The Texas Hill Country

We have spent the last couple of days in and around San Antonio, Texas. We've walked the river walk, eaten some Tex-Mex style food and taken an open-air boat up the San Antonio River passed the shops and restaurants that line the river.

But today we left San Antoio and headed into the famous hill country, New Braunfels Luling, Buda, Lockhart, Seguin, San Marcos to name but a few of the little communities that dot this part of Texas.

We'd done some serious research before heading into this region because we knew it was famous for mostly one thing--BBQ. Texas style BBQ that is. Not the same as BBQ in other parts of the country. Every region has its own way of treating beef and pork and Texas is no different. Yet it still takes one unmistakable, fundamental thing to make truly great BBQ. Treat the meat right and that means low and slow! Low temperatures, slow, long roasting times. Then it is a matter of what kind of wood you will use and what you'll put on the meat while it cooks.

Here it is kept pretty simple. Wood fires, mesquite wood or oak,  slow cooking to get that red smoke ring as deep into the meat as you can. Then, sit back and wait. And wait...and wait.

When it is done those hours of waiting are so worth it.. The meat is tender, moist, smoky and melts in your mouth. When eating it you may add some sauce or not. Hot sauce like Crystal hot sauce or, better, give the locally made option a try, if there is one.

The City Market Sanctuary--The pit room!

Our first stop was at the City Market downtown Luling. A hole in the wall, it looked and smelled like the real thing. Its a place that has been here a long time. Even before walking inside the first thing you notice is the overwhelming smell of the BBQ. Heavenly! The walls were of knotty pine and seemed to retain a sheen of the years of BBQ build up. Long tables sat in rows with locals sitting around nawing on ribs and placing little squares of American cheese into a "samich" of brisket and thin slices of white bread.

A counter near the front sold the available sides--pinto beans, dill pickles, potato salad, cole slaw and drinks. But did I mention, we were after the BBQ?

Downtown Luring, Texas, home of the best BBQ we ate!

There, in the back corner of the main dining room was the pit room door. A line of about 20 folks stood waiting their turn to enter the sanctuary. There were two doors. one marked enter on the right and the other, the exit. Only a few at a time could fit into the pit room. Others must wait until someone exited. An ancient looking sign nearly unreadable hung in the smoke covered window.

After about 15 minutes our turn came and we swung open the door. A sign said, "please keep the door closed." We hurried in and shut it behind us. Oh, my god! The aroma!  A rotund, friendly gentleman with a deep Texas drawl greeted us. As if we needed to, we expressed our apologies saying this was our first time here. Without skipping a beat he guided us through our choices, answered our questions and set to work on our order as soon as we'd given it.

"A third pound of brisket, a third pound of pork ribs and a sausage ring, please."

City Market BBQ! Oh, yes!

3-4 pieces of a purplish butcher paper were quickly ripped off the roll and placed one on top of the other. Then another guy behind him made quick work of a couple of pork ribs, scooped them up and plopped them on the paper. Next, the beef brisket, blackened and glistening with moistness was sliced into a half dozen 1/4 inch slices. The red smoke ring was evident as these slices were slapped onto the paper. A quick movement brought our sausage ring into the growing pile. Finally, his request..."bread?"  "Sure, 2-3 slices would be fine."

He wrapped the edges of our package in toward the center and gently placed it into my waiting arms. Leslie paid the man about $20 and we exited the pit room. Glancimg around the dining room, we found a long table and took a seat. Leslie located a bottle of the house-made sauce.

I carefully unwrapped the purple packaging as if it were the Christmas gift I had wished for all my life. There, sitting atop a growing greasey spot on the paper was our first Texas BBQ. The first bite I took was of the beef brisket. Oh my! My eyes closed, my chewing slowed and I just savored the experience. A smile spread across Leslie's face as she watched me. "Oh, taste this!" I reached across the table and gentley placed a piece of brisket on her tongue. It was as if I were looking at my own expression in a mirror.

Wish I had smellivision!

How can any of the other places we intended to visit today and tomorrow possibly be any better than this? I couldn't imagine they were.


Before the day was out we'd also tried the brisket, ribs, sausage ring and prime rib at what was widely touted as one of the top two or three BBQ places in Texas--Kreuz (pronounced like bright) Market in Lockhart, Texas. The best part of this place was the prime rib. Unbelievable. Beyond that, we preferred our little hole in the wall in Luring. Kreuz was once a little hole in the wall, too, but is now in a huge barn-like structure (the biggest barn I've ever seen) and the pit room has over a dozen pits, most of them idle the day we were there. I can imagine the stadium-sized parking lot being filled with tour buses and all the pits running full blast. It has sadly become a factory. Then there was the BBQ. It was so salty and dry. Not like the moist meat at the City Market in Luring.

Leslie enjoying her rib!

The exception at Kreuz Market was their prime rib. This was amazing. The best prime rib I have ever tasted. Smoky, not overly salty as the other meats were and so moist. We got the end piece, too, and it was crunchy as well as moist. Amazing!


As if we hadn't had enough already, we had packaged up part of the Kreuz Market meat, we stopped in little Kyle, Texas along I-35 where we'd heard about the amazing things done with pie at the Texas Pie Company. The delightfully friendly owner greeted us and we chose a small piece of the Almond Joy pie and the Lemon Chess pie. We were only able to eat half so we wrapped the rest and hopped back in the car. Only another 15-20 minutes on up I-35 and we'd arrived at our hotel for the night. Sadly, we hadn't been told by our Choice hotel chain that the hotel had been bought out by Best Western, but they honored our reservation and we checked in. It was a completely refurbished hotel so our room was beautiful and clean.

Leslie, feeling restless, found us a movie to go see--Bless Me, Ultima. It was a beautiful story based on a young teen level book about a Mexican family and their community in New Mexico. Beautifully filmed, it told the story of a young boy growing up in a tight knit family being pulled apart after WW II. It also tells a second, more important story of the mysticism and understanding of native cures and how this is woven into their Catholicism.

Tomorrow we head north toward Dallas, but on the way we will drive around a bit of Austin, then head out into the country-side for more BBQ and a visit to Waco and the headquarters of Dr. Pepper.