Barbecue, Bar-B-Q, BBQ

[UPDATE 8/18/2019: Lots has changed in the 'cue scene in Austin since 2007.  Scroll down and notice how many places have closed?  That's partly due to the increased competition here in town.  Anyone heard of a little place called Franklin?]

Barbecue, according to wikipedia, "is a method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal and may include application of a marinade or basting sauce to the meat." Although it is probably a caribbean creation, BBQ has for some reason become an iconic American food, even if Paul Hogan throws a shrimp on the barbie for each of us.

Within the U.S. itself, BBQ has become regionalized, with centers popping up in Kansas City, the Carolinas, Memphis and, yes, Texas. The barbecue from Memphis and Kansas City, which was started by a Tennessee native, focuses heavily on the sauce, which is of the tomato and vinegar variety. Carolina barbecue uses a variety of sauces, from more liquidy, vinegar-based sauces to ones with mustard bases. Most of those places highlight pork, which is probably why their is such an emphasis on sauce.

Texas, however, is mostly about beef. Brisket, that is, but not the kind that's cooked in the oven on Rosh Hashanah with some onions and a can of Coke. Texas barbecue is rubbed and slowly smoked with one or more woods. And in Texas, folks often eat barbecue hardcore style, with no sauce at all. Best way to enjoy the meat's natural flavor. Brisket is popular, but so are sausages, beef and pork ribs (including large, country-style ribs), chicken and turkey, and sometimes mutton or other more exotic meats.

Austin, fortunately, is right in the middle of the Texas barbecue triangle. In the city of Austin alone there must be a dozen places. Throw in the greater area, and there are over 20 solid options. Here's a run down, limited to places that have websites:

• Artz Rib House is supposed to have great country-style pork ribs, which one guy described as "meaty wonders cut from the loin that resemble thick, delicious pork chops." [CLOSED]


• Ben's Long Branch Barbecue, a good place for mutton. [CLOSED]


• Bert's BBQ looks pretty downscale and fun. [CLOSED]


• Black's Barbecue, in nearby Lockhart, bills itself as the oldest major barbecue restaurant continuously owned by the same family, and apparently serves up some great grub.

• City Meat Market, in Giddings, looks like the real deal. The pit there smokes brisket, pork butt, pork ribs, beef sausage, chicken, pork chops, pork steaks and several different cuts of beef steaks. An eat-off-the-paper joint.

• The County Line is one of the best known places in Austin. They ship barbecue nationwide!


• The Green Mesquite is fun to go with a group, since they have some pretty good Cajun food in addition to the BBQ. Rachel and I ate there and tried the three meat plate, which was the special that night, allowing us to taste the brisket (thick and moist), sausage and chicken (excellent).


• Iron Works is in a good location not far from downtown. We've eaten there a couple of times since it was a few steps from our hotel on more than one occasion. I thought the turkey and brisket were both very good.


• Kreuz Market is an institution. It opened in 1900 and has been making mouths of carnivores moist since. They serve apparently sublime meat by the pound on paper with no utensils, and there's no sauce in sight. Here's a good blog post about someone's trip there.


• Louie Mueller Barbecue is in nearby Taylor and has its following.


• Luling City Market, in Luling, looks like a good, no-frills place.

• Meyer's is another sausage emporium in Elgin. Elgin seems to be a hotbed for sausage. See notes on Southside below.

• Pok-E-Jo's Smokehouse has more than one location and also has its adherents.


• Ray's BBQ used to be Roy's. Then it became Ray's. And all he had to do was paint over the "a" and get smokin, which he apparently does quite well. Ray's reportedly makes great country-style pork ribs.


• Ruby's BBQ was the first place Rachel and I tried, since it was near the B&B we stayed at on our first trip to Austin in 2005. It is very casual and makes great brisket and vegetables. [CLOSED]


• Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q really is that -- a country store (with gas and all) that serves some very popular barbecue.

• Rudy Mikeska Bar-B-Q is in Taylor and serves brisket, pork, chicken and ham. [CLOSED]

• The Salt Lick has a couple locations, including one in the airport, and is another of the more well known joints.


• Smitty's Market is another Lockhart barbecue joint.


• Southside Market in Elgin (pronounced with a hard "G") makes its own sausage, which is served throughout the area and I can't wait to sample!


• Stubb's is well known, since its sauce is marketed throughout the country. It also hosts lots of good concerts on its outdoor stage. The consensus seems to be that the food is not that great.


