Opie's-Spicewood, Tx

Opie's -Spicewood, Tx

Our trip to Central Texas would have been amiss if we hadn't made the trip out to Hill Country. Once you are about 30 minutes west of Austin you are in the "boonies", but that said you will see some of the most hauntingly stark and beautiful landscape I have ever had the privilege to see. From Austin we headed west on Texas-71and it   took us about 90 minutes to get to Spicewood. 

My son and I got to Opie's right at noon and we dove into a big helping of Brisket, Ribs and Sausage. The brisket had a great dark bark and a subtle smokey edge. The pork ribs we had were as good as anything we had on this trip-well rendered with just a hint of texture left-almost perfect. The sausage was a course grind mix that was hot, juicy and mouthwateringly good. 

                                 

BBQ Trinity of Brisket, Sausage and Pork Ribs

If you are headed that way you best keep your eyes peeled because Spicewood is pretty much a gas station and this killer BBQ joint.  

Hill Country is a beautiful place to travel through and you could do much worse than to have Opie's picked out as a lunch stop.

Spicewood on Dwellable

Franklin Barbecue

 Franklin Barbecue

What is the "hottest" Barbecue venue we visited on our pilgrimage to Texas? The answer to that would be Franklin Barbecue just east of downtown Austin.  We showed up  at 8:30am (they open at 11:00am) and we were still 4 & 5th in line. We stood around, we chatted up the folks in line and by the time we got in for food I felt like we had experienced a shared rite of passage. Was the wait worth it? Hell yeah! Just a suggestion, if you are planning on a visit to Franklin Barbecue go ahead and show up early. Bring a cooler with sodas and beer or your favorite adult beverage. The atmosphere of the line is similar to what you might experience tailgating for a big football game.  Share your beverages and your stories and don't even think about taking cuts in line.
From Franklin's website:

With the encouragement of friends, Aaron and his wife Stacy debuted Franklin BBQ in late 2009 on an East Austin parking lot. From the walk-up window of a travel trailer turned brisket stand, patrons quickly noticed the Franklins were selling the best barbecue around. By spring, the line of admirers snaked around the block, and the press followed. In less than two years, the duo could count contributors from The Washington Post, Texas Monthly, and Cooking Channel among a growing chorus hailing Franklin among America’s BBQ elite—mentioned in the breath as Smitty’s, Kreuz’s, and other stalwart temples to the holy craft of smoked meat that line the Central Texas brisket belt. In the summer of 2010, Bon Appetit hailed Franklin BBQ as the best in America.

Aaron and Stacy quickly outgrew their trailer, and moved their operation to a brick and mortar location in March of 2011. And despite the new digs and every reasonable effort to increase production, Franklin BBQ’s line is as long as ever, and the restaurant has sold out of brisket every day of its existence.

My "new" buddy Johnnie gave me a Lone Star...gotta love that!

Doesn't look so bad?

Damn! 10:30am and looking at a 3 hour wait for food

Schoen's & Aaron Franklin

Some of the best BBQ in the freaking world!

We ordered brisket, sausage, and some pork ribs. The brisket had a tremendous bark (I ordered from the fat end) and the intramuscular fat and collagen had been perfectly rendered. 

Daniel Vaughn at Full Custom Gospel BBQ has called this the best brisket anywhere (you won't get any argument from me).

Tender, juicy, smokey and as good a brisket as we had on the trip (remember we hit 18 places so that statement might carry a bit more weight). The ribs were great but I thought they needed just a little more time...just my opinion. The sausage was house made and was up to par with the rest of the lineup here. The natural casing and the course ground meat is typical of this part of Texas. The snap of the casing and the juiciness of the sausage were perfect.  Franklin's is definitely on our list for our return visit to Austin.

Austin on Dwellable

Snow's BBQ

Kerry, Ms. Tootsie & The Schoen boys

The first (real) BBQ restaurant my son and I visited was Snow's in Lexington, Tx. We had visited Lambert's in Austin the night before and while the food was crazy good, the whole reason we had traveled to Central Texas was to hit these small town BBQ joints.
Lexington is about 90 minutes east of Austin and there isn't much to draw anyone to this town with a population of 1182. From the looks of things this area is all about farming, ranching and dang good BBQ.

Snow's-Lexington, Texas

Snow's BBQ is only open on Saturdays and not only did we get a chance to eat this amazing food, but we also had a chance to chat with Kerry and Ms. Tootsie. Ms Tootsie told me they cook about 1100 lbs of product (they sell out of food every weekend) and that she had gotten up at 2:00 am to work the pits. We ordered pork ribs, brisket and a jalapeno sausage. The brisket was tender and the smoke ring was about 1/2" deep. The ribs were perfect, great texture, moist and they gave me a glimpse of my first "sugar cookie" (crisp perfectly rendered fat). The sausage had great texture and a touch of heat to go along with the snap of the natural casing. 
We had 17 more places to hit over a 7 day period, but you know what? Snow's was the pick of the BBQ litter and a place we will both get back to.

