I’m attending a conference at Texas A&M in College Station and coming a day early to get my bbq on. For fun I signed up for a BrisketU class from 10-1pm and then have the whole afternoon and Sunday morning to eat my way through town. I’m torn between going to Lockhart (thinking a Smitty-Kreutz-Terry Black) afternoon or trying some of the newer places (Leroy and Lewis, Intersteller, and Valentina’s).
Do people have recommendations on which route to follow? Or am I totally missing another noteworthy option?
I’ve done Franklin before so looking to expand outside that circle.
No bad choices there so it's a matter of what your check off list looks like. If history coupled with more traditional then it's the Lockhart trip, though some will say those shops have slipped a little. Since that's a matter of personal taste who knows what that really means. I will say that it's not uncommon for folks to be more dissatisfied with Q when eaten later in the day/serving period....................fresher is gooder. The other direction is the "new" crowd and they have what some consider a more interesting selection of offerings. Again, opinion.
A good juxtaposition to the Aggie classes you're taking might be do the traditional approach this trip and look forward to the others the next time.
My opinion is to skip Lockhart and visit the places you mentioned in Austin. 2 of the 3 are in Texas Monthly’s top 5. I’ll preface by saying it’s been years since I’ve eaten at the locations in Lockhart and have never eaten at those locations in Austin. Several of our members at the last few MeatUps, ate at the Lockhart places you mentioned. The general consensus among them was that with the exception of some beef ribs, the rest of it was just kinda mediocre. Their recent omissions in the latest Texas Monthly top 50 rankings just confirms that. For the first time ever, no Lockhart BBQ joints made the top 50.
So many other BBQ spots have passed them by, with innovative and exciting dishes. So, IMO if you’re gonna travel this far, definitely hit those places in Austin you mentioned. I have eaten at 4 or 5 of Texas Monthly’s top 50 spots and I can say this, none of them let me down…the food was outstanding.
Last edited by Panhead John; June 10, 2022, 07:42 AM.
If it were me, I would not want to fight the traffic and crowds of Austin but would go to Lockhart for the 'country feel' and easy pace. Coming from MD, you'll love the bbq at the Lockhart joints, even tho Panhead John, the bbq snob and shill for Texas Monthly magazine, disagrees.
You could also swing down to Luling City Market for some outstanding bbq. Although it is not up to Texas Monthly magazine's standards, you may have to stand in line for 20-30 minutes because plenty of folks love it.
Blake's Cafe , three doors down from City Market in the same block, has good burgers. I haven't tried the rest of their menu. They don't have a regular web site, but you can find them on Google Maps (621 E Davis St, Luling, TX 78648) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BlakesLuling/) and read a few reviews, mostly good.
"Several of our members at the last few MeatUps, ate at the Lockhart places you mentioned. The general consensus among them was that with the exception of some beef ribs, the rest of it was just kinda mediocre."
5 or 6 of our fellow pit members ate there at our MeatUps and weren’t that impressed, and ALONG WITH the Texas Monthly omissions, led me to my opinion. Until Oklahoma Monthly starts doing their rankings, this is all I have to work with. 🙄
Last edited by Panhead John; June 10, 2022, 02:16 PM.
Panhead John Well, golly gee willikers. Tx. Monthly likes a lot of things that I don't care for. I like to think for myself and choose what pleases me, not a group effort by a bunch of young apprentice journalist wannabes who were assigned joints to go to. The writers did not all go to the same places so how do they decide which is "best" or not?
There are hundreds of places to get good bbq in Tx. that were not mentioned because the Tx. Monthly editors haven't sought them out.
Another place in the College Station area: Martins Place BBQ 3403 S College Ave, Bryan, . They have been open since 1925. That was my first experience with Central Texas BBQ (early 1990s), complete with the butcher paper "plates." I remember it was good. They are only open Tuesday-Friday. ​
Baltimorelger Forgot to also add: Fargo's Pit BBQ in Bryan, they got an honorable mention in Texas Monthly (also known as the top 100 list or "the other 50").
Panhead John Boy, you just live and breath Texas Monthly! As any open minded person realizes, all rankings of any product are very subjective and are based on the writers' criteria and opinions. Also, I don't see how a group of writers can rank anything unless they ALL have been to EVERY place in the state.
Regarding your snide remarks about Broken Arrow and Oklahoma......
I was raised in Tx and have lived in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Ft. Worth, and El Paso. I've also lived in Tucson, Colorado Springs, and Monument, CO. We live in Broken Arrow by choice and we love the city. It has a small town feel but with big city conveniences such as medical care, shopping, entertainment, etc within the Tulsa area. We can walk the streets and feel safe. Neighbors know and watch out for each other. We don't worry about keeping our doors locked and can leave our garage doors open without fear of thieves. We don't have to get on a freeway to go anywhere. Most of our restaurants are locally owned, one of a kind and not chains. Living in Broken Arrow reminds us of what towns were like back in the 50s and 60s.
Oklahoma also has great universities that field sports teams that thrive on beating Texas!!!
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I know Daniel Vaughn of Texas Monthly very well. I have spent several days with him on his review trips as recently as last month. The man is brilliant with an excellent palate. We have discussed at length how the magazine comes to its rankings and it sounds reasonable to me given the fact that, as Clark correctly states, taste is a matter of taste. That said the food team at the magazine knows BBQ and takes the rankings seriously. Vaughn visits more than anyone on the team by far. But when it comes to the top 10 and most of the top 50, Vaughn visits them all to be sure they belong.
I've followed Daniel since the days of his blog before he was hired as the TM BBQ editor: Full Custom Gospel BBQ. Always enjoyed reading his reviews and he seemed to have come up with some pretty good grading criteria that he uses at TM.
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