• Guess what Texas Rib Kings specializes in? You won a prize!  [CLOSED]


• Uncle Billy's Brew & 'cue is one of our favorite places for a beer. Haven't tasted the food yet.

To further your research, here are some good Chowhound threads on the subject:

• Central Texas Barbecue
• New York Times Piece on Texas Barbecue
• BBQ Hound's First Texas BBQ Pilgrimage To Austin

See also:

• BBQ Joints of Central Texas: reviews.
• BBQ Joint Reviews - Texas.
• A documentary about TXBBQ: "Barbecue: A Texas Love Story"

An order at Kreuz Market

Sausage and brisket from Southside Market

Our new house - Sim style

It's not exactly to scale, but in my nerdness, I created our house in The Sims 2. It's fairly faithful, though I am not quite enough of a nerd to have designed my own Sim cabinets and furniture. An attempt to create Sims of me and Jon was completely unsuccessful, and somewhat frightening!

Pix of the new pad

Front of the house on Carleen Drive, Austin.


Standing in front room (nice large room with bamboo floors), looking at dining area and kitchen.


Remodeled kitchen, granite counter tops, new appliances.


Master bathroom, also just renovated.


Second renovated bath.


Backyard (from side), with large patio.


Turn your head - a pecan tree in the back (produces a lot of nuts).


One more back yard view.

Where we're living: Wikimapia

We just got back from a short trip down to Austin. One purpose was to hunt for houses. We kept up a furious assault with the help of our agent, Glenn. The two of us did 21 walkthroughs in about 5 hours on one day. Hard work paid off, and we found a nice little place in the Allandale neighborhood, in a good location not too far from the city center.

While we were down there, Rachel started her new job at DisplaySearch. We had a fun time and a nice meal out with some of her new colleagues. We had dinner at the South Congress Cafe, a roomy, lively American bistro-type restaurant. The menu emphasized the local culture, with a lot of Mexican, Tex-Mex and southern U.S.-inspired dishes and accents. A good example was the jalapeno-venison meatloaf Rachel and I shared, served with a good side of roasted garlic mashed potatoes and some good but plain broccoli. It had a lightly smoky flavor, probably from some chipotles, and a nice spiciness that didn't overwhelm.

One of the discussions we had that night was about good mapping websites. Here's a good one that Rachel and I hadn't heard of before - wikimapia. Below is a map centered around our new place.

Arrested Development - Tennessee

Drive to Texas: Focus on Tennessee

Next, we move from the pink properties to the orange ones; on the Monopoly board, Virginia to Tennessee means you've rolled a 4. Since you're closer, would you please move up my thimble?





It is about 500 miles (almost 8 hours) across Tennessee the long way. Tennessee was the 16th state to join the union. Tennessee is nicknamed the Volunteer State. The nickname was earned during the War of 1812, in which volunteer soldiers from Tennessee were important contributors.




The Volunteer State


As noted in one of the early posts, we drive through Nashville and Memphis. We also might be making our way to Lyles. Why? Because that's where the Beacon Light Tea Room is. Fried chicken, okra, biscuits. Fine, as long as we take a nice, long, brisk walk after our salad dinner and maybe another one before breakfast the next morning too. There's a good review on roadfood.com.



"Smoky, vividly fruity blackberry preserves are here piled atop a split biscuit on a backdrop of country ham." - Michael Stern (roadfood.com)


Memphis, of course, will need its own food-related post. Stay tuned!

Drive to Texas: Focus on Virginia

A little more on the drive.


We'll probably drive from Connecticut to the DC area and spend a night in Alexandria, Virginia, with Rachel's brother, sister-in-law and nephew. Really, the trip starts the next day, when we drive South on I81 through Virginia. We go just about the longest way across. From Alexandria to Roanoke alone is 243 miles (4 hours). All the way to Abingdon, right on the border, is 365 miles (almost 6 hours). We don't want to drive ourselves or the dog crazy, so Knoxville, TN is probably about the limit for the day.





Virginia



I've already started to check some of the essential websites for a roadtrip -- roadfood.com, virtual tourist and what have you. For whatever reason, Roadfood doesn't list a whole lot of places in Virginia -- only ten. That was a suprise to me. One spot, however, is definitely on the way: Dude's Drive-In, in Christiansburg, VA. This place looks like the quintessential obscure road food hot spot. I think each of us (Lester included) will have to sample a Dude Burger.





Menu at Dude's (above). Dude Burger (below).