Ribs with a "sugar cookie"

From Snow's website: Kerry Bexley, owner of Snow’s BBQ, knew there was a demand for good BBQ in the small town of Lexington with a population of only 1100 people. Lexington has always been known for its Saturday BBQ. It’s just a tradition! Kerry and Ms. Tootsie Tomanetz, pit boss, discussed the possibilities in the late 90’s of opening a BBQ joint, but took no action until several years later.

In November of 2002, Kerry stopped to visit with Ms. Tootsie, kicked the ashes around, and discussed again the opening of this joint. She told Kerry that if he was serious, they better sit down and have a real "heart to heart". They did just that, and Kerry immediately started building the BBQ pits. March 1, 2003, was the first day of business… and Kerry’s intuition was right. Good BBQ, good service, and friendly people has helped to keep the fire burning, maintaining a steady and consistent business for the last five years. Along with Ms. Tootsie and Kerry, his daughters help out each Saturday morning learning the importance of responsibility and dealing with the public.

The fire almost got out of control in May 2008 when Texas Monthlymagazine named Snow’s BBQ as the best in Texas! (Read Article) Since that time, the entire staff at Snow’s BBQ has been doing everything possible to keep up with the demand and most important, maintain the quality. It looks like a long road ahead, but it is a challenge everyone is ready for.

Central Texas BBQ Pilgrimage

 Franklin BBQ-Austin, Tx.

 I was in Central Texas two years ago on business and had  the chance to see this amazing part of the county and also experience my first taste of the BBQ that this part of Texas is known for. 

At that time I decided I needed to make a trip back for a real "BBQ pilgrimage". For my son's 16th birthday I told him my present to him was going to be a road trip to Austin and the surrounds for a weeks worth of the Travel Channel and Food Network hotspots.

Central Texas and Hill Country were settled by Germans and Czech's in the mid 1800's and those immigrants brought old world butchering skills  with them. Central Texas also happens to be the beginning of the Chisom Trail and as you might imagine the BBQ in this area leans heavily towards the beef side of the equation.

BBQ sauce is a rarity  and the meat is often seasoned with just salt and pepper (Dalmatian rub). Hardwood is  used to smoke this meat with (post oak). What I love about this type of cooking is that it takes simple and inexpensive ingredients like brisket, salt, pepper and local wood (post oak, pecan) and elevates it to a level to where a small town local BBQ cafe called City Market in Luling was recently named by Newsweek magazine as one world's 101 best places to eat....(un-freaking-believable!)

 The hot beds of Central Texas BBQ are in the small towns in and around Austin. Luling, Gonzales, Llano and Lockhart (the holy grail) will be names familiar to people serious about Central Texas BBQ.

Over a 7 day stretch we hit 18 of the areas best BBQ spots.  Below are the spots we selected from a bit of research via the Food Network, The Travel Channel and from a bit of back and forth with Daniel Vaughn at Full Custom Gospel BBQ.

All of these places come highly recommended and my son and I will write about the 7 standouts of the all star lineup.

Friday

Lamberts Downtown Barbeque-Austin

Saturday

Snows-Lexington

Son’s of Hermann Hall-Deanville

City Meat Market-Giddings

Prause Meat Market-La Grange

Zimmerhanzel's Bar-B-Que-Smithville

Southside Market-Elgin

Sunday

Franklin Barbeque-Austin

Salt Lick, Driftwood

Monday

Opie’s BBQ-Spicewood

Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que-Llano

Fredericksburg-Becker Vineyards, Pedernales Cellars

Tuesday

City Market-Luling

Gonzales Food Market-Gonzales

Kreuz Market-Lockhart

Blacks Barbecue-Lockhart

Smitty’s-Lockhart

Wednesday

Fargo’s Pit BBQ-Bryan

Monday

Louie Mueller- Taylor

1 1/2 Men BBQ

The only guy at my house that enjoys real BBQ more than I do is my son Connor.

I am going to venture a guess and say he has been exposed to more grilled protein than just about any other budding carnivore in Portland. My son has a very adventurous palate and with the exception of a vegetable aversion he will eat almost any you can grill (including liver) I have been traveling a bit lately (actually I had spent 1 day in my own bed in the last 10 days) and this past weekend I offered to recreate some of the authentic Texas BBQ I had the opportunity to sample in Central Texas. With that offer, lets just say I got no argument from my son.

