As some of you know, Albert and Jaxon flew to Houston for a taste of Texas BBQ. They flew around, under, over, and through a massive storm front all the way from Alabama to Texas. Luckily, Albert is a great pilot and held Jaxon's hand so he wouldn't be scared. Apparently Albert doesn't have a stewardess to serve an in-flight meal so they were hungry when they arrived. We called CaptJack and he met us at Pizzatola's for a little Que. The pitmaster and manager were kind enough to take us back to the pits and explain how they smoke the meat from the temps of the fire to the rub they put on it. We had a great conversation over dinner and then I put them to bed because they were tired. The next morning, we took to the road early and traveled the Texas BBQ Trail. First stop was Buc-ees in Luling for gas and a look around because you have to see it to believe it (eat your heart out, Tim). I'll just list the places that we stopped and sampled the BBQ.
1. City Market in Luling
2. Smitty's in Lockhart
3. Black's in Lockhart
4. Kreuz in Lockhart
5. Salt Lick in Driftwood
6. Franklin's in Austin (no tasting here because it was too late and they were sold out, but we checked out the building and looked at the pits)
7. Lone Star Bakery in Round Rock (for the world's best donuts)
8. Louis Mueller's in Taylor (we did find pulled pork here - first I have seen in central Texas)
9. Southside Market in Elgin (we ate mutton)
We were pretty full by then so we drove back to Houston. The next day, we visited Pits by Klose which is just down the street from my house. They had all sorts of wild and famous BBQ pits in their warehouse/showroom. One was the Orange County Chopper that has a side car BBQ. Others were a mailbox, a phone booth, a baby carraige, a torpedo, and they are working on a real fire truck bbq. Then we were hungry for some more Que, so we went to Killen's in Pearland where we met Ronnie Killen and got to talk about his pits and philosophy in general. Then I dropped them off at the airport for their return flight which was very pleasant and calm. We had a wonderful time. And contrary to popular opinion, Albert and Jaxon are both great house guests. I think that Jaxon and Albert have some pics that they will post in a couple of days and add their thoughts. I took a few pics on my phone and am desparately trying to get hold of Dee so he can tell me how to post them. Dee was supposed to come this trip but he is in the middle of a house remodel that needed his immediate supervision.
Well, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.
