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Texas BBQ


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On 5/25/2021 at 2:51 PM, Patricio Swayze said:

My pops and I stopped into TX BBQ Lab today at the corner of Grant and Malcomson in Cypress (soon to move to Grant and Jones). They are currently in the convenience store that we would ride our bikes to as kids. So kind of a nostalgic place.  Very nice folks, and the guy cutting the meat seemed to be new as he gave us way more sausage than we bought.  The place has good reviews on line so we had hoped it would be solid as it’s minutes from most of my family. 
 

Well, it wasn’t. The brisket was dry and lacked flavor. Definitely needed more rub.  The sausage was pretty good (a beef and pork mix).  
 

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FYI looks they got a lease for their own place further down the road at Grant/Jones.

I’ll give them a couple weeks to dial it in then report back, but I’m not optimistic.

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On 6/12/2021 at 11:57 AM, 956 Worldwide said:

I’m living outside of Texas and yesterday a colleague told me about his secret to “great ribs” which involved his secret rub, an Instapot, and Mississippi Sweet and Spicy sauce. 
 

Just living vicariously where y’all argue whether one of the world’s best joints was “on” or not on a given day. 

I'm going to try my neighborhood spot in Austin fairly soon that's like 6 mins away from me and post pics of their brisket and ribs and it's going to blow away anything you'd ever get out of state. 

And yet I complain about people moving here... maybe I should eat more BBQ. 

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I'm going to try my neighborhood spot in Austin fairly soon that's like 6 mins away from me and post pics of their brisket and ribs and it's going to blow away anything you'd ever get out of state. 
And yet I complain about people moving here... maybe I should eat more BBQ. 

The flaw in your plan is your aren’t old enough to remember when it was a cool town. Not even the memory of a cool town.
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11 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:


The flaw in your plan is your aren’t old enough to remember when it was a cool town. Not even the memory of a cool town.

have you been to other places? it’s definitely still a cool town. just not as cool as it used to be. 

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4 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

I like their sauce.  A lot.  Especially after I dice up a few onion slices & add them to the warm liquid.

I make a similar dipping sauce for beef ribs - Louis Mueller style.  3 parts water, 1 part ketchup, chopped onions, beef bouillon, some salt and a bunch of black pepper.  Bring to a boil and then simmer till onions are soft and the sauce is reduced. 

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5 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano 2 weekends ago.  I like their sauce.  A lot.  Especially after I dice up a few onion slices & add them to the warm liquid.

 

Consistently Cooper's.

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thats a lot of text without saying the BBQ was good. because that brisket looks basically like it has every time i have been there which is to say sub par.

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6 minutes ago, NoName said:

thats a lot of text without saying the BBQ was good. because that brisket looks basically like it has every time i have been there which is to say sub par.

It's so sad to see Coopers in the state they're in. I remember them being one of the first "good" bbq spots I tried many years ago. Back when Smitty's and Kreuz was still good as well. It's so awesome how BBQ has grown in Texas and we have so many options that make those dinosaurs seem like garbage. 


I wonder if we didn't have this new wave of cue if the old relics would still seem good? 

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I can be in Cooper’s in less than an hour; way way overpriced and under flavored.  If you have have to go, get the pork chop.  Their sauce is traditionally a generic IGA barbecue sauce cut with vinegar and some Tabasco added.  Beans are free, though….

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46 minutes ago, Horn Draoi said:

I can be in Cooper’s in less than an hour; way way overpriced and under flavored.  If you have have to go, get the pork chop.  Their sauce is traditionally a generic IGA barbecue sauce cut with vinegar and some Tabasco added.  Beans are free, though….

$31.99 for goat?  Is that the whole goat?  Seems high.

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1 hour ago, BurntOrange&White said:

It's so sad to see Coopers in the state they're in. I remember them being one of the first "good" bbq spots I tried many years ago. Back when Smitty's and Kreuz was still good as well. 

Yeah, the question for Austinites was usually "west to Llano, south to Lockhart, or REALLY south to Luling?".  I never really got the appeal of Cooper's, though.  I was a "head south" guy.  Smitty's for relative convenience, Luling City Market for the best to be had.

I was kind of a dumbass because it took me forever to try the Taylor joints.  They kinda flew under the radar a bit.

