gunbroker purchases so planned on making a Q day trip out of it......however, after picking up the guns and going to the first Q joint, I just decided that driving an extra 300 miles or so RT to Bertram and Taylor didn't feel like fun that day, so I scrapped plan A and turned for home. But I did go to......

32) Casstevens Cash and Carry Grocery, 11025 E FM 917, Lillian, Tx (Rated 4.5/5.0 by Texas Monthly) My rating B

This is another one of those trick locations, it is not on FM 917 and I was scratching my head trying to figure out where it was when I looked up and, voila, there was a pointing sign advertising it as "under new management", which I took as a bad sign. It is roughly 3/4 mile off of FM 917 right in the middle of the 4 or 5 buildings that compose downtown Lillian Texas, which is very roughly about 25 mi SE DT Ft Worth and about 10 miles E of I35W.

Unprepossessing was the definition of the place, a beat up old Diamond Shamrock Gas Station that has seem better days. Went inside and perused the menu, NO PORK RIBS!, I mean, I know this is Texas, but no ribs of any kind is an exception to the rule, even for Texas.......(I've since read on another site that they have ribs on Friday, since this was Wed, and they didn't have a listing on the menu, I don't know if this is still true or not)...at any rate, I ordered a pound of brisket and a pound of smoked ham, the closest they had to pork ribs, which, of course, ain't very close.

Brisket was good, in the top third of my sampled places so far, but not exceptional in any way. Smoked ham was also good, mildly smoked with decent flavor. Sauce was a bit different, tomato based but more dependent on a spice flavor (and I'm not referring to capsaicins) than sugar for it's main tones, a bit different but not really outstanding. However, it was a good counterpoint to the brisket.

I guess that their brisket is a fraction better than a B rating, but taken with their location and no ribs I think a flat B rating is about all they deserve. I'd eat there again, but I certainly wouldn't drive out of my way to do so, and given that Lillian is in the middle of, and on the way to nowhere, that means I likely won't be back.

Doing Daddy duty, I had to go sit through one of my son's high school baseball team's games that was held near Paris, Texas last week.
They lost and I left. Drove over to Paris to pick up a few things for ranch and figured I'd go look around for a new Q joint.....drove N on 271 to check out the location of a catfish place I'd heard about and there was........

33) Bodacious Bar B Q, 3610 N. Main St., Paris, Texas (about a mile N of loop on E side 271) My rating B--

This is another in the chain of Bodacious'. I've now tried 4 of them, two were good, one was poor, and this one was fair. Ordered my standard of pound of brisket and ribs. Brisket was somewhat overcooked, not terribly, but not acceptably moist either. Otherwise, I'd call it decent but not notable. Ribs were rubbed in the same type rub that I found attractive at the first Bodacious I visited, but the ribs here were also a small fraction overcooked and the rub, which seems to have some brown sugar in it, was a bit too caramalized for my tastes on some, but not all, of the ribs. Ribs were decent but not as good as I think they should be with a bit more care on the pitmaster's part.

Sauce, which is the standard Bod. sauce, was tomato based, slightly spicy (peppery) and, probably because the meat was dry, and possibly because I've had so many since the last Bod that were worse, I found it to be pretty tasty. All in all, this Bodacious just missed a couple of points higher rating, but based on what I had, I have to give them a B--. Please note that a B-- is not really bad, just not outstanding in any way.

The inaugural Kiwanis of DeKalb (Texas) BBQ cookoff was held last Friday and Saturday. This was an International Barbeque Cookers Association (site) event. It was interesting to see the various teams and rigs. There were 22 teams there, a few locals and, I think one from Houston (5 1/2 drive) was the contestant who came the fartherest.

My daughter, as a member of Key Club (High School Kiwanis Org) was "volunteered" to help, so we went to town Sat afternoon to see the results and pick her up. Luckily, I got there just in time to be roped in (wasn't a hard catch) to judge the brisket. Given that I knew nothing about BBQ contests, it was enlightening, to say the least. I did the best I could and actually did give the winning brisket my highest score, but if I ever judge again I will be able to do a better job.

