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**Mosca** · April 19, 2026, 06:00 PM

Last food post from me for the MeatUp thread.

You know you’re in the right place when you walk in the door and everyone inside… EVERYONE BUT YOU, I mean… everyone is Hispanic, and they’re all speaking Spanish.

Damn right.

The first bowl of chips is free, and comes with a salsa roja that is straight up tomato/onion/garlic/jalapeño/cilantro, with a tiny touch of cumin. Outstanding. Ricissimo!

I ordered three tacos: carne asada, shredded chicken, and carnitas. $3.99 each. Available extras were cheese, avocado, and queso fresco. I was going to get avocado and queso, but forgot. Each extra is 49¢.

There is a salsa bar! I chose their signature salsa aguacate (creamy avocado), more of the salsa roja, some salsa verde cruda, and some Arbol/lime.

The carne asada was excellent. I spooned on some garnishes.

The shredded chicken was really good, but a little salty.

The carnitas was DA BOMB. Stole the show. If I were doing this again, I’d get all carnitas. I only split them up because I wasn’t sure which I’d like. But now I know.

Highly recommended for a down home taco experience. Would eat again.

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https://tomatacosmtx.com

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**klflowers** · April 19, 2026, 06:14 PM

Thanks Tom. I'll have to stop in

**jayjordan** · April 19, 2026, 07:43 PM

Man, who knew that going out to eat too much, sitting around talking and enjoying life was so tiring? 😀
Only 8:42 and we’re going to bed.

**WI Bubba** · April 19, 2026, 07:45 PM

Last stop for us was Micklethwait in Austin.

58limited brought a mesquite bean Cookie from there to the hotel, and after having a taste, I knew I was going to go there today and get one for myself. They also have BBQ, but man oh man, I was drooling over that cookie and could almost taste it before we even walked in the door. We got there about 20 minutes before they opened and were first in line, so no chance of them being out of anything. How much better can the last day of a vacation get? I got to the counter, ordered a 2 meat plate with lamb and turkey with mac and cheese and potato salad for sides. And four of those amazing cookies...
Then they updated the menu board.

The plane didn't crash on the way home. So that was nice. I guess.

The lamb was great. The brisket was pretty good but nothing to get excited about. The turkey was also good. I ended up with brisket as an oopsie on the part of the meat cutter. I'm pretty sure it's just muscle memory to put brisket on every plate. They left the brisket on the plate and added the lamb to go with it. No, I didn't take any pictures of cookieless plates of food. Can you blame me?

But, despite the the cookie catastrophe, we got home safe, fat, and absolutely delighted about what a great time we had seeing some people again and meeting many others for the first time. I can't imagine a better way to spend four days than hanging out with the folks we were with.

I'm going to go ahead and spoil the next week of Show Us and let you know in advance that it's going to be a week of salads. I'm not sure what my cholesterol is after the last four days, but I'm sure it is an impressive number! If you're on the fence about coming to a Meatup, just do it once and experience it for yourself. You won't be sorry!

**SheilaAnn** · April 19, 2026, 10:13 PM

My pics

**Carolyn** · April 19, 2026, 10:33 PM

I need a nap after looking at all of those food photos. Glad everybody had a good time.

**TripleB** · April 20, 2026, 09:00 AM

First off, I'd like to thank our Supreme Leader Panhead John and Dave 58limited for organizing this event and all the other little things that made this Meat-Up special. Dave's sausage was again a big hit. Kudos to you both.

And thank you to all the others for your joy, jokes, conversations, hospitality, caring and overall just being good people. It was a lot of fun to sit down in the lobby in the morning and at night just chatting, laughing and having a couple beers or bourbon. You all ROCK!!!

The Airport joke made it to 18 times being mentioned, referenced or acknowledged. The Meat-Up crew knows what I'm talking about.

And thank you to the weather in San Marcos and the surrounding area for allowing us to enjoy fine Texas BBQ without all the rain. It did rain, but late at night when we were all snug in our comfortable beds.

I made it back to Barb's-B-Q in Lockhart. I went there at the last San Marcos Meat-Up and it was my favorite of all the places we ate at. It once again did not disappoint. #1 again. Brunt Bean was #2 and City Market was a very distant dead last.

Here are some pics of the establishments, pits and friends.

Looking forward to the next one. How about Charleston, SC????

**Michael_in_TX** · April 20, 2026, 09:07 AM

A meat-up for the ages! Thanks for posting all of the details and photos!

