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Texas BBQ


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44 minutes ago, HRSchenker said:

Pecan Lodge's shack at the farmers market is what got me hooked on craft BBQ. That brisket is still the best I've ever had. The stuff they're serving now is not even close to what it used to be. Really sucks :(

Double+ pit size, gigantic struggles with consistency after leaving farmers market, lease requirements to not sell out / stay open and everyone else raised their game.

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4 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

I get burned on that at Mum Foods. They have some of the best ribs, but they squirt a little sweet sauce on them right before serving.  I always remember that right as I sit down with my tray.

If you always get the sauce because you forget and the ribs are some of the best wouldn't that sauce be part of why you think they're some of the best? 

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Just now, BurntOrange&White said:

If you always get the sauce because you forget and the ribs are some of the best wouldn't that sauce be part of why you think they're some of the best? 

It would seem so, but no.  They are some of the best due to being cooked perfectly and having a flavorful, stout bark.  The sauce is a negative for me.  It's not a sweet barbecue sauce, but more like a simple syrup.

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55 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

I get burned on that at Mum Foods. They have some of the best ribs, but they squirt a little sweet sauce on them right before serving.  I always remember that right as I sit down with my tray.

Stiles Switch offered that on my ribs when I was there earlier this month.  I equivocated, and the server said, how about "just a whisper" of sauce.  I'm here to say that that is the correct answer, at least at Stiles Switch, just a hint of sweet vinegar. 

Edited by dcbc
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5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'm not sure I've had their pork ribs, but I ordered one of those dino ribs one night -- holy shit.  That was pearly gates level 'Q.

I always hesitate to order beef ribs unless I'm splitting them because I have a hard time eating much else.  Last time was at Louie Mueller's, which was excellent.  That was a good thing, because the brisket was sad.

 

Edit to add that the beef rib at LaBBQ was next level great as well.

Edited by dcbc
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On 1/26/2025 at 8:59 PM, HRSchenker said:

Pecan Lodge's shack at the farmers market is what got me hooked on craft BBQ. That brisket is still the best I've ever had. The stuff they're serving now is not even close to what it used to be. Really sucks :(

 

On 1/26/2025 at 9:45 PM, NoName said:

Double+ pit size, gigantic struggles with consistency after leaving farmers market, lease requirements to not sell out / stay open and everyone else raised their game.

The founders are long gone, as in sold the business pre-COVID.

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On 1/27/2025 at 5:57 PM, NoName said:

That's never good to have a full on rebrand...but it's probably way better for SEO and getting actual people in the door.

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Oh...nm they must have sold it. New socials, walking away from 10k social media followers.

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Yup. Wild that Baked is staying open out there.

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$36 for that tray is pre-covid pricing here in Fort Worth. Good for them and for you.
3-meat plate and two sides.  Best guess is a half-pound of each meat.  Heck of a deal. And a lot less expensive and better food than my recent trip to the Waco outpost of Terry Blacks.
 
edit:  $31.95 plus tax. 
 
https://austin.stilesswitchbbq.com/austin-brentwood-stiles-switch-bbq-food-menu

Edited by dcbc
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Was in Spring for work today and swung by Corkscrew Bbq fresh off the 1 star Michelin.  

I wasn’t impressed.  I ordered 1/4 fatty brisket, 1/4 jalapeño/cheese sausage and 2 pork ribs.  Sides of pit smoked beans and Mac-n-cheese.  

The sausage was the most enjoyable but the brisket and ribs just lacked much flavor or smoke.  Sausage was peppery with a good bite but not spicy.  Brisket had the right mouthfeel but just not spectacular.  Bark was only noticeable in my last nite. The pork rib I ate was huge and tender but just not on par with any place I’ve eaten in 2024 (Barb’s, Pinkerton’s, Stiles, Truth). 

Sadly, the beans were the most impressive item on my plate.  Maybe I caught them on an off day. 

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Rolling Smoke BBQ in East Austin this past weekend.   Went for the BBQ tacos, but added a bit of brisket, sausage, and sides.  Wife (no pics) wanted some sweets as well. 
 

Tacos were great (2 carnitas, 1 turkey, 1 barbacoa).  Brisket/sausage was good.  I did want more jalapeño flavor in the sausage.   It a fan of the banana pudding as it had too much gelatin in it so it was a hard pudding.  

 

Good place to go with not much wait time. I would go back for the tacos and brisket.  

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Edited by bborange
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12 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:

Castroville Barbecue Company

Rumor in the FB group is that 2M partners split and one is taking each part of the business. Interesting to see who ends up where. Assume Esaul ends up at 2M and Joe in Castroville since the old account is telling people to go to Esauls wife's spot in Castroville.

