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–
IN AND AROUND AUSTIN, TEXAS
–
Click
here
for a Google Map of the Top 50 BBQ
restaurants in Texas, according to the June 2008 issue of
Texas Monthly Magazine.
 |
Franklin
Barbecue (www.FranklinBarbecue.com
and
Yelp)
in Austin is probably the best BBQ I've ever had, anywhere, period.
In 2011, The New York Times
reported that Bon Appetit rated it the
best in the country. I got in line at 8:45 am on a Sunday (they
open at 11), and there were already 16 people ahead of me. It was
well worth the wait. The turkey and brisket both had great smoke and were juicy and tender. Pulled pork was a little dry, but great flavor. The links also had good flavor, and a good crunch on the casing. But the real winner was the ribs... good smoke and so tender the meat literally fell off the bone when I picked it up. Somehow in Texas restaurants can get a good smoky flavor onto the meat using oak. I wish they could do it in California. |
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Snow's
BBQ (www.SnowsBBQ.com
and
Yelp) in Lexington is pretty much as middle-of-nowhere as you can get.
But
Texas Monthly Magazine called it the best barbeque restaurant in the state. Read Calvin Trillan's article about Snow's in The New Yorker
here. Snow's is only open Saturday mornings from 8am until the meat runs out, which was 10:30 am the day we went. Perfect time for lunch. So plan accordingly! Great sausage, pork ribs were a little fatty but very good, no beef ribs available, very tender chicken, a great sauce. Unfortunately, they had run out of brisket. The Pitmaster is a 73 year old woman named Tootsie (really) who has been working the pit for 40 years. $13 for two (not including dessert), no leftovers. |
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Rudys BBQ (www.RudysBBQ.com
and
Yelp) catered a wedding I went to...
which means as good as the food was, it presumably would have been even
better at a restaurant. (Rudy's is a mini-chain, with a couple
dozen locations across Texas and the southwest.) At the wedding,
the brisket and thick-cut turkey were both very tender and had excellent
smoke. The links' texture was average and didn't have much smoke.
Even though I was totally full after the wedding, I still had to go to a
restaurant (S. Capital of Texas Hwy) to try the ribs, which had very
good smoke, were very tender, and came off the bone almost completely
clean. Another example of a Texas restaurant that uses oak with
great success. |
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Kreuz
Market (www.KreuzMarket.com
and
Yelp) in Lockhart epitomizes the Texas BBQ joint. No plates, no forks,
no sauce, no salads. The meat is
seasoned only with salt, pepper, and wood smoke. The (pork) ribs were a little fatty and the
brisket was a little dry. No chicken on the menu. The
sausage was excellent. No fresh desserts, only
pre-packaged pies. $18 for two (not including dessert), no
leftovers. Watch "Food Heavens: Barbecue
Bastions" video clip in
Windows Media
Player (5 MB) or
Quicktime (27 MB). |
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The Salt
Lick BBQ (www.SaltLickBBQ.com
and
Yelp) in Driftwood was better on my first trip in 2008 than the second trip in
2013. On the first trip, the [pork] ribs were the most tender on the trip and the bones came out almost clean. Again, no beef ribs. (One has to wonder... Texas is supposed to be cattle country... all the restaurants feature brisket... but where do the ribs go? The restaurants certainly aren't serving them!) Moist & tender brisket and chicken, and the sauce was very good, thick with a slight mustard flavor. The sausage was perhaps not quite as flavorful as Snow's or Luling City Market. $27 for two (including cobbler), no leftovers. However, on the second trip, the turkey was moist and had good smoke, but the chicken was dry and bland, and the brisket had good smoke but the texture was off. Unfortunately, the ribs were small and flavorless, and the portions seemed skimpier than I remembered from the first trip. Peach and blackberry cobbler were quite yummy on the second trip. Watch
Salt Lick BBQ
clip from "Man vs. Food." |
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Luling
City Market (no
website;
Yelp)
in Luling offers an interesting sauce with a hint of mustard. The
(pork) ribs were very tender and less fatty than Snow's; bones came out
almost perfectly clean. No beef ribs available. The brisket
was a little dry but the sausage was very flavorful. No slaw; good
potato salad. You walk through the dining area into the
small, very smoky pit room to order... bring your gas mask. Overall, fairly comparable to Kreuz Market. $18 for two (not including dessert), no leftovers. |
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Green
Mesquite (www.GreenMesquite.com
and
Yelp) in Austin (tagline: "Horrifying Vegetarians since 1988") was the best BBQ joint on
the second trip to Texas. They only use
mesquite wood, which gives the meat a great flavor, unique to this
restaurant. The ribs were tender and clean-to-the-bone; the
chicken was tender with nice skin; the sausage links were flavorful with
a kick; the pulled pork was good but nothing special; and the brisket
was a little dry. The sauce had a mustard twang to it. $16
fed two for lunch, no leftovers. Watch
Green Mesquite BBQ
clip from "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." |
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Black's Barbecue (www.BlacksBBQ.com
and
Yelp)
in Lockhart was pretty good. And has sauce! Meet is
slow-cooked over oak. The pork tenderloin and brisket were both
good; sausage was okay; beef rib wasn't great. The chicken was a
little dry, but then again, it was the very end of the day.
Complimentary pickles and onions, which was nice. Lots of sides on
a "salad bar"; cole slaw and potato salad were both pretty good, as was
the peach cobbler. $16 fed two. |
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Louie
Mueller
Barbecue (www.LouieMuellerBarbecue.com
and
Yelp) in Taylor was my first BBQ meal in Texas. The restaurant is a
complete hole-in-the-wall; the only "menu" is yellowed,
scrawled
signs taped to the peeling paint on the wall. The brisket and ribs had a peppery rub that was too strong; overwhelmed the flavor of the wood smoke and the meat. The ribs were also a little tough, but the chicken was very tender & delicious. The sausage was a little bland. The sauce was very thin. $19 for two (not including dessert), no leftovers. Watch
Louie Mueller BBQ clip from "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." |
 Louie Mueller menu... Click here to enlarge |
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Smitty's Market (www.SmittysMarket.com
and
Yelp)
in Lockhart wasn't nearly as good as Kreuz Market, run by another branch
of the same family. Brisket was tender but oily. The
brisket, sausage, and pork ribs were all fairly bland. No chicken,
pulled pork, or beef ribs on the menu at all. $20 fed two
for lunch; no leftovers; no dessert. And they charged for pickles
& onions, lame. |
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Video clips are for
teaching and research purposes, 15 align="center">
Video clips are for
teaching and research purposes, 15 U.S.C. § 107, and promotional use only.
These reviews are my own opinions. I have received no
consideration, monetary or otherwise, from the restaurants reviewed
here.
