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Washpark

By Washpark
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Posted by Patricio Swayze,

I disagree that Reese Bros is not worth ordering. I think it is every bit as good as 2M, which I love. Overall, these are my 10 favorite spots, in no particular order (not that anyone asked or cares): Truth Brisket & Rice Leroy & Lewis Burnt Bean Tejas Reese Bros Valentina’s Butter’s 2M Lavaca (although my pops said last time he went he was disappointed, need to confirm)

Top 10 list.

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C-Man
C-Man

Met my folks and brother and sister-in-law at Lost Pines this past weekend. Seeing that Snow's was just under an hour from Lost Pines, I put together an excursion to go Saturday morning. (I also had s

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How long do you hover over your keyboard contemplating whether your drivel has captured the right amounts of smarmy and cocksucker before you hit reply?

C-Man
C-Man

Just got back to Dallas from Lexington. What a trip. We pulled up around 8:30/9 Fri night and were first on the scene. We went to the bar around the corner until they closed at midnight and came back

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 26071

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I know I'm memory laning this thread the last couple of days, but back in the early 90s, there used to be a guy that would set up on the weekends on the Austin side of the Hwy 71 overpass in Lagrange.  Some of my best brisket memories from that time.  He went big time at some point and added a picnic table so people could sit down.  My mom used to stop and pick up brisket and sausage and bring it to me when she'd visit.  He died at some point and that was the end of the BBQ shack.  But that dude could cook.
As for Prause's, we were on a road trip in the late 90s and saw the billboards for that place.  "Come check out our trophies," they said.  So we stopped.  Turned out the trophies were trophy bucks and the BBQ was not that good.  Sounds like it's improved a bit since then.  I don't make that drive much these days, but I will give it another try if I do.

I’ve heard that they’ve got a lot of nice girls out there
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HouTex

HouTex 1895

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Still there.
The bbq is fair, but the bacon, sausage, jerky, ham slug, etc. are great.
We make the drive out there a couple of times a year but I'm already out west.

This. I haven’t had the BBQ in years but when I’m nearby I get the bacon and sausage.
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HRSchenker

HRSchenker 2275

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Yesterday I had Heim BBQ for the first time in a few months. This pains me to say but wow their quality has taken a big hit. Their move from the southside trailer to magnolia was smooth but I don't know what the hell was on my plate. Inside of the restaurant looks great, bar is still incredible, but the BBQ just isn't what it used to be. I hate saying that because Travis is a hell of a pitmaster and he's just someone you want to root for. Maybe it was a bad day? I'm not writing them off just yet.

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Errestaurants

Errestaurants 2570

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2 hours ago, HRSchenker said:

Yesterday I had Heim BBQ for the first time in a few months. This pains me to say but wow their quality has taken a big hit. Their move from the southside trailer to magnolia was smooth but I don't know what the hell was on my plate. Inside of the restaurant looks great, bar is still incredible, but the BBQ just isn't what it used to be. I hate saying that because Travis is a hell of a pitmaster and he's just someone you want to root for. Maybe it was a bad day? I'm not writing them off just yet.

They've been off for some time based on the Fort Worth thread. I guess between running a real restaurant (versus trailer) day to day and trying to open another location it has caught up to them regarding quality. 

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

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On 7/18/2018 at 10:46 AM, relapse98 said:

Hays is usually pretty spot on. My usual order, and I take home a good bit of it, is a couple of slices of moist, a jalapeno cheddar ring and some hatch chile mac and cheese with a couple of slices of wheat and a sweet tea.

As pointed out, its got a ton of inside seating now and the wait rarely tops 10 minutes.

Hit Hays County last week on my way down to San Antonio.  Good stop.  No wait at all and BBQ was pretty solid top to bottom.  I'd probably give it a strong B+ overall.

Tried to do a little bit of everything (within reason).  I can't stand it when people come on here to ask for advice and then do the opposite of the advice they were given, so I tried to take your advice on as much to order as possible...minus the bread and tea.