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My first meal at Cooper's was decades ago and it wasn't great.  Ate it again in 2017 on the TM Top 50 tour - still not great.  Ain't no way I'd pay $24/lb for their mediocre brisket or $19/lb for those overcooked pork ribs.  Only thing I've ever really liked at Cooper's is the big pork chop.

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1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Yeah, the question for Austinites was usually "west to Llano, south to Lockhart, or REALLY south to Luling?".  I never really got the appeal of Cooper's, though.  I was a "head south" guy.  Smitty's for relative convenience, Luling City Market for the best to be had.

I was kind of a dumbass because it took me forever to try the Taylor joints.  They kinda flew under the radar a bit.

I always enjoyed getting a beef rib from Louie Mueller then driving around the corner and getting a half of a yard bird from Taylor Cafe.

Edited by BurntOrange&White
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On 6/15/2021 at 8:48 AM, Horn Draoi said:

I can be in Cooper’s in less than an hour; way way overpriced and under flavored.  If you have have to go, get the pork chop.  Their sauce is traditionally a generic IGA barbecue sauce cut with vinegar and some Tabasco added.  Beans are free, though….

you have any recs for your neck of the woods (within an hour of Llano) in any direction?)

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17 hours ago, Okie State said:

I've eaten at Cooper's twice and wasn't impressed either time. Thought it was just me.

I guess it's better than Red River which apparently a lot of people like.

same here, i was actually mad in the top 50 a couple of times ago when they had a 5* review from bbq snob...then went there and it was that crap.

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It's usually consistently average to pretty good but I just got the fattiest piece of moist brisket from Rudy's. .6 LB and like .2 of it was just straight inedible. To where I almost want to go back or call and let them know about it. (Austin 360 location which should be a flagship of theirs - this wasn't in fuckin Colorado or whatever)

I'll probably just chalk it up to a bad piece of beef - the pork loin I got was on point. 

Hope they don't start going in the wrong direction. It's such a convenient and pretty cheap little fix when I have a hankering. 

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On 6/15/2021 at 7:27 AM, Patricio Swayze said:


The flaw in your plan is your aren’t old enough to remember when it was a cool town. Not even the memory of a cool town.

I'll get off your lawn. 

Maybe it's not as cool but the quality of BBQ has certainly come a long way. 

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9 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:


I’m in the category that Austin was just a memory of a cool town crowd. So old, but not old enough to be yelling at clouds.

To some degree, and to be fair to Austin, I'm not sure the world is as cool as it used to be. 

I mean - shit - when's the last time we had a good serial killer?

Edited by ztejas
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It's usually consistently average to pretty good but I just got the fattiest piece of moist brisket from Rudy's. .6 LB and like .2 of it was just straight inedible. To where I almost want to go back or call and let them know about it. (Austin 360 location which should be a flagship of theirs - this wasn't in fuckin Colorado or whatever)
I'll probably just chalk it up to a bad piece of beef - the pork loin I got was on point. 
Hope they don't start going in the wrong direction. It's such a convenient and pretty cheap little fix when I have a hankering. 
Believe it or not, those Rudy owners and Corporate take their BBQ serious. I would call and let them know as they may have had a new cutter on the board. To me their "scraping" of the fat and bark sends chills up my spine but that's how they roll..no pre-trim, but still flavorful.
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2 minutes ago, Both Tacos said:

To me their "scraping" of the fat and bark sends chills up my spine but that's how they roll..no pre-trim, but still flavorful.

This wasn't a cutting issue I don't think. It wasn't a big piece of fat - it was the meat itself. It looked close enough to fool me and probably the cutter. But as soon as I bit into it the whole thing was like gristle. 

Like I said - probably just an off side of meat. 

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On 6/15/2021 at 2:49 AM, ROFL BOX said:

Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano 2 weekends ago.  I like their sauce.  A lot.  Especially after I dice up a few onion slices & add them to the warm liquid.

 

Consistently Cooper's.

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I mean don't get me wrong, wood smash, but there's a couple of dozen guys on this site who could do better in their sleep.

After a night of vodka, hookers, and midget wrestling.

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9 hours ago, Cajun said:

I mean don't get me wrong, wood smash, but there's a couple of dozen guys on this site who could do better in their sleep.

After a night of vodka, hookers, and midget wrestling.

they have no business in the Top 50 next time.

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16 hours ago, NoName said:

you have any recs for your neck of the woods (within an hour of Llano) in any direction?)

