I’ve done the Austin area (and out about 100 miles) BBQ tour a couple of times. I’ll dig up some notes and post here in a minute…
Edit - found my notes from the first trip:
First, a big Texas-sized “THANK YOU” to all that helped with advice in this thread.
I’ll start with some overall observations and questions from my four days in Austin and driving to/from Houston and touring around the Austin area:
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While I’m sure many things are bigger in Texas, the undisputed “biggest” is the 50 pump gas stations! Do 50 people really all need gas at the same moment in time at the same exact place?
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After driving the hill country and seeing all the large and fancy ranch gates along the highway, is the new version of “all hat and no cattle”, “all entrance gate and no cattle”?
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Is road construction the largest employer in Texas? Seemed so with road work virtually everywhere.
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So many BBQ shacks. But even more taco shacks and trucks and campers. Infinite numbers…sounds like another trip idea!
Day 1 - Tried to go to Franklin, bailed on the 3-hour wait, and got out of Austin:
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Started at Franklin BBQ at 9:45. Opens at 11:00. Lady came and said I was 3 hours from ordering where I stood. So I said see ya and went to:
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Louie Mueller (Taylor) - wow. Texture is perfect. No strings, no mush. No excess water. Flavor is mild but good. Not chewy at all. Reminds me of pork belly in texture. The beef rib is something. Too big for words (or eating) and too big for wallet ($38 for one rib). Good smoke and very beefy taste and chew. I’d call it a combination of braised beef with smoke and more salt.
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Southside Market (Elgin); Brisket was yucky; mushy and bland. Like it was injected with water. Sausage was only ok. Very greasy. Surprisingly bland.
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Opie’s (Spicewood) - dark bark. But stringy and a bit chewy. Strongest smoke flavor. Sausage was ok, needed more seasoning, had a bit of heat. Beans get special mention. I kept going back to them.
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Coope’s (Llano) - deep smoky flavor. Hard to cut and a bit stringing. Chewy, but not too chewy. Good sausage. Good seasoning, pop in the skin.
Day 2 - Austin City Limits BBQ Royalty
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La Barbeque - great brisket, finally the right texture again. Hot sausage…by far hottest of the trip. Very nice people.
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Micklethwait - good brisket, decent sausage (very spicy). Solid. Great homemade pickles. Very nice people.
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Kerlin - good brisket, meh sausage. First pork rib of the trip was very good. Even better homemade pickles. Very good sauce. Nicest people of the trip (gave me a free pork rib when I didn’t order one, insisting I try it, I’m glad they did).
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Franklin - So the day before the lady said around 1pm the wait should only be 30 minutes and we likely run out of things at 3pm. So, I showed up at 12:30 and waited about 45 minutes. I’m very glad I did. Good brisket, best lean cut yet. Sausage not good. Pork Rib was solid. They gave me a pile of free pulled pork because they wanted me to try it even though I didn’t order it. Was okay. Sauces are excellent (really excellent, perhaps the best BBQ sauce I’ve ever had).
Day 3 - I can’t eat anymore BBQ! Ugh, beef coma. Can’t do another day. So, I take the day off to see Star Wars Rouge 1 in IMAX 3D.
Day 4 - To the Temple’s in Lockhart
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Kreuz - decent cheddar jalapeño sausage. Lean Brisket was very dry. Moist was a bit stringy.
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Blacks - same as Kreuz.
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Smittys - had to stand in a very hot very smoky room on a mid-80s day. I don’t know if they just started the fires or what, but it was filled with smoke. I left and came back and it had cleared a fair bit. Then I waited in line. Meh brisket and sausage, decent pork rib. Tried my first side of the trip, above average potato salad.
Overall BBQ Impressions:
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There is good brisket in Texas! (I’ve never had what I would call good brisket anywhere prior to this trip).
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But there is awful brisket in Texas too. Texture is the hardest gate to pass. Needs to be tender but firm. Not Watery nor mealy. Not stringy. Fat must be rendered and melted, not hard or gloppy.
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The sausages were universally bland and all way, way, way too greasy. Somehow all of the sausage making knowledge did not leave Europe with the immigrants (there is better sausage on pretty much every corner of central and Eastern European cities).
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I focused. I only ordered a slice of Moist and slice of Lean brisket and a sausage at each place. I avoided turkey and chicken. I also avoided sides except for pickles, bread and sauce (I did finally try the potato salad at my very last stop).
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Turns out sauce can be a good thing. Especially with the dry and somehow bland lean cuts of brisket. Some sauces weren’t worth the squeeze. But a few were; franklin’s 3 sauces were among the best I’ve ever tried. There were a couple of others worth squeezing, notably Kerlin.