They give a table full of 5 judges (frankly I could tell that at least two of our judges probably didn't know brisket is beef) a bunch of plastic containers (to go box type) full of brisket. Each judge is to judge the brisket on appearance, aroma, tenderness, taste, and overall, giving it one whole number score between 1 and 10. Sauce is not permitted as an add on, you can cook it on, but not pour it on after cooking. You'd take a small taste and write down your score. There is no discussion or re-tasting allowed while judging, the brisket gets one shot and that's it. Our table was one of two preliminary tables and we judged 11 boxes, the other table judged 11 and they took the top 10 or so highest scoring boxes to a final judging table, which worked just like ours. I probably went too fast IMO, but I felt like I was under time pressure since the other judges kept pushing boxes down my way. At any rate, I did the best I could, and my scores went from 5 to 8, I had one 8, a couple of 7s, mostly 6s, and one or two 5s. I'd have felt better if I could have given them half points but the scoring doesn't work that way. In retrospect, I should have started with a slightly higher number and could have graded up or down more from there. Had I done that, my range would have been more like 4 to 9. In fact, my "7" scoring briskets were just a tiny fraction behind the "8" IMO. Theoretically each brisket is to be judged as a stand alone product, compared in your mind against the perfect brisket, but that is hard to do. Again, I did the best I could but will do better next time if I'm lucky enough to judge again.

The winner was a well cooked brisket but what made it win, besides doing a good job of cooking/smoking, was his rub, which was somewhat sweet and spicy. Probably not something you'd actually want to eat all the time as your preference in brisket, but as I found out in chatting with one of the IBCA judges afterwards, the object is to produce a brisket that will stand out in 10 seconds of judging. This one did as it was somewhat different while being well done, tender, etc. There were several others that were well done and some that were, to be kind, not so great.

A lot of fun, and if you've got the time, go to one of their cookoffs. Make it known that you'd like to judge, there seems to be a shortage of judges (has to be or I wouldn't have been one ), and maybe you can be a judge but whether you are or are not, you'll have fun and see some real characters Texas Q style.

I learned long ago that I love the sauce that Goode Company (Houston) makes. I buy it by the gallon and smuggle it into Alabama late at night when driving back to my current work location!!
Well I kinda like most of the beef that the Bbq places make, but don't especially care for the quality of Goode Company brisquit. Often found that after it cools to room temp, it proves to be very grizzley with lots of fat.
What makes it special for me is the sauce.
I am temporarily in Alabama where Bbq sauce is loaded with vinegar. Not my style.

Well Texas got mentioned once. These people don't know shit.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel...ue-restaurants_N.htm

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
Well Texas got mentioned once. These people don't know shit.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel...ue-restaurants_N.htm

Agreed. Plus, Cooper's is ok and extremely successful, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the best in Texas. 'Just probably one of the most well known and that's where the writer was taken while they were probably b&bing in the picturesque hill country. Some of the really best BBQ places are in areas where you might want to conceal carry your pistola.

I understand that Coopers has opened a store in Ft. Worth- anybody tried it yet??

http://coopersbbqfortworth.com/

Salt Lick

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
Well Texas got mentioned once. These people don't know shit.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel...ue-restaurants_N.htm

That article is more about grilling than BBQ.....they don't even know the difference.

The last few days, I took my son down to Hillsbore for the State Baseball Championships for their summer league (they lost in quarter finals). I picked him up Thurs afternoon in Gilmer where he was attending FFA leadership training. For the second time, I missed Stanley's in Tyler. See purple pig review above. Drat! It was barely closed when we arrived just past 2. So, on to Hillsboro and some Mexican food that evening. I left yesterday (Sat) to come home and take over dog watching duties, while my wife and kids went to baseball tournament and then on to DFW/LA for a last minute vacation. For lunch on Sat, Adam and I went down I-35 a few miles for a recommended Q joint in a small community called Abbott......

