What really happened to Panhead John is not as heroic or glamorous as depicted above: John was stealing a rack of ribs off of Burnt Bean's pit and tripped over a stack of post oak as he tried to make his getaway.
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Speaking of the Burnt Bean….
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Well, today is Saturday and most of the crew decided to visit several places in Lockhart. While Tom, Lee and his wife went to Barbs B Q, the rest of us made a stop at Kreuze Market. Finally found out today how to pronounce the name….its pronounced krouts, as in sauerkraut. The place is huge!
You can only see about 1/2 of their woodpile…😳
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This is the serving area where you pick out your meats, which are then wrapped in butcher paper and handed to you. There is a huge dining area you walk into after receiving your meat order, and then you place your sides/drink order.
Not much of a presentation, but I got their regular sausage, jalapeno and cheese sausage and a little turkey, some type of creamed corn and some pintos. Creamed corn was excellent, beans were pretty good as well. The sausage, eh, I’ve had better but it was still not bad at all. Turkey was pretty good! Good smoke flavor with a nice pepper crust.Last edited by Panhead John; October 26, 2024, 02:39 PM.Comment
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Troutman and I went there on the Sunday after the first Texas Meatup. We thought the brisket was a little pot roasty, but the sausage was good.
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Today we went to Kreuz Market. I ordered shoulder clod, pit ham, and a sausage ring. The clod had good flavor but was dry. The pit ham tasted like ham, no different than any other smoked ham I've eaten. I really liked the jalapeno cheddar sausage. This is what I think of when I think of Texas hot guts. They sell vac packs on site so I got a 10 ring pack. All food is served on butcher paper, no trays or plates. When I asked for a to-go box for my leftovers they handed me a sheet of butcher paper and a plastic bag.
Next some of us stopped by Smitty's at my suggestion, mostly to view the historic old pits (I didn't take pics, maybe someone else will post some). I bought some shoulder clod and jalapeno sausage to compare with Kreuz. The shoulder clod was moist and tender, better than Kreuz. The sausage skin was a little tough and was loosely filled so it was hard to cut. Good flavor with a strong spicy hit that lingered. No forks at this place, you eat with your hands. Also served on butcher paper.
The best part of going to Smitty's was getting permission to look into the old meat market area, all of the original coolers and equipment are still there:
This scale was in the overflow dining room:
We ended the trip by going to Terry Black's. I ordered a Shiner Bock but no food. I'll let others post pics.
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As 58limited mentioned, our 2nd stop of the day was to Smitty’s. As David mentioned, we didn’t really eat there, just went to check out the place, it’s historic. I’ve never eaten there, but the food supposedly has seen better days. Of course they’re probably still better than 80% of the bbq joints in America if I had to guess. Here’s a few pics.
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Barb’s. The line is still long, and slow, and the counter is inefficient and hectic. But the food is GREAT.
Honestly, if the line moved faster there’d be no place to sit. Folks clear out about as fast as they’re served, it hits stasis at about 6 groups of customers.
I got a smoked lamb chop, a rib, a green spaghetti and a charro beans. Lee and Carolyn got turkey, ribs, brisket, and green spaghetti.
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Try this YT video on Barbs BBQ. The green spaghetti is great. I had it during the April 2024 Meat Up
realdocBBQ SheilaAnn
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Terry Black’s. This is the best operation of them all. It combines the welcoming and the friendliness of Burnt Bean with the efficiency of a Ray Kroc enterprise. All you have to do to get a pit invitation is make eye contact with someone, and they wave you in!
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We share mutual love for Terry Blacks I see! I was posting at the same time…😂 -
Talking to one of the Pitmasters at Terry Blacks, he told me that last weekend when the F1 race series was in town, they served over 700 briskets in one day. They smoked on all 10 of their 1000 gallon pits. BTW, they were so very friendly and would show you around the pits and what they were smoking at the time. I will be back.
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Our last stop today was Terry Black’s in Lockhart. All these places are close to each other, maybe a mile apart at the most. At the MeatUp last April I had the opportunity to eat there, I was too full today, but several others did. Not only is the food good to excellent overall, but Terry Black’s is my favorite BBQ joint of all time, as far as atmosphere, the building itself, decor, layout and how they serve you. When you first enter the place, you pass right by the pit area. The pit masters are friendly, knowledgeable and eager to engage the customers. Today there were a few of us standing next to one of the pits and a crew member asked us if we’d like to see some of the briskets they were cooking. Of course we said yes and while showing us answered a few of our questions.
They have a large outdoor deck with plenty of shade, or you can dine inside if you wish. It was packed today and still, the service moved at a brisk pace, no long ass waits here! They even have a second air conditioned dining room they use for overflow crowds. A lot of BBQ joints could benefit from their business model. Anyway, I’m sure others will be along with more pics and commentary but here’s a few, including a video from inside the main dining room
Giant Dino rib and pork ribs at Terry Blacks
Last edited by Panhead John; October 26, 2024, 04:26 PM.Comment
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Myself, I was just about full up on food. I grabbed a couple sides, just to see how they were, and I was good. The Mexican rice was solid, the potato salad, well, you got a 50/50 chance of finding better (or worse) potato salad at your next family or neighborhood get together.
The folks one table over were from Sweden, or Switzerland, or somewhere like that, and they ordered a whole rack of beef ribs…. That’s just one tray.
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Kreuz Market. It’s HUGE, probably 3x as big as Terry Black’s. I’d bet T Black’s serves and turns more tables faster, though.
In April, I was too full to try anything from Kreuz, but today we could split a piece of jalapeño cheese sausage 3 ways. It was pretty damn good; nice snap, nice flavor, and a little spicy.
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Unfortunately our time is coming to a close here. Today with Mosca , Carolyn and I raided Barbs BQ, Terry Blacks and Kruez Market as pictured above in Tom' s post. Each was unique and the food was fantastic. Spent quite a bit of time with 4 of the Pit masters at Terry Blacks. They showed me everything and answered all of my questions about their procedures and methods, no secrets. One thing that I did learn here is that I don't rest my briskets anywhere near long enough. 12 hours seems to be the magic number. They broke some of the myths that I have seen Pitmasters do on TV. I learned quite a bit on ribs and brisket which I'm going to incorporate on my next cooks. Also, I didn't use one drop of BBQ sauce the entire time here, no need.
If you ever get a chance to attend a MeatUp by all means do. What a wonderful group of people to hang with. Just a few days ago they were just names now they are friends. I even got to like Panhead John even though he tried to cut in first in line. He did pay the ultimate price and I forgive him.
As an edit here klflowers and I didn't even argue about pineapple on pizza!Comment
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Bourbon Tasting during Meat Up 2024.
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