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Now I get it! Plain old white bread does go with BBQ! At first I said no. But then I learned the genius of making a brisket, sauce and dill pickle sandwich. It can save bad brisket (or mediocre brisket anyways).
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Beef ribs - try it. Once. Then order pork ribs (with sauce). I had to try 1 beef rib on the trip and that, of course, had to be at Louie Muellers.
The winners:
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Best brisket: Louie Mueller, Franklin, La Barbeque
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Best sausage - La Barbeque (very spicy), kreuz jalapeño cheddar
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Best side - Homemade pickles at Kerlin and Micklethwait
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Best sauce - Franklin (the “middle one”) and Kerlin
Grand Award Winners (aka “places I’d go back”):
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La Barbeque
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Louie Muellers
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Franklin (only if the line is short)
Here are the notes from trip 2:
BBQ Tour part II is in the books…
Day 1 was with a group of college buds. We hit five spots:
Louie Mueller
La Barbecue
Lockhart (kreutz, smittys, blacks)
Best of the day was La Barbeque by some margin. Mueller was not as good as my last time there, but the beef rib was loved by all. Blacks was second place.
Day 2 I had the good fortune to be joined by one of our own - Tomc - who made the drive down to Austin. Was great to meet him and share some cue. We also hit five places:
John Mueller Black Box BBQ
Micklewaith
La Barbeque
Kerlin
Stiles Switch
John Mueller’s newest place is something worth visiting…good bbq too. The man himself was there, which I discovered when a bearded guy yelled over to us “you gonna take photos of it or eat it? Stop taking pictures and eat”
La Barbeque was not as strong as two days earlier. All of the places showed “ok” or better to my palate.
Lesson learned from revisiting many of these places…consistency is hard. The cue can vary from cow to cow and cook to cook.
My other takeaway from this second trip is that I really enjoyed the sausage this time. On the first trip I was disappointed by the links everywhere. This trip was the opposite, I had good spicy links virtually everywhere. Not sure why my palate changed on that.
Finally, here is a summary advice post I made when someone asked me for help with their trip:
For your trip in October, now that I can reflect on my two trips (I have done 5 days total and 20+ stops), I think I’d recommend the following:
- Lockhart 3 - must do. Smitty’s, Kreuz and Blacks (and its easy as they are all within a few hundred yards of each other and the town is pretty cool looking)
- Snow’s on Saturday (I say this despite never having been there. Reputation suggest its gotta be great and a unique Texas experience)
- John Mueller Black Box - must do (a bit north of Austin). The secret is not out yet…can’t believe there are no lines…yet…
- Louie Mueller in Taylor - must do (a bit east of Austin) (I think a saturday of Snow’s, L. Mueller and J Mueller would be amazing if logistically possible.)
- Austin. La BBQ and Franklin (if you order ahead at both places, which you need to do NOW) are must do*. But the secret has been out on Franklin for years and now the same is happening at La BBQ with resultant long lines there too. Kerlin and Micklewaith also worth hitting and all four are within a mile of one another
- Western Hill Country Drive (time permitting its a fun drive to get into the hills. Hit up Opie’s in Spicewood, Coopers out in Llano, perhaps a couple more with research. Opie’s still sticks out in my mind for being very authentic and real people spot. I’d go again.)
Ordering - get enough moist brisket, lean brisket and sausage for everyone in your group to try it. I’d get a beef rib at Louie Mueller for sure, and perhaps at Black’s too. I’ve started getting a pork rib or two here and there and have had some good ones in Texas. I avoid sides and bread. I get lots of the pickles (especially the homemade ones at a few places). I also try turkey or chicken a few times. You can bring along a cooler and take it home/to the hotel if anyone wants late supper.
- The lines at Franklin and La BBQ are too long to work either place into a BBQ Tour day unless you pre-order on their website. Pro tip - you have to order 1lb min of each meat on La BBQ’s website, but they don’t charge you in advance and you can then adjust the order simply by telling them when you arrive that you are “touring” and need less. Btw - the pre-order secret door is in the “back” of the place, so just walk by the large line. Franklin has a 5lb min iirc, but you can spread it around 5 meats. Btw - their sauces are the best I’ve ever had (I’m not religious about sauce). If you can get a pre-order at Franklins, do it. Don’t let the Texan’s tell you it sucks and is for visiting Californians. There is real dislike of Aaron and his “whole thing” and the crowds it attracts with its “yuppie Q”. Like many things, some people don’t like change and don’t like different. What matters is the food. And his is fantastic. Also, keep in mind my comments on consistency, no restaurant has perfect consistency and you can have bad or disappointing brisket at any place one day to another. So I’m sure some have been disappointed by the food at Franklin. But, many, many have had fantastic BBQ there. Go and find out for yourself vs. being told you are an idiot if you go there