34) Up In Smoke BBQ, 212 S. Hickory St, Abbott, Tx (just on E side of I-35, exit 358, about 20 miles or so N of Waco) (unscored by anyone, my score B-)

Arrived about lunch and it was fairly busy. Unfortunately that didn't say much about the Q. I ordered my standard, a pound of ribs (pork) and a pound of sliced brisket. Adam had a pulled pork plate. Ribs, brisket, and pork plate were extremely middle of the road. No major errors but nothing to really recommend them either. I'm not completely sure, since after eating some I didn't feel that I needed to explore more, but I think they probably use gas smokers. The brisket was tender but with little smoke flavor or smoke ring. Definitely edible but not anything extra. Same can be said for pulled pork and ribs. The ribs were some of the prettiest I've seen, great look and color, but not flavored to meet their eye appeal. Sauce was available in mild and spicy. I'd hate to think what the original tasted like, since the spicy was not even up to my mild standards. It tasted like Cattleman's, possibly with a teaspoon of pepper per gallon added. Not bad, but like the rest of the Q, just ordinary. All in all, a solid B-. I want to be clear that a B-is still very edible Q and probably better than most. Unless you're starving and if you're going to Austin or SA, I'd drive on South to Schoef's in Belton (see review #3, first page). Until the next time, may the Q gods move you on to greater Qdom.

The best BBQ i have ever had is in Clarence Louisiana,(Grayson's) just over the Red River 8 miles from Natchitoches. They have a beef plate that is out of this world. Homemade bread, pecan pies,and cookies. Their potato salad is excellent as well. Grayson's is a family run and owned restaurant that has been in buisness for over 60 years. If you in the area, try it you will not be disppointed.

I took a piece of equipment over to Shreveport today (and incidentally met aktoklat at the same time, hunting stories got higher and deeper as we went along, a fine fellow, we only needed some beer if I wasn't facing a fairly long drive back home).

At any rate, we visited too long but it was fun and on the way home, I finally dropped in at a local Q joint that had been on my "check it out" list for a while, since I drive right by it almost everytimg I go to Shreveport. So here it is.....

35) Jack's North Market (there may be another one but I don't know where it is), 1301 N. Market St. Shreveport, La. 71107 (roughly a mile N of Downtown and the Casinos) My overall grade B++

Jack's is kind of a hole in the wall on the West side of N. Market which has been there over 40 years. The interior is bare bones and old style Q joint. An interior decorator would not approve. When I was there the clientele was mostly black and all the help was. The lady in charge was extra friendly and was a newbie, having only worked there 14 years. Everyone was very friendly and I ordered my standard pound ribs and pound of brisket. Both were on the upper end of my samplings but the brisket was exceptional. Lots of smoke, medium char, and heavy smoke line. Rub was mostly salt and pepper. Really quite good, easily in the top 10 and possibly the top 5 so far. Easily as moist and tender as any I've had, just running a small bit behind the absolute best due to rub not being truly exceptional. One reason was they left more of the fat on the brisket which kept it melt in your mouth moist and tender. Ribs were very good too with nice color and presentation but just a hair behind the brisket. The only small drawback was the sauce, which is kind of a mystery, homemade, some tomato, probably a bit of vinegar and some odd spices that gave it a "different" smell, not bad, just different. Alone I didn't care for it at all, but on the meat it was interesting, believe it or not giving it very slight chocolate tones. I didn't hate it but I didn't like it a lot either, better sauce would have gotten them another + since they were really close anyway. The homemade lemonade was excellent as well, great lemon flavor and acid, a touch too sweet for my tastes but that is the way with most sugared drinks in the South which is why I usually avoid sweet tea. Highly recommmended if you're in the area and want Q and don't want decorations or get it to go.

I had for gotten about Jack's,

My Pops (grandad) and his business partner would eat there, occasionally I got to go.

Good memories,

Thanks Gato

I had eaten at Jack's before, but it had been so long (on the order of at least 25 years) that all I remembered was being there. I suspect that it is now the oldest surviving Q joint in Shreveport. The oldest that I know of, which closed quite a few years back was Cobb's, across from Centenary College. I ate there many times over the years, but really can't recall how good it was, but it had to be pretty good or it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did. I think it finally closed sometime after Louie Cobb passed on, but that is a "sort of" memory and it may not be accurate. It is really fun "judging" Q joints since it makes you more aware of their product in relation to others. Up until I started this little effort, it was more or less, "ummmmm, good" or, "yuck, I'm not coming back here again."

This review is a result of one of those things parents have to do because they're parents. I had to go to Sulphur Springs to extract my son from an FFA leadership 2 day event so he could participate in an inter-team scrimmage as the last gasp of his two-a-days. "Dad, I'm starting, I REALLY need to be there." And then, having nothing better to do (yeah right) after the scrimmage, take him back, drop him off and then have the pleasure of driving the hour and half or so back home, arriving about 10:30 last night.