Joe has been over the top nice to me on the 4-5 occasions I've dealt with him on catering. Legit comes across like a great dude every time.

Comments sure look like that's the case. Selah is Selah Melig, Joe's wife.

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IG link to new account: https://www.instagram.com/castrovillebbqcompany?igsh=bXNlNWV6cGdxYnFv

Keeping the Blu Lacy IG account is incredibly petty and shows how shit the partnership must have gotten.

Edited by NoName
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25 minutes ago, NoName said:

Rumor in the FB group is that 2M partners split and one is taking each part of the business. Interesting to see who ends up where. Assume Esaul ends up at 2M and Joe in Castroville since the old account is telling people to go to Esauls wife's spot in Castroville.

Joe has been over the top nice to me on the 4-5 occasions I've dealt with him on catering. Legit comes across like a great dude every time.

Comments sure look like that's the case. Selah is Selah Melig, Joe's wife.

IMG_0067.thumb.jpeg.9ba121c11ca0d245794630bf78e377ac.jpeg

IG link to new account: https://www.instagram.com/castrovillebbqcompany?igsh=bXNlNWV6cGdxYnFv

Keeping the Blu Lacy IG account is incredibly petty and shows how shit the partnership must have gotten.

Drama Reaction GIF by MOODMAN

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11 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Against my better judgment, with no reason other than intuition, I met my wife at SLAB (183/Burnet) for their 1/2-price pork rib special tonight, since she was in the area having coffee with a friend.

Don't do that.  Yikes.  I don't know how you overcook ribs, but they did it.

1/2 price means they likely reheated in a micorowave the ones from earlier in the week that didn't sell. Gotta clear them out before the weekend. 

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From San Antonio Express-News story re:  2M and Castroville BBQ:

Spoiler

2M Smokehouse spinoff Blu Lacy rebranding as Castroville Barbecue Co.

By Mike Sutter,Staff writerJan 30, 2025

The closing comes as the partners behind San Antonio’s Michelin-recognized BBQ joint are parting professional ways.  The Castroville barbecue restaurant Blu Lacy Smokehouse, a spinoff of the Michelin-recognized 2M Smokehouse in San Antonio, is closing and rebranding as Castroville Barbecue Co. on Saturday. 

The change comes as 2M Smokehouse founders and high-school buddies Esaul Ramos Jr. and Joe Melig IV are parting ways as business partners. Melig and his wife, Selah Melig, will own and operate Castroville BBQ. Ramos and his wife, Grecia, will continue to own and operate 2M Smokehouse.  Ramos and Melig each characterized the split as a crossroads, not a conflict.

“All the experience that Joe's gained working working together at 2M, everything that we did there, what we did at Blu Lacy? I don't see it going anywhere else but up,” Ramos said of Castroville Barbecue Co.  

“On the other hand, I want to focus on what I’m most passionate about,” he said. “(2M) is my baby. It's something that I don't want it to be neglected for longer than it was. So as of right now, I'm back on the pits. I'm back on the fires.”

Melig set the same tone for the new arrangement. “There's no bad blood,” he said. “We've had a great run as a team. His family and everybody at 2M still have all my support with whatever they need, and I know I have theirs. I'm excited for the future of 2M, and I'm excited for the future of Castroville Barbecue Co.”

Ramos and Melig opened 2M Smokehouse on South W.W. White Road in 2016 after two years of doing barbecue pop-ups together. Their style of Texas Hill Country barbecue with Tex-Mex flair caught on quickly with San Antonio and Texas barbecue hounds, rising to the top of my list Top 10 San Antonio barbecue joints. 

The nation followed, with two James Beard Award nominations for Ramos as Best Chef Texas, building to last year’s recognition of 2M Smokehouse by the first-ever Texas Michelin Guide as a Bib Gourmand destination for great food and good value.

They opened Blu Lacy Smokehouse in 2023 in Castroville, 35 miles to the west of San Antonio. Blu Lacy earned a four-star review in the Express-News, where I praised the shop for forging its own identity: “Blu Lacy is not 2M2, not 2MSquared, not 2M: The Empire Strikes Back. A cutter at the new shop put it to bed like this: Blu Lacy is ‘country barbecue.’ 2M is ‘Tex-Mex barbecue.’ ”

Once Castroville Barbecue Co. officially rebrands with a party on Saturday, Melig said the restaurant will keep the same hours, with a menu that will continue to feature oak-smoked brisket, ribs and sausage by veteran pitmaster Marcus Cruz. The restaurant will evolve in three stages, Melig said, focusing first on new side dishes, then fine-tuning the meats, then concentrating on growing the bar program. 

The Castroville bakery called Baked By Chef Grecia Ramos, founded by Culinary Institute of America graduate Grecia Ramos at the same time as Blu Lacy, will continue to operate.

 

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