**SheilaAnn** · April 20, 2026, 10:13 AM

yakima

Here is a photo with everyone except Oak Smoke and CandySueQ as they had to duck out early. 58limited is also not shown as I think he is the photographer.

Starting at the “bottom” row. L to R theroc Roc, SheilaAnn moi, LA Pork Butt wife Irene, Alan Brice wife Kim, Alan Brice Bruce, Pitmaster, jayjordan wife Jill

Above Irene is Purc Bill, Panhead John tucked behind the Pitmaster, jayjordan Jay

Mosca Tom, LA Pork Butt Sonny, Pitmaster #2, klflowers Kevin (look closely), Sid P Sid, TripleB Dean

**Mosca** · April 20, 2026, 11:28 AM

Last trip we were laughing about how my flight from PHL to AVP is actually a bus... a bus stashed in Terminal F, for " freight". It's a good half mile walk from the other terminals. Here it is after I've been shuffling feet for 15 minutes:

Still got some shufflin' to do. A zoom shot:

**Donw** · April 20, 2026, 01:22 PM

Good old terminal F. Puddle jumper flight central. You probably already know but there are shuttles from terminals A and C to F and back.

**Sweaty Paul** · April 20, 2026, 08:24 PM

Looks like you all had a heckuva adventure. Envious of you all. I keep saying it and keep meaning it...this is a bucket list item. Hope to have a visit and great meals with you all over some great BBQ in the future. So happy for you all having this wonderful experience.

**Panhead John** · April 21, 2026, 08:00 AM

There were a few people that mentioned wanting to possibly attend the next MeatUp, here’s a little info. When we have the MeatUps down here, we choose April and October because of the better weather in those months. I generally like to hold them as early in April and as late in October as we can, to avoid the warmer temps down here. We also avoid having them on a holiday weekend, such as Easter and Halloween. Just a quick glance shows me that Saturday October 31 is Halloween this year, so I would lean towards having it the previous weekend. As we get closer to the next one, if anyone wants to attend but can’t make that particular weekend, let us know and we can make adjustments if possible. I’m mentioning this now so interested parties can pencil in those dates. No location has been selected yet, but down the road I’m sure several of us will have conversations about where to hold it, either Texas or Louisiana.

If anyone wants to hold their own MeatUp in another part of the country, go for it! They really are a lot of fun! WayneT held one a few years ago in North Carolina and it was great, he did a fantastic job of putting it together. Don’t let inexperience stop you from doing one, it ain’t that hard. There has been talk of doing one in Charleston, SC which could be a great place to have one for folks in that region. Personally, I’m sticking to the ones in Texas and Louisiana as this is my “comfort zone.” I don’t mind helping anyone put one together, if they want, but I won’t be in charge of it. Anyway, thanks again for everyone who attended last weekend!

**Sid P** · April 21, 2026, 08:19 AM

I meant to include this with my earlier post about San Marcos BBQ.

I love love LOVE Terry Black’s in Lockhart. Everything about it is great, from the pit tours, the quick service - if there’s a line it’s moving very quickly, the plentiful outside seating - covered or uncovered, and of course the amazing food. It’s an all around great EXPERIENCE.

San Marcos BBQ has a nice, old-timey atmosphere and the food is great, but not quite as good as the famous joints on the top 50 list. It’s also significantly cheaper than those famous places.

TB’s/Lockhart has 2,086 Google ratings and a 4.8/5 average, and SMBBQ has 1,715 ratings and a 4.5/5 average. You know what? I think those ratings are perfect.

**SheilaAnn** · April 21, 2026, 08:39 AM

MY clarification on City Market.

404

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/member-gatherings/meat-ups-and-member-gatherings-aa/1839870-the-spring-2026-texas-hill-country-meatup-is-here?p=1841477#post1841477

I thought the place was kinda cool. Not very busy. As mentioned above, you had to walk into a room to order.

Hot hot hot! Glare messed up the shot, but it was about 90°F!

At least 4-5 people were manning the counter and the block.

Brisket was dry and I couldn’t pull it apart without really trying, even one end had that crusty part like you left it unwrapped in the fridge for too long. I really liked the rib here, though. Sausage was just ok. They took a fresh ring out for us. TripleB asked if they could slice it for us as we were sharing. The 🫏 on the block muttered “want me to eat it for ya, too?”

jerky-jerk.

Anyways, as mentioned so many times, the true pleasure was who was AT the table!

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