2008 Summer Texas BBQ Tour

So, I said that my first reviews would be book reviews (See previous posts). I must apologize. You can blame my wonderful girlfriend, Nancee. She suggested that I blog/review the barbeque (BBQ) “bastions” that we were visiting while on vacation. So, without further ceremony I will provide a breakdown of my (our) 2008 Summer Texas BBQ Tour. The book reviews will appear. I would say, “Scout’s honor,” but as Nancee always points out–I was never a Boy Scout. Also, I am not a food critic, but I do like to eat and I love to eat BBQ. If my vernacular is incorrect please let me know so that I may correct it.

I love to read, write and listen to extreme metal (among other things). Beyond that I love BBQ and beer. Typical, right? Wrong! I happen to love Lone Star & Shiner beers, both of which are brewed in Texas. Lone Star is my favorite “cheap” beer–screw Pabst–but you will find no finer beer than Shiner’s Hefeweizen (I am also partial to Shiner Blonde). I discovered Shiner, a much smaller brewery, strangely, before Lone Star, which happens to be “The National Beer of Texas.” Shiner is brewed in Shiner, Texas at the K. Spoetzl Brewery. I have never been on a brewery tour before, and told myself that I ever did make it to Texas, by hook or crook/hell or high water, I would visit the Shiner brewery. I have dreamed of visiting Shiner for years…

Several months ago Nancee and I were watching a Travel Channel show highlighting “Bastions of Barbeque.” From North Carolina and Tennessee through Texas and Arkansas all the way out to San Francisco! the narrator told of these legendary “Meccas of Meat” that locals all praised in one fashion or another [Note: The restaurant in San Francisco was owned/operated by a couple from Alabama who knew what REAL sweet tea was as well as the importance of rib-sticking mac-n-cheese for a side dish.]. Every bastion visited featured several vignettes appropriate for the art of good BBQing: the type of smoking pit, preparation, proper temperature, the type of wood used, rub or no rub and possibly the most important: sauce or no sauce, which in many cases featured “secret” ingredients or was a family (read “secret” again) recipe handed down through the generations.

Now Nancee & I are spoiled. 30 minutes to the south of Athens lies Madison, Georgia. And in Madison is Crowe’s BBQ. Crowe’s BBQ is run by Mr. Crowe who happens to be the cousin of one of my college friends. I have eaten BBQ in Virginia, North & South Carolina, Florida, Alabama (Dreamland in Tuscaloosa), Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida. And while I love Dreamland’s BBQ, no one, I repeat, NO ONE, has better BBQ than Crowe’s BBQ. (Crowe’s does not have a website so do not bother looking for it on the Internet. But if you ever find yourself in Georgia and wanting some of the most excellent BBQ you have ever put in your mouth then you should seek out Crowe’s.) Sauce or no sauce, Mr. Crowe’s BBQ has a perfect balance of flavor and smokiness. His BBQ is CONSISTENTLY moist and pulls right off the bone (if you eat ribs like I do then you know that this is an all-important gauge much like a moonshiner inspecting “the bead.”). Frankly, I’m salivating right now just thinking about his pork ribs and I’m sitting in a hotel in San Antonio!

As most BBQ enthusiasts know BBQ is different depending upon the region in which it is cooked. Same goes for the base that comprises the sauce. Pepper, vinegar or mustard base are the fingerprints that tell of a BBQ sauce’s origins. Beyond sauces we cannot forget the “dry rub”, which is popular in Memphis, St. Louis and in some parts of Texas. Dry rub is a meat rub, or seasoning, generally featuring a salt and pepper base with additional spices and/or herbs for flavor. The varieties are as varied and unique as those that create them. Meat-wise, in the southeast BBQ mostly consists of pork BBQ. In Texas, they have pork, but the Travel Channel narrators also told of the sausage and beef brisket, which comes either lean or moist (marbled). With a devilish look in my eye I asked Nancee what she thought about going to Texas to search out these places. She agreed that that might be fun.

Several weeks later, I learned that Swedens’ At The Gates was playing three shows in Texas one of which was to take place in San Antonio. These shows were the closest they were coming to Georgia and since this was not only their “reunion” tour, but also their FINAL tour (the band had been broken up for over a decade) I looked into flight prices and asked Nancee if she would like to ACTUALLY vacation in Texas so I could attend the show and on the side eat some BBQ, and if at all possible, visit the Shiner brewery. Neither her nor I had been to Texas so it made sense although one might ask why we would visit Texas in the summer? We have plenty of heat in Georgia, why vacation someplace that may be HOTTER? Well, I would say that “I’m crazy,” but that would be self-annihilating, so I will say that the real reasons were that I had seen At The Gates open for Napalm Death on At The Gates’ now-legendary “Slaughter Of The Soul” tour. To witness them again, and for the last time, was an event not to be missed. Additionally, I know Tomas Lindberg, At The Gate’s vocalist, whom I met while working at Relapse Records in 2004/5. He is one of the most genuine people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and I wanted very much to see him again. The icing on the proverbial cake came via personal friends Municipal Waste from Richmond, Virginia who were also on the bill. I try to see/visit them every chance I get. Darkest Hour, a band that I was not familiar with, was providing main support, and ultimately (and to my surprise), Toxic Holocaust was added as another opener to further bolster an already killer bill. 

After booking our flights I started to research BBQ joints from notes that I had taken after watching the Travel Channel’s “BBQ Bastions” show. Of all of the places they highlighted the two main BBQ restaurants  of interest in Texas were Kreuz Market in Lockhart and Stubb’s in Austin. Opened in 1900, Kreuz (pronounced “kr-ites”) was reputed to be the absolute best BBQ in Texas. Their brisket was said to be “divine.” I had to go. Nancee told me that she had always wanted to visit Stubb’s, which was also renowned for its live music venue. From this we worked out our trip itinerary. I did some further research online to find other well-known BBQ establishments with plans to try and visit as many as Nancee and my stomach would allow.

[TO BE CONTINUED...]

~ by scrivenerstomb on July 21, 2008.