Brownwood is a BBQ desert, IMHO.  L&B Roadhouse in Lometa has decent to good brisket, ribs are only OK.  Haven’t been to Firehouse in Lampasas since they burned the place down accidentally (irony, right?) and moved up the road, but will try it soon.  Their brisket used to be pretty damned good, ribs just ribs (meaning a lot better than no ribs).  Always distracted by German stuff in Fredericksburg, so don’t know about BBQ there.  New place place very recent in a brand new and expensive looking building in Burnet, need to try it out-on 281 north of downtown, across from Starbucks.  Sigh.

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30 minutes ago, Horn Draoi said:

Brownwood is a BBQ desert, IMHO.  L&B Roadhouse in Lometa has decent to good brisket, ribs are only OK.  Haven’t been to Firehouse in Lampasas since they burned the place down accidentally (irony, right?) and moved up the road, but will try it soon.  Their brisket used to be pretty damned good, ribs just ribs (meaning a lot better than no ribs).  Always distracted by German stuff in Fredericksburg, so don’t know about BBQ there.  New place place very recent in a brand new and expensive looking building in Burnet, need to try it out-on 281 north of downtown, across from Starbucks.  Sigh.

was it a friction fire? i stopped there once, waited in line, got up towards the front and saw their stuff then had a "phone call" and went back to my car lol

Youngs BBQ is in Burnet now (from San Saba) and they had incredible reviews up there.

Fredericksburg has Backwoods BBQ (best option here currently) and Eaker BBQ (https://www.facebook.com/EakerBarbecue/) who opens literally this weekend and is a former food truck in Houston that moved here.

 

 

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23 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Not necessarily bbq per se, but Underwood's in Brownwood rocks.  I went there often as a kid as my grandparents lived in Brownwood.  I've been able to visit twice since moving back to TX (2017), and it's still good.

“Not necessarily bbq” is right.  Their rolls and desserts still guilty pleasures, just like 60+ years ago when  my parents would take us infrequently to Underwood’s in Wichita Falls.

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I just don't get why they call it Underwoods BBQ.  And I realize the name of the place in Brownwood is Underwoods Cafeteria, but they tried to open a location on Burnet Road in Austin back in the late 70s/early 80s and it was labeled "Underwoods BBQ." Suffice to day, nobody understood it and it didn't go well.  That building has been various manifestations and combinations of Chinese food and/or tattoo parlor since.

 

 

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I just don't get why they call it Underwoods BBQ.  And I realize the name of the place in Brownwood is Underwoods Cafeteria, but they tried to open a location on Burnet Road in Austin back in the late 70s/early 80s and it was labeled "Underwoods BBQ." Suffice to day, nobody understood it and it didn't go well.  That building has been various manifestations and combinations of Chinese food and/or tattoo parlor since.
 
 

Not really an uncommon naming phenomenon. See it all over Texas, a place called “XYZ BBQ” and the best plate they have is chicken fried steak.
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13 hours ago, Both Tacos said:
14 hours ago, ztejas said:
It's usually consistently average to pretty good but I just got the fattiest piece of moist brisket from Rudy's. .6 LB and like .2 of it was just straight inedible. To where I almost want to go back or call and let them know about it. (Austin 360 location which should be a flagship of theirs - this wasn't in fuckin Colorado or whatever)
I'll probably just chalk it up to a bad piece of beef - the pork loin I got was on point. 
Hope they don't start going in the wrong direction. It's such a convenient and pretty cheap little fix when I have a hankering. 

Believe it or not, those Rudy owners and Corporate take their BBQ serious. I would call and let them know as they may have had a new cutter on the board. To me their "scraping" of the fat and bark sends chills up my spine but that's how they roll..no pre-trim, but still flavorful.

I believe all Austin Rudy's locations were owned locally, until selling back to corporate earlier this year.  I haven't been to many corporate Rudy's so I'm not sure if there is a quality difference, but I guess it's possible something slipped in the transition.  They also sold off all the Mighty Fine burger joints.

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36 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

Barbecue Inn has fantastic fried chicken and fried shrimp.  I hear their BBQ is trash.

Also, you can order the fried shrimp and fried oysters by the piece as an accompaniment to the fried chicken or CFS.  We do that erry time. 

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54 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

Barbecue Inn has fantastic fried chicken and fried shrimp.  I hear their BBQ is trash.

Old school diner vibe with 2-3 good dishes on the menu. Their sides are trash. I usually order a bunch of fried chicken and a coffee like I’m Joliet Jake. 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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