Connor (future Master Sommelier?) - helping me bottle my 2007 Pinot Noir
*Note: These ribs would beat Pinot Noir like a rented mule....think Zinfandel (Turley if you can get it)

While I wish I could say that I sourced the ribs from heritage bred hogs or acorn finished swine, the reality was that I went to Cash & Carry and picked up a commercial sized pack of back ribs.

I have the Steve Raichlen BBQ Bible Cookbook and I did a variation on his basic dry rub......Chile powder, brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion flakes and some celery seed. I added the rub and let the ribs sit overnight. The next day I smoked the ribs in a a Weber grill that I added a full chimney of mesquite coals and a log of apple wood. I piled the coals on one side of the grill, added a pan of water (moisture) under the meat and set the ribs to one side. I also nearly close the vents (top and bottom) and then tried to leave everything alone for about 5 hours.

Ribs, Slaw & Beans

While I didn't get a chance to sample the ribs at Louis Mueller BBQ (they ran out), I will say that these ribs at least matched the product at 2 Bros. BBQ Market-nice bark,decent smoke ring, good tenderness, but not mushy. The cole slaw and beans were both a step up on either venue. Next time we go after the Holy Grail of Texas BBQ and try smoking a whole brisket.

Two Bros. BBQ Market

This past week I was in San Antonio for a conference. I was fortunate enough to be staying downtown near the Alamo and the Riverwalk, so there was plenty of activity.
I made a point of contacting my blog friend Daniel at Full Custom Gospel BBQ to ask his advice about BBQ in the area. My intention was to rent a car and head out to either Luling to City Market or up to Lockhart to Kruez Market. Unfortunately due to timing both of those options were out of the picture. Plan "B" ended up being a local BBQ joint called Two Bros. BBQ Market. Two Brothers is about 12 miles from downtown and with the help of my handy Blackberry we were able to navigate from the hotel to this out of the way BBQ joint without a hitch (thank god for technology).

Pork Ribs, Beef Brisket, Sausage & Fixins

Okay, so how often do I get to have "real" Texas BBQ? Not that often (actually until this last month, never!). I made a point of skipping lunch because I knew that moderation in ordering multiple smoked meat options was not on my dinner horizon.
I ordered up a 1/2 lb. of the brisket, a couple of ribs and a sausage.........oh yeah, and Shiner Bock too (don't you love that a whole bunch of Germans decided to settle in Texas). The brisket had a tremendous smoke ring and the bark was great. With just a dab of the House BBQ sauce this was really good. I would make a point of ordering the moist brisket next time (personal preference). The ribs were very good as well with great smoke flavor and good tenderness. I think that many people misunderstand what a great rib is.
A perfect rib is tender enough that if you take a two rib section, you should be able to pull the two rib sections apart without pulling the meat off the bone (really fine line).
The sausage reminded me of the Portuguese Linguisa I cook at home. This was smokey and succulent. All in all this was a great night out and the guys who operate this place were awesome hosts! If you are in San Antonio in the future make the trek out to see Two Bros.

Louie Mueller BBQ

Louis Mueller BBQ

Last week I was in Central Texas on business. Before I left town I did some research as I knew this area was a "hot bed" for Texas BBQ. I came across a great BBQ blog called Full Custom Gospel BBQ. I wrote the site owner and he was kind enough to recommend a handful of great places to hit. On Tuesday last week I was 30 minutes from a Texas Landmark and I convinced my travel companions to head to Taylor, Texas and Louis Mueller BBQ. This place has been doing BBQ since 1949 (the year my Dad graduated from High School). Taylor is small (pop. 14,000) and without doing some research I would have never suspected what I was going to find.

To be honest I had never been to an authentic Texas BBQ joint and had no idea what to expect (other than what I had read). Walking in the front door you are greeted by this amazing smoke smell. Remember when you were a kid and you got to roast hot dogs and marshmallows on a stick and hang out telling ghost stories by the campfire. Remember how your clothes smelled the next morning.......that is what Louis Mueller's smelled like (amazing!).

Yeah, that's a James Beard Citation Award

Menu......gotta love it.

Check out the business cards on this wall. The brown cards are that way because of the smoke they have seen. The smell makes me want to build a smokehouse, but I am not sure my condo board would approve of that.

Wayne Mueller (3rd generation owner) & Me

While I didn't get to the restaurant that late (5:00pm), they were out of all but the Pork Loin, Chopped Beef and Brisket. I was going to go with a mixed plate, but thought better after I saw the Brisket. I ordered 1 lb. of Moist Brisket (the end with the fat) and Wayne told me if I was in the area again to call ahead and they would either hold food or cook a bit more.

Moist Brisket

The Brisket was served with a couple of slices of white bread, a dipping sauce, some raw onion slices and dill pickle chips. I got a side of beans and a Shiner Bock (these guys have been making German style beer in Texas since 1914), served in a Mason Jar...........Yum!