So off to Sulphur Springs I go, leave a bit early with the intention of going to Big Smiths BBQ which is out in the middle of somewhere (which I didn't find) about 10 mi S Sulphur Springs. Big Smiths was an honorable mention in the 2003 Tx Monthly. I figured if it was still in business with that location it must be pretty good so I thought I'd give it a try. I tried, but it was not to be yesterday. I had a map and it is something like 10 mi S Sulphur Springs on 154, but, I was a bit short on time, and, in retrospect, I think I turned back a mile or so before I got there, thanks to the "new" addresses which change at county lines, etc (Address was 9601 S 154, I went from 9000+ to 11,000 with no Q joint, so gave it up, but, again in retrospect, at that point, I think the numbers were now going DOWN, not up, you can't find numbers on every fence post out there in somewhereville). I'll try it again when I am not under time pressure. Note: Sitting here doing a little research, Big Smith's MAY be in the middle of downtown Sulphur Springs, not 10 mi S like the Tx Monthly map showed, oh well. BE AWARE THAT TX MONTHLY MAPS MAY NOT BE ACCURATE. At any rate, I couldn't find it and fell back on another......

36) Bodacious Bar-B-Q, 1228 S. Broadway St. (Hwy 154), Sulphur Springs Tx. This is just N of I-30 exit 127, less than a 1/4 mile from the exit. My overall grade (no ribs, so not really a true result) B-

Unfortunately, like most of the rest of my Q ventures yesterday, they were out of ribs at this mid-afternoon time frame, so I ordered a pound of brisket and a pound of smoked sausage. The two guys running the joint were friendly and informative. Brisket was very similar to the one I had at "Up in Smoke, Abbott, Tx", nice heavy smoke layer, nice smoke ring, tender but just no real flavor added by rub. In short, very acceptable but nothing out of the ordinary on the good Q scale. Smoked Sausage was quite good, with good smoke flavor and a slightly sweet base flavor. I could tell texture was finer and more uniform than most Q joints so I asked, "Do you make this sausage or what?" Answer was it was Hillshire Farms. Even considering that, it was nicely smoked, good flavor, and, I liked it because, unlike in many of the more famous Central Texas Q joints, you didn't get that gush of fat and grease running out of it when you bit into it. Other people may think wallowing in grease is part of the quintessential Q experience. I don't and, I freely admit, sausage is not one of my favorite Q meats. Sauce was standard Bodacious sauce, tomato based, slightly spicy. Maybe I got a good batch but it seemed a bit better than normal yesterday. Not great, but not bad. All in all, and considering this grade does not include ribs, I'd give them an acceptable score of B-. Ribs could have swung it either way. I guess I'd rank this one #3 of the Bodacious I've tried, but still quite decent Q, unlike the one in Mt. Pleasant.

Well, the best laid plans.....I decided to stay home from the Am Blade Soc show in San Antonio to keep from spending so much money, not for the trip, but for the blades on sale. Instead I managed to stay home and buy two great knives off the net for 5 figures. Go figure.....

At any rate, while staying home and saving money, I went to #1 daughter's volleyball tournament today in New Boston, Tx. While on the way back, I stopped in a Q joint that I pass by quite often, but I had some very bad take out Q from there a few years back so didn't go back. I think, but am not sure, that they have changed ownership since then so, ever mindful of the poor travelers looking for some real Q, I went in and gave it another try....

37) Randy's Smokehouse BBQ, 408 McCoy Blvd, New Boston, Tx 75570 (McCoy Blvd is Hwy 8, and this joint is on the E side of McCoy/8 about 1/2 mi S of I-30) My overall rating B---

