It’s Finally Here, The 2024 Texas Hill Country MeatUp!

[Panhead John]

These MeatUps are something that many of us here really look forward to. From Texas to North Carolina and Lafayette, Louisiana…these have all been a great time for anyone who’s attended. As most of you know, this one in San Marcos is sandwiched right between Austin and San Antonio in The Texas Hill Country, where you’ll find some of the best BBQ anywhere! San Marcos is a great little town, population 70,000 or so, and is home to Texas State University. Sid P and Mosca are already there now and the rest of the crew will be coming in tomorrow.

The local police have already been notified of our arrival, and I heard most of them will be on mandatory overtime till we leave…😳 Anyway, this is where we can all post pics and commentary of our food, travels and overall shenanigans. Can’t wait to see everyone tomorrow!

[Oakgrovebacon]

Be sure and post a pic of your new shawl

[Panhead John]

😂😂

[58limited]

He's knitting it for me. He ripped my old one during the pillow fight in Lafayette.

[Clawbear57]

I think when they heard you were coming they all took vacation until you leave. Have a GREAT time.

[smokenoob]

Got Fireball?

[58limited]

I'm leaving early to avoid Houston traffic, I'll be meeting a local friend who relocated to San Marcos for lunch then I'll head to the hotel.

[58limited]

I already did, they are providing me with a police escort into town.

[Panhead John]

I’ve had lots of police escorts myself, they probably weren’t like yours though…🥸

[Alan Brice]

Out of town?

[J-Melt]

All this talk of police makes me wonder if I should save myself and cancel my 5:30am flight in the morning. 😱🤠😝

[texastweeter]

Baggs packed. Going to throw them in the truck in a bit. Drop the kids off at school in the morning, run one errand, and head that way.

[Alan Brice]

Kim's "Drop the kids" is her morning constitutional. ;-O !!!

[J-Melt]

I have miraculously made it through security and get to risk my life on a Boeing plane! I will see y’all soon!

Edit: I have landed! The Boeing plane does what it was supposed to do!

[Mosca]

I was up at 5AM EDT yesterday, so after TWO meals ((which undermines my claim to having no appetite) I had to crash early. (And truthfully, I did feel like I’d eaten an entire cow. It was very uncomfortable.) But I digress. Here is the important stuff:

For anyone driving in, or reasonably local, the rooms are extended stay suites for business travelers, with kitchenette and FULL REFRIGERATORS. So any food you order and don’t eat, you have pretty much unlimited capacity to keep and take home with you. Those of us flying, maybe not so much. We have to make some decisions.





On to the food. Black’s was a real disappointment for me. Sid ordered two fatty slices of brisket; I ordered a fatty and a lean, and my heart sunk as I watched the girl pivot the brisket and lean into cutting off what looked like a hunk of clay from the flat end. That’s what it tasted like, too: smoky clay. It was what your first brisket ever probably tasted like. My fatty slice was better, but the bark was too hard, it was almost like eating shards of glass.

Look at that slice, and tell me if, JUST BY LOOKING AT A PICTURE, you see promise? Your eyes are correct.



The ribs were okay, smoky and large, with tips on. I love tips! But I’ve had better ribs countless times… in places like Scranton, Syracuse, Chicago, South Bend, Niles Michigan, Wilkes-Barre, Reading, Virginia, North Carolina, my backyard… these were good, but I wouldn’t brag them at anyone. The picked peppers were fun, the pinto beans were very basic (cumin) but I liked them.

That experience is why I suggested to Sid that we press on; I wasn’t hungry any more, but I also damn well wasn’t SATISFIED. Google Maps gave us a nice back roads and neighborhoods tour of San Marcos, and we wound up at San Marcos BBQ….

OUTSTANDING.

I can’t say it was outstanding by Texas standards, or that it is the best ever, or anything like that; I’ll just say that I came to Texas expecting that I was going to have to parse degrees of excellence. San Marcos BBQ did not disappoint. As we walked up to the counter, this got unwrapped from brown butcher paper, literally quivering as it hit the counter:



The menu:




I wanted to try some brisket and some sausage, so I ordered a Rattler, which included two sides:



Damn. Damn, damn, damn. This time I chose all fatty, and I chose Hatch cheese sausage. Let your eyes again take in that brisket. Look at that sausage glisten… see the cheese leaking out? This is what Texas bbq should be proud to thump chest about! The brisket was fantastic, the bark toothsome and the meat tender. The sausage crackled and spit seasoned grease. Against the protests of my brain, my heart said to eat. When in doubt, follow your heart.

The mac & cheese was classic, the cabbage thing was inferior to similar Polish food we have back in NEPA, I took a bite. I ate most of this, I left a couple bites of sausage and of mac, and didn’t eat the cabbage thing. This was one hell of a bargain at $16.95.

It’s 6AM, which is 7AM for me still. I’m going to lay around for another hour or so to get my clock squared away, and then get ready for three days of constant main event!

[Panhead John]

A+ on your write up Tom! You’ve set the bar pretty high. Guess I’ll have to resort to lame humor with mine, to distract from my lack of intelligent prose. 🥸

[Troutman]

You ain’t seen nothin yet. You’re eating at the dregs my friend. Blacks is in the no fly zone. Not sure what they did to that place but it SUCKS. Give John and I a couple of hours to get there. Get the beer cold…😎

[58limited]

I ate at the original Black's 10 years ago and it was good. Based on feedback here and from others I'm afraid to try it now.

[Oak Smoke]

I’m the one guy no one has seen before. I get to see what’s going on before I say a word. One clue, I’m 6 ft 3. We’re going to have fun! I’m headed out about 10 am. It’s a little over 3 hours to San Marcos. See you soon.

[JCBBQ]

Panhead John don’t worry about your prose, get your camera out and take a pic of oak smoke here. He’s hiding.

[Oak Smoke]

Headed out now!

[Jim White]

Have fun, folks. I still swear I'll make it to a Texas meatup one of these days.

[Spinaker]

Dang, another reason why I need to get a place in Texas!

[Oak Smoke]

Yes you do! I’ll take you pig hunting. No closed season, no bag limit. If we go to the ranch in Oklahoma we don’t even need hunting licenses if it’s not deer season.

[Spinaker]

Now that would be a fun time!

[Purc]

We are leaving around 9am this morning. Going to stop at a Buc-ees if we see one. Then a BBQ lunch, then to check in. Bringing an extra, extra firm pillow for the pillow fight.

[Davek8282]

I have it on good authority that Panhead John has a specially constructed pillow that contains a brick in the middle. He only brings it out for the really competitive fights.

[GolfGeezer]

Hmmm, is there something happening in Texas? You'd think with all that police activity, TikTok would have noticed!

[Starsky]

Have a great time!