I think their pork ribs were the best followed by their brisket, but both really solid.  Jap cheddar sausage had good flavor and snap to it.  Pork chop was my wife's idea and it was just okay.  Pulled pork was the worst, but that was probably my fault as it wasn't really offered as a stand-alone meat...it was just the pulled pork from their sandwich.  Sides of beans and hatch mac were both really good but I'm not sure I'd waste the stomach room on them if I went back as I liked most of the meats better.

For some reason, I had pictured the place being shittier...more of a run down shack than what it was.  I get the feeling it used to be that way, but is now fairly new with a remodel or something?  They had a new guy in training cutting meat, so he was struggling a little.  But, no biggie...other than discarding a piece of fat and a piece of burnt from my brisket.  Other than that, my only complaint is when I went to take a post-meat shit before getting back on the road, they had one of those toilet paper dispensers that you have to struggle with to get anything more to come out than like one square at a time.  What a beating.

Anyway, overall pretty damn good and would stop again there for sure.

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Beantown Express 2.0

Beantown Express 2.0 6568

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Need some BBQ recs for Austin.  I have some clients flying in to Austin for the first time and want to get them some great TX BBQ.  I need to be able to pick it up and bring it to my office for a working lunch.  I usually pre order from Franklins but they are closed on Mondays (so is LA Barbeque).  What would be the best place I can order BBQ in advance for about 10 people and just pick it up.  Looking for great brisket and beef ribs.  I will be flying in that Monday morning also so I could use a place between the airport and my office (Lakeline Mall area).  Appreciate the help. 

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DalTxHornFan

DalTxHornFan 3121

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12 minutes ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

Need some BBQ recs for Austin.  I have some clients flying in to Austin for the first time and want to get them some great TX BBQ.  I need to be able to pick it up and bring it to my office for a working lunch.  I usually pre order from Franklins but they are closed on Mondays (so is LA Barbeque).  What would be the best place I can order BBQ in advance for about 10 people and just pick it up.  Looking for great brisket and beef ribs.  I will be flying in that Monday morning also so I could use a place between the airport and my office (Lakeline Mall area).  Appreciate the help. 

Rudy's is your backstop here.  Way better than most anybody outside of Texas has ever tasted -- plus they do a really good job with "to go" catering from their store on 183 and Duval.  Good luck. 

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Jerry Callo

Jerry Callo 8780

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5 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

Need some BBQ recs for Austin.  I have some clients flying in to Austin for the first time and want to get them some great TX BBQ.  I need to be able to pick it up and bring it to my office for a working lunch.  I usually pre order from Franklins but they are closed on Mondays (so is LA Barbeque).  What would be the best place I can order BBQ in advance for about 10 people and just pick it up.  Looking for great brisket and beef ribs.  I will be flying in that Monday morning also so I could use a place between the airport and my office (Lakeline Mall area).  Appreciate the help. 

The correct answer:  change your meeting to Wed, Thurs, or Friday.  

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Patricio Swayze

Patricio Swayze 17058

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Pass on Rudy’s.  Not a fan.  Been to Terry Blacks (on Barton Springs, right?) and thought it was decent didn’t blow me away.  How would that compare to Blacks in Austin?  

You don’t have some office intern/bitch that can make a run for you?

Maybe Valentina’s? Its not on your direct route, but not terribly far from the airport.
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CooterBrown

CooterBrown 18040

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7 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

Need some BBQ recs for Austin.  I have some clients flying in to Austin for the first time and want to get them some great TX BBQ.  I need to be able to pick it up and bring it to my office for a working lunch.  I usually pre order from Franklins but they are closed on Mondays (so is LA Barbeque).  What would be the best place I can order BBQ in advance for about 10 people and just pick it up.  Looking for great brisket and beef ribs.  I will be flying in that Monday morning also so I could use a place between the airport and my office (Lakeline Mall area).  Appreciate the help. 

Terry Black's.  We get it to go all the time for work lunches. The family packs are a really good price.  You can call ahead or just go get in line right at 11 and order it.

Edit: Just saw the location. Detour down Lamar and go to Stile Switch.  

