Kreuz Market in Lockhart, TX
Kruez Market is one of the more storied BBQ places in Lockhart, the business has been in operation since 1900. It was originally located and ran in the building where Smitty’s Market is located today. As I understand it, the Kruez Market was owned by Edgar Schmidt. The business was left to Rick Schmidt (son), and the building that housed Kruez Market just off the town square was left to Nina Schmidt Sells (daughter). After a “disagreement” in the late 1990′s, Rick decided to build a new building for Kruez Market on the north side of Lockhart where it resides today.
Photos by Ray Pierce
The building itself is huge and is a rusty barn red color and shape. When you enter you pass some old scales and equipment from older era. You wait in line in a central corridor that has dining rooms on either side of it. The one of the left is not used as much as the other. The dining room on the right also houses the area where you purchase your sides and drinks, which I assume is why it’s used more. One you enter the pit area, you are met by two different counters that can serve up to four people simultaneously. Behind those counters are butcher blocks, and an array of brick pit smokers. It’s quite a massive room with really tall ceilings. You get the faint smell of smoke in there, but it is not as concentrated as the other places that we’ve visited in Lockhart.
For today’s order I got 1/2 lbs of brisket, 1 hot beef sausage link, 2 pork spare ribs, and a slice of pit ham. I also ordered some sauerkraut and a bottled Big Red soda. The one thing that I’ve been impressed with in Lockhart is the price point of meat. Generally it’s been about 15 for the amount of meat we order, and another 3 or 4 dollars for the sides and drinks. Generally in total it’s around $20 for me.
As for the food itself, I’ll start with the best of the day. The pit ham was delicious. When we visited a few years ago it was the same, I’m glad it stay consistent. By it’s nature ham is a bit salty, but not more than my expectations. The beef sausage link wasn’t really remarkable or flavorful, but it was moist. If I would have remembered I would have gotten the jalapeno cheese sausage link, at least it had flavor. The pork ribs were paltry in size (maybe 3/4 of an inch wide), and tough as jerky. The rub on them was a bit heavy on the salt, but still manageable. They weren’t what I would serve to my customers.
That brings me to the leather, I mean brisket. It was so dried out that the strands of meat were snapping. In my serving I also got a charred in the brisket, which tends to keep a lot of the smoke flavor. This one though, was like chewing leather, and was left on my plate. The rub on the brisket was a bit heavy on the salt just like the ribs, but the flavor of the more center cuts was decent. The meat still maintained a decent sized smoke ring. All in all, there’s no way that I’ll order the brisket here again. The sauerkraut was good, but nothing to write home about. You just don’t see it on many places menus.
Kreuz Market is a significant place for EatsBBQ. This is the place that we got the idea for putting together a site for BBQ reviews. So this is essentially where we began. We had heard from friends, family and coworkers was that the BBQ in Lockhart was the best around. So we packed up and decided to give it a go back in 2009. One of the reasons that the idea for this site surfaced was that we were really disappointed in the product that we got. Much like today’s outing, it didn’t live up to anything that anyone had talked about. I’m beginning to think that all the talk about Lockhart BBQ is more of a marketing ploy than actually good BBQ.
There’s still a couple of places left that I’m going to try there, but my hope is waning. Black’s and Chisholm Trail are still on the list to visit.
City Market in Luling, TX
After last weeks trip to Smitty’s Market, I convinced my friend Eric that we needed to go to City Market in Luling, TX. City Market is the last one of Top 5 from Texas Monthly’s 2008 BBQ Rankings, that I hadn’t eaten at. So today after he got off work we headed out for Luling. It wasn’t as far of a drive from Austin as I was expecting it to be. It was actually just under an hour for us to get there.