It was quite busy at lunch time, which tells me that the area could use a competing Q restaurant. This joint was about like a lot of the Q joints scattered around, and just a bit worse than the last 2 or 3 I've reviewed, not really bad, but nothing distinguished either. Since I was planning on taking it home for family, I bought a pound each of sliced brisket, sliced pork, and ribs. The brisket was kind of strange, really crumbly, but not dried out, and just a tiny bit past what I'd call cooked just right. Heavy outside char with little flavor and not much smoke line. REALLY crumbly. I didn't ask but I'm thinking wrapped and then smoked over gas until the last hour or two with higher heat. I could be wrong. At any rate, brisket was decent minus, it was just too crumbly and didn't really have much flavor. Ribs were fair, dark colored, but nothing extra on flavor. Sliced pork, which was really pulled since there were no real slices (to be fair, it is hard to get slices off a pork shoulder) was good, tender, and had that fatty quality which makes pulled pork sandwiches so popular. Probably the best of the 3 meats. I ordered the hot sauce and, surprisingly, it was a little warm. Not burn a Mexican to the ground hot (BTW hot Thai cooking will slap burn a Mexican to the ground), but hot enough that most Yankees would run for the water fountain. Tomato based, slightly sweet, heat mostly from Cayenne as far as I could tell. Better than most, but not wonderful. Overall, a B---, and I'd give it a miss unless you want pulled pork.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Kensco:

I can recommend from books, but I haven't been to any Q joints in Austin in years. Last couple of times I was there we went to Tex-Mex or Thai. I'll let the locals or people with more personal and current knowledge mention some spots. The reviews I'm making now are based on current visits, so I don't review or recommend something I haven't been to since I started this "fun" project, it is amazing the difference between eating Q to just eat and eating it to review it. I like the latter now that I've tried it.

My son has a state Baseball tournament in Hillsboro this weekend and I'm going to drop down from there to visit some of the Big 10 but considering the traffic in Austin I'm sure I won't go there.

In Austin, go to the Iron Works, on the SW corner of the convention center. Really good. Also in Austin, the County Line has excellent meat but the sauce is a bit too sweet. Many like it, however. Going west, stop at Kunkel's in Johnson City. On Hwy 281 N, near the intersection with Hwy 290. They sell out quickly, so go early for lunch. In Ft. Worth, Angelo's on White Settlement Rd. was always really good, but haven't been there for several years.

There is some really bad barbecue at several small places in the Texas Valley. Be careful!

Rudy's is OK, but it is a state-wide chain.

The original post did state ; " Texas or otherwise ".

So, here's my vote !

Dr. Hogly Wogly's Tyler Texas BBQ , located in " Van Nuys Calif ".
http://www.hoglywogly.com/
http://www.hoglywogly.com/Hogly/History.htm

Smoke Magazine- 10 best BBQ joint across the U.S

The only downside to visiting the place is , the area surrounding the place has gone downhill over the years (criminal activities ).
I normally go down to eat " Lunch " or takeout during daylight hours, to avoid any confrontations.

PAPI

Papi:

Thanks for the tip. If I'm ever sentenced to LA again, I'll look it up.

havin' lived 1/2 my life in the hill country of Texas north of santone,,and the other 1/2 in the northern part of cajun country in Louisiana,,sausage figgers big on my BBQ hit parade.Equally important is mesquite or pecan wood smoked,,dry rubbed,,SLICED,, brisket,,,not pulled,,not chopped,,,from the part that is 70% lean.To me sauce is for chicken,,slopped on thick,,cooked slow til the sauce just gets a crust,,let cool to room temp. and then eaten,...............oh yeah,,,lots of coleslaw!!!!!!!!!!!!!.The afore mentioned joints in Lockhart are REAL good!!!!.......................please pass the napkins!!!!!!!!!

Hard to believe that hunting seasons and life, not to mention feeding cattle, have interfered with my Q reports this long. At any rate, while attending my daughter's regional championship baskesball game (they lost, but played well against what was definitely a better team) in Marshall, Tx a few weeks back, we were forced to eat a late dinner at another of the Bodacious' Q joints, thus.....

38) Bodacious Bar-B-Q, 2018 Victory Dr (Hwy 80), Marshall Tx (about 1/2 mi east of intersection of 80 and 59)

My son and I ate here, had a pound of ribs, a pound of brisket and pulled pork sandwich. Ribs were quite good. Maybe I was in the right mood (hungry) because I usually don't like sweet flavored ribs, but these had a somewhat sweet base flavor ala asian style ribs, not overpowering but there, nice color, and some smoke flavor. Pretty tasty. OTOH, the brisket was ordinary minus, no real flavor, smoke or otherwise. Sauce, which I assume to be Bodacious' standard tomato based, was good and seemed a bit spicier than the last time I tried it. Pulled pork sandwich, which I didn't try, was fair according to number 1 son. Atmosphere was non-existent, most notable was the giant stack of cardboard boxes containing Bodacious Q sauce, etc taking up about a quarter of the customer area. All in all, just a bit better than fair, ribs are quite good but that's about it. Overall ranking B--.