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futureman

futureman 22562

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9 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

Pass on Rudy’s.  Not a fan.  Been to Terry Blacks (on Barton Springs, right?) and thought it was decent didn’t blow me away.  How would that compare to Blacks in Austin?  

Terry Black’s is better than Black’s in Austin. 

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AustinMT

AustinMT 952

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17 hours ago, elfenix said:

rudy's on 183

(Sigh).  There is a Rudy’s very close to my house (and no other barbecue close), so I have mixed feelings.  The moist brisket is actually pretty good.  Sausage is average at best.  Chicken is good if you are wanting chicken.  Smoked prime rib is good.  Ribs are just passable.  If you are taking someone to get real CenTex barbecue, Rudy’s is not the place. If you need a quick BBQ fix and nothing else is close, you can do worse that their moist brisket (and add a couple of other meats).  By worse, you could be stuck with Dickie’s or Bill Miller’s.

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dcbc

dcbc 14566

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52 minutes ago, AustinMT said:

(Sigh).  There is a Rudy’s very close to my house (and no other barbecue close), so I have mixed feelings.  The moist brisket is actually pretty good.  Sausage is average at best.  Chicken is good if you are wanting chicken.  Smoked prime rib is good.  Ribs are just passable.  If you are taking someone to get real CenTex barbecue, Rudy’s is not the place. If you need a quick BBQ fix and nothing else is close, you can do worse that their moist brisket (and add a couple of other meats).  By worse, you could be stuck with Dickie’s or Bill Miller’s.

Agree with this.  Rudy's isn't a bad place in the general nondestination bbq sense.  But just get the chopped brisket stuff smoked/baked gargantuan potatoes and be happy to have something so delicious and filling with not wait and for very little money..

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DalTxHornFan

DalTxHornFan 3121

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18 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

Pass on Rudy’s.  Not a fan.  Been to Terry Blacks (on Barton Springs, right?) and thought it was decent didn’t blow me away.  How would that compare to Blacks in Austin?  

I like Terry Blacks pretty well.  The rec on Rudy's was based upon location and logistics and the fact that you are dealing with an audience not well-initiated on excellent Texas smoked meats.  Hope you have a great meeting.

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Steel Shank

Steel Shank 9435

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Matthew Odam on current state of Lockhart brisket.

Austin American Statesman

 

Up in smoke: Legendary Lockhart barbecue is overrated

 

 

By Matthew Odam - American-Statesman Staff

   26

 

Updated: 12:59 p.m. Friday, July 27, 2018 |  Posted: 12:00 a.m. Thursday, July 26, 2018

 

Barbecue pilgrimages to Lockhart once served as a group bonding exercise with my buddies, an entree to Central Texas culture for out-of-town guests and a chance to eat some of what I considered the best barbecue in Texas.

But something has changed over the past decade. I’m not sure if it is Lockhart or me. Maybe both.

Maybe the rich history and charm of the small town previously colored my perception. Or maybe I’ve gotten spoiled by the exceptional smoked meat offerings now in Austin, the new capital for Central Texas barbecue. And, quite possibly, as Austin’s barbecue game has transcended the humble beginnings of smoked meat, perhaps Lockhart really has lost a step.

My parents made their first pilgrimage to Black’s Barbecue recently and invited me along. I happily obliged and figured that while I was down there for the first time in about two years, it might be a good time to check in on how all four of the Lockhart players are faring.

 

Matthew Odam's selected the top places to get barbecue in Austin this year. Here's where to dig in and what to ... Read More

I didn’t have the stomach space to eat the entire menu at each place, so I decided I would try the brisket at each stop. While the restaurants might be known for other items (the end-cut pork chop at Smitty’s, the sausage at Kreuz, etc.), I decided brisket would make for a good measuring stick.

The result? They all came up short of their former glory. Some much shorter than others. And none would make the top 10 brisket in Austin.

TOP 10: The best barbecue in Austin

Kreuz Market served up the best brisket of the bunch. The massive barnlike structure with a tongue-in-cheek sign on the door threatening to shoot salesmen has a pit room that resembles a kill room in a horror movie, complete with hazy lighting and sharp knives. You can often find pitmaster Roy Perez — sporting sideburns a la Bill “The Butcher” Cutting from “Gangs of New York” — wielding a knife, though he was absent on this day.

