Central Texas BBQ Crawl
Trip Start
Mar 13, 2009
1
Trip End
Mar 13, 2009
Llano, Texas
Friday, March 13, 2009
Before discussing the journey, I must mention that we only visited "real" BBQ stops. "Real" refers to places that cook the meat properly, and the meat stands on its own without sauce (although sometimes sauce can be good too, Cadwell). That being said, we began this epic journey just east of Austin in Elgin, Texas. Southside Market in Elgin is famous for its sausage, and it was no letdown. It also provided some fine brisket. After the 10:00 a.m. warm-up in Elgin, we headed about twenty minutes north to Taylor and Louie Mueller's. Great atmosphere and fantastic food all around. Feeling pretty full, we hopped back in the car for our two hour ride west of Austin to Llano, Texas. In case you don't know, Llano houses the finest all around BBQ stop in the world, Cooper's. Cooper's is BBQ heaven. I can't properly describe it. If you haven't had it, you should make the trip.
Due to Cooper's greatness, everyone overate. Three joints down, one to go. Luckily, we had another two hour ride from an hour west of Austin to an hour east of San Antonio to visit Luling City Market. We dropped Pittman off at the Austin airport on our way because his wife has a sunset curfew for him. I was most excited about Luling since it gets big hype, and I had never been there. I must say, it's a close second to Cooper's for me. It's really simple there - your choices are ribs, brisket, and sausage. Notice that I said "and," not "or." Not sampling all three was not an option. I think everyone on the trip enjoyed Luling. All four stops on the day were big hits. The only thing missing was Craig Stokley amazing us with Tom Leykis stories.