Best is relative to your taste.....

I like Midway BBQ in Katy TX. Excellent Pecan smoke ribs and lean brisket. Their link sausage made onsite is also very good. You will eat at many many places and never taste better.

Go before 6 PM for the best flavor but, it's good anytime!

Mustang Creek BBQ, right smack dab between Hillje and Louise, TX on highway 59 south.
All you can eat buffet! Brisket, pork, chicken and sausage and all the fixen's. Plus real good sweet tea!

I will only say to those that think they have the worlds best Bar B Q in their backyard or city, You have not tasted ribs if you have never eaten in Kansas City, Missouri folks

Gato, I'm not surprised that Louie Mueller gets your highest rating so far. I agree that the sauce comes up short, but the brisket is perfect and doesn't really need sauce. I think Louie Mueller's is far better than anything else in Central Texas, including the three Lockhart places and Coopers.

In Central Austin, House Park BBQ, which is nearly 70 years old, has great brisket, but it's open only for weekday lunches.

A strong candidate worth considering is Shep's in Palestine. Their brisket is some of the best I've had, and their sides are good, too.

quote:

Originally posted by sandyhunter:
Gato, I'm not surprised that Louie Mueller gets your highest rating so far. I agree that the sauce comes up short, but the brisket is perfect and doesn't really need sauce. I think Louie Mueller's is far better than anything else in Central Texas, including the three Lockhart places and Coopers.

In Central Austin, House Park BBQ, which is nearly 70 years old, has great brisket, but it's open only for weekday lunches.

A strong candidate worth considering is Shep's in Palestine. Their brisket is some of the best I've had, and their sides are good, too.

Thanks for the tip about Shep's. I'm not too far from there, I'll give it a try before long. Thanks also to the new posters with other Q joints to add to the list. "Q is a long and winding road."

I've got 4 secondary Q tasters/testers in my house and they all agree that Mueller's is the best so far. I'm really trying to get to Snow's in Lexington but their schedule of only being open on Sat mornings is somewhat restrictive to trip planning.

I have eaten Q in KC in several places over the years, most notably Arthur Bryants when Arthur was still alive and it was excellent but that was a long time ago and I was not as analytical about it then as I am now. I guess it depends on your view but I find that critiquing the Q at new, and old, joints adds to the experience and that's saying something since everyone knows that Q is the perfect meal.

Q deserves an epic poem, perhaps the bard will move one of us?

I spent lots of time and money in Shep's.

Q deserves an epic poem, perhaps the bard will move one of us? [/QUOTE]

So slowly did the smoke curl rounding-
Golden fat-edged fleshy browning
Edges crisping, twisting, mounding-
Sauce's tackiness compounding.
The pig died well.


You guys kill me.

Texas Love Story

I went to get some Q,
Met a cute gal named Sue.
We had some beer and brisket.
She kissed like I hadn't been yet.
But she shut the door,
When I wanted more,
And that's why my b***ls are blue.

Best I ever had is less than 2 miles from house in Lynchburg, Tx. It's a small meat market/butcher shop that is family owned for I don't know how long. It's called Daniel's Meat Market. I've going there since I was a kid in the sixties and it is still the same. Their brisket, home made sausage, ribs, hell everything in there is great. If you don't know where it is you won't find it. But all the locals know, especially the guys at the plants in Baytown. Don't try to get in there at lunch unless you go early. My 15yr old son tries to eat the place down. MM MM Good!

Not in TX but:
Wildhorse Mountain BBQ in Salisaw Oklahoma had some really good ribs the last time I was up there. A few miles south of town on hwy. 59.
You don't have to carry a gun, but it don't hurt none.

I apologize to the many fans (well, one at least ) of this Q thread that I haven't been to any new Q joints lately. Seems like the older I get, the harder getting started becomes.

At any rate, I debated with myself, since I am my favorite opponent , whether to put this information in a new thread or put it here.....but in the interest of wider exposure, here it is......

