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.
