Barbecue Travelogue Austin Epilogue

What started out to be a good idea and something that I had thought about was ill conceived in its execution.  I like beef and I like barbecue so Texas was a logical spot to spend a few days having beef barbecue.  But my focus was too narrow in its initial stages.  Tasting the same item at different locations.  Quickly, I found that I was getting tired of eatting the same thing day after day.  I enjoy the different variety of foods.   This is why I started ordering other items after a few days at it.  One thing I didnt think through was the ordering process.  I thought I could order a bit of this and a bit of that.  but all of that soon became a very large pile of meat.  Again, I like variety and ordering small amounts didnt get me variety at places that sold their wares by the pound.  Places that offered combo plates were the lifesaver.  Here you can have variety in smaller portions and still be able to enjoy variety with a few side dishes to boot.

Barbecue Travelogue Austin Day 4 w/pics

Final day of the trip and theres a number of errands to run.  Theres a location in Lexington thats open only on Saturdays at a very early 8am.   The drive is about an hour northeast of Austin

Barbecue Travelogue Austin Day 3 w/pics

Driving toward the east side once again.  From where I was staying, Ive had to take the long way around to get to the highway due to morning traffic.  I could barely get out of the parking lot.

Barbecue Travelogue Austin Day 2 w/pics

The barbecue captial of Texas is what Lockhart likes to call itself.  About 30 minutes south of Austin, no bbq roadtrip would be complete without a stop here.  there are 4 main restaurants: Kreuz, Smitty's, Black's and Chisholm Trail.  The first establishment as you enter town from the north is Kreuz.  Its quite a large operation.  It moved here from its smaller original location a while back.

Barbecue Travelogue Austin Day 1 w/pics

When I landed in Austin at half past 11pm, the rain had subsided and the temp was hovering aroun 80 degrees.  As soon as I stepped onto the jetway, I ran headlong into the wall of humidity.  This would foreshadow the climate in the days to come.  Next morning, its 80 degrees once again but at 8am in the morning.  It will top out at 95 degrees with a heat index of 105 degrees.  This is how it started as I began the 3 hour wait for lunch at Franklin Barbecue.

Barbecue Travelogue Austin Day 4

Today, I fly back home.  But not before I hit a few more places outside of Austin.  Im going to head out to Snow's in Lexington to pick up an order that I will schlep back.  To avoid the lines you can call in a preorder.  Thats exactly what I did for a Tootsie sampler.  You can specify to pick it up hot off the smoker o r they have them frozen which they used for mail order.  Its frozen solid and should last the flight back.  I once froze some boudin in the rooms little fridge and it held up pretty well.  This is a shorter flght but Austin is much hotter.

Louie Mueller has started a few budding pitmasters including family memebers and Aaron Franklin.  John Mueller started here then begat the JMueller food truck.  After a falling out with his sister, see this kind of thing seems to happen alot, LeAnn rebranded it as La Barbecue.  John went with another food truck named John Mueller Meat Co. but remained in Austin.  It wasnt too far out of my way for lunch.  Still on the beef rib kick I couldnt help but order it.  It was a great choice and favored over Micklethwait.  The flavor and tenderness was just as good but the rub made the difference.  It was not overly salty nor peppery for my palate.  Plus it came with a thin sauce that was mildly sweet and had bits of onion.  I even boght some to tale home.

Lastly I would pick up a preorder of a whole brisket at Franklins.  The slab of meat was larger than expected.  I should have at least hadthem cut it half.  As is, it was wrapped in butcher paper and placed in a plastic bag.  As of this writing, the grease has already soaked through the paper and the plastic is no real barrier.  I can only imagine what it will smell and look like insde the duffle bag.  My beefribs are n there as well but they fit nto a zip lock bag.

Of the places that I had brisket at they fall into  this ranking.  Snows wil not be on the lst as they were not tasted fresh and onsite.  

Kreuz had better reviews than Smitty but I found the brisket to have dried out wel before i got through a couple of bites. 

Third goes to Franklin.  For all the hype it fell way short for me.  Again the moistness was not quite there.  I will re-evaluate with the take home brisket.

Smittys gets the runner up vote.  Good flavor like all the other brisket and it held its juice through the meal.

My favorite was Stiles Switch.  Although their jalapeno cheddar saisage was spicier than expected and a tough chew, their brisket floated to the top afloat in its own juices.