The rippled fatty cut at Kreuz (the lean was actually shoulder clod) seemed to get the majority of its moisture from the pooled grease, but the beef held decent smoke penetration and a thick and ruddy if ragged crust along with a faint smoke ring. If I’d had room, and they’d had it available, I would have ordered some jalapeño cheese links to go with the welcome pickle options available inside the dining room.

Black’s Barbecue doesn’t have the same charm as Smitty’s or the grandeur of Kreuz. In fact, it’s almost downright uncomfortable before you get to the eating part. Once you make it inside, you are crammed into a narrow memorabilia-lined hallway that turns a corner at a salad bar. Just beyond is the chopping block, possibly manned (though not this visit) by Barrett Black, the fourth generation of Blacks to cut meat at the restaurant that opened at this location in 1936 after initially operating as a meat market across the street.

 

The brisket at Black’s was tender but had an off-putting aftertaste; the cornbread, at least, is a nice change of pace ... Read More

The brisket at Black’s was the most tender of the four stops this trip, but it had an off-putting chemical aftertaste, as if it had been smoked over a creosote-slicked telephone pole, and the rubbery dark bark offered little bite. The gargantuan beef rib, which my father declared the best he’d ever eaten, was a marked improvement, and my nephew, Charlie, got a kick out of seeing the bone slipped from its meaty sheath and wielded as a cartoonish weapon. But, we’re here to talk brisket.

RELATED: A Texas barbecue road trip

The folks at Smitty’s Market might prefer, however, that we talk shoulder clod or pork chops. The brisket shone with a lacquered finish you’d expect from pork ribs and was as dry as the dusty parking lot outside the iconic building with the famed open fire pit. Smitty’s will always get points for its ambiance (and ice cream), but on this day the brisket was a hearty swing and a miss.

 

The lean part of the brisket at Smitty’s recently was almost as dry as the crackers that came with it. Matthew ... Read More

Chisholm Trail B.B.Q. gets the least love from barbecue aficionados, but it might have the broadest popular appeal due to its drive-thru lane, low costs and recently added breakfast service.

Calling this a plate of beef brisket, however, felt like a bit of a stretch. Though packed with beefy essence (along with too much salt), the thin-sliced meat rimmed by dry edges and centered with fossilized waves of unrendered fat was suspended in limbo between brisket and Frankenjerky. Chop it up and splash it with sauce and you might have the makings of a decent sandwich.

 

The brisket at Chisholm Trail would be better off chopped up and splashed with some sauce. Matthew Odam/AMERICAN-STATESMAN

As I squeezed back into my car for the return to Austin, I unpacked the mixed emotions of the day. Showing my teenage nephew a colorful and historic part of the state he’d never seen brought me joy, and I always feel a bit closer to my fifth-generation Texas roots when I spend a little time in Lockhart, with its languid pace, historic courthouse and quaint town square. But the thrill of young love had receded into gauzy memory. I didn’t mourn its passing. Things change. People change. And you can still have fondness for something even if you don’t know whether to trust your original memory of it. Just because you found The One (brisket in Austin) doesn’t entirely diminish Your First.

I’ll be back to Lockhart, even if the city puts up a sign that reads, “Big-city critics no longer welcome.” But I’ll be doing it more for the ritual and the tingle of nostalgia than the brisket.

 

HERE’S THE BEEF: LOCKHART BRISKET RANKINGS

1. Kreuz Market. 619 N. Colorado St. 512-398-2361, kreuzmarket.com. Brisket cost: $16.90/pound

2. Black’s Barbecue. 215 N. Main St. 512-398-2712, blacksbbq.com. Brisket cost: $16.99/pound

3. Smitty’s Market. 208 S. Commerce St. 512-398-9344, smittysmarket.com. Brisket cost: $14.90/pound

4. Chisholm Trail B.B.Q. 1323 S. Colorado St. 512-398-6027, lockhartchisholmtrailbbq.com. Brisket cost: $13.50/pound

 

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