This is probably the best Q site on the web for techniques, etc., highly recommended, whether you think you know it all about Q or damn all about Q......here.......enjoy.

BTW......here's a side dish for Q or just about anything else (note, the sugar base flavor does not go well with red wines IMO)......I had this years ago and got off of center recently and found quite a few recipes online and have fixed it at home a couple of times since with admirable (if I do say so myself) results....the following recipe is about the average of them.......(notes to follow below)......

quote:

4 Bean Salad

Ingredients:

Servings: about 10

1 (19 ounce) can chickpeas
1 (14 ounce) can green beans
1 (14 ounce) can wax beans
1 (19 ounce) can red kidney beans
1 red bell pepper (any colour can be used)
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

DRESSING

2/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar (use less if desired)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper


Directions:

1. Drain a 19-oz tin of chick peas (garbanzo beans), rinse well, then drain again; place in a large mixing bowl.

2. Drain a 14-oz tin of green beans and a 14-oz tin of wax beans well and then add to bowl.

3. Drain a 19-oz tin of red kidney beans, rinse well then drain again; add to bowl.

4. Dice up a coloured bell pepper (red, orange or yellow, (green is fine but you won't get the added color which helps the appearance) and add to beans.

5. Peel a small red onion and slice into very thin strips and add to bowl.

6. Lastly, add about 1/2 cup of chopped fresh flatleaf parsley.

7. Now make dressing: in a separate bowl, whisk together the vinegars, oil, sugar, minced fresh garlic, worcestershire, and salt and pepper.

8. Pour dressing over salad ingredients and toss.

9. Cover and refrigerate overnight, stirring occasionally (before serving, taste, may need more salt).

10. When ready, spoon bean salad into a serving bowl using a slotted spoon, to drain off most of the dressing before serving.

Note: I really like this recipe because it is very quick and takes a small amount of effort, both physical and mental......which suits my cooking aptitude to a T.

This is a "basic" recipe, and produces a very fine end result. Personally I use less sugar, a 1/4 cup should be plenty IMO, but you can always correct it to your tastes after the initial mixing is done. It's much easier to add more sugar after mixing than to remove it, but you can adjust flavor by adding more vinegar. A 1/2 cup sugar makes it pretty sweet but many people will like it that way.

Like many basic soup recipes, this one is subject to many variations, such as adding celery, or other "hard" vegetables, cooked if they need to be. One version even added mushrooms.....I think they would be a bit "slick" after sitting in the refrigerator for a while, but to each his own.

One variation uses Italian Salad Dressing (Kraft or other top quality brands, don't go cheap here) as the Dressing. Since I got tired of the taste of ISD years ago on doves, duck breats, etc, I'll leave the results of that variation to others. However, it would make a quick recipe into a extremely quick recipe and probably be very good.

We like more chickpeas, so we add an extra can of them. You could cut back a bit on some of the others but we don't.

I think using fresh frozen green beans is better and takes little more effort (cook on stove in lightly salted water for a few minutes, let cool while draining in collander, and then proceed as if canned,can easily be done while opening other cans, dicing onion, etc, just start the green beans first), but the canned variety is fine.

I'd start off with the "basic" above and then one can localize it to your tastes. I'd add chile peppers (in reason, to taste) possibly some cilantro, more garlic, more onion, etc. The good thing about it is that it can easily be corrected after the initial mixing, just "correct" or add gently. It is easy to add more and hard to remove too much.

If you don't have red wine vinegar, standard apple cider vinegar will work, but you may have to add a bit more sugar to the mix.

I don't find that washing the beans is necessary, we just dump them all in a collander and let them drain off.

Since we had canola oil on hand, we've used that, but I think regular vegetable oil would produce the same results. Olive oil? I dunno, haven't tried it. I think it might be excellent but I'd mix a small sample on the side to check first.

As far as I'm concerned the parsley is basically for color, and can be skipped or cilantro (to taste) substituted. Celery would do the same thing and add crunch as well as color. Carrots? Raw if finely diced, or maybe lightly cooked?

The flavors do blend better if you let it sit for a while in the fridge, BUT I find it is nearly as good just after a thorough mixing and that's a big plus for Qs and other outdoor activities.....the covered dish takes a LOT of fridge space, so eating some first helps that problem out.

Muy sabroso!!! Try it, you'll like it.