Photos by Ray Pierce
The store is right in front of the railroad tracks in the middle of town. It’s sort of town squarish, but it’s just a few blocks long and it’s not centered around a courthouse. There wasn’t any waiting in line outside here, instead the line snaked around the dining area. I’m not sure if this was because it was cold outside or just the way it works there. The line moved pretty quickly though. It seemed to have more locals in it, than most of the other places that we’ve tried lately. I didn’t get the sense that there were any other BBQ bloggers or pilgrims in the dining area, but I also didn’t ask anyone. The seating was wooden booths with upright backs, picnic style tables, and a few 4 top regular tables. Some of the booths tables were very well worn from constant eating at them. All around the dining room you see signs about not taking the sauce bottles from the table, I’m guessing that is to deter people from taking them home. It seems like a common trait in the Luling, Lockhart area to have the pit area and dining area inside, but segregated by a wall. The same practice of purchasing the meat separate from the sides and drinks is in effect here as well. I’m not sure that I like that, having to stand in two lines for one meal doesn’t seem right. Throughout the course of our meal the main line stayed pretty constant at about 40ish people deep.
Once we reach the pit area where the meat is served, you are met by a sign warning to keep the door shut and a blast of warm air rushing out. The warming pit is to the right with it’s vents open. There’s a hanging sign that’s browned listing the prices of meat. The cutters and pit masters are busy serving the customers as they order. It appeared that the cutters were pre-cutting the brisket and ribs and letting them lie on the cutting table until someone orders it.
As for the food itself, the brisket had a good smoke ring on it, but it was visibly dry. There wasn’t much of a bark on the brisket at all. It tasted fine, but was not tender and was a bit chewy. Even a forceful pull with my hands wouldn’t tear off a bit size piece. I had to use knife to make it manageable. I was thoroughly disappointed with the brisket. This is what Texas BBQ is all about, and this was mediocre at best. Eric even commented that this isn’t something he would drive this far for again.
The beef sausage link was course ground, and was quite tasty. It was moist almost to the point of greasy though.
The highlight of the trip was the pork ribs. They were had a great smokey flavor. They weren’t too tough and with a little tug of the teeth the meat came off. There was a sweet BBQ sauce glaze on them. I really wish I had gotten more of these and forgone the brisket.
City Market has a couple of sides as well which are paid for in a separate area than the meat. They include potato salad and pinto beans. Another highlight for me was having bottled Big Red soda. I’m not sure where my affinity for it comes from, but it sure is good. We had to ask for the BBQ sauce since it wasn’t on the table. It was very good. A light orange color that had a sweet mustardy flavor to it, I would recommend it for sure. I had to use it to put some moisture back into the brisket.
My expectations for a Top 5 BBQ Joint were so high and the results were so low. I’m not sure if it is just my luck, or that quality has been sacrificed to keep up the demand generated from publicity. Overall, I’m truly disappointed in City Market.
Louie Mueller’s and the BBQ Blogger Meetup
At the prodding of the BBQ Snob, we ventured over to Taylor, TX to try Louie Mueller’s BBQ along with what seemed to be a very large contingent of BBQ bloggers and foodies. Our intention was to go to Louie Mueller’s then head on over to the Taylor International BBQ Cook Off, but due to some scheduling conflicts we had to cut the trip short after our BBQ brunch. The others braved the ocean of meat for us.
It was great to finally put a face with a name for Daniel (BBQ Snob). The problem with meeting a whole lot of people at once is that that you tend to forget people’s names. I apologize in advance for this, I’ll leave it with groups. We met the people who run Texas BBQ Posse, Houston Foodie, Don O.’s Texas BBQ Blog. It would have been nice to meet Drew with Man Up Texas BBQ / The Q Card, but he had to man his booth at the cook off.
So on to the ulterior motive for meeting everyone. Louie Mueller BBQ.
Photos by Ray Pierce - click on the images to go to the Flickr set
Taylor is only about 40 minutes away from where I live so it’s not a long haul to get there. I’ve heard from friends and other that Louie Mueller’s was one of the places that I needed to stop in at. Of all the places that we’ve visited so far, this place has the most authentic look and feel of any of the joints. It’s in the downtown area of Taylor and takes up 2 store fronts, one for dining and the other for the meat counter / food prep and a smaller dining area. They are huge in size, and have 20ft ceilings with skylights that have heavy smoke film on them. There is no air conditioning, big fans roar in the corners of the place to circulate the air. There is years and years of a deep smoke penetrating the walls and it just reeks of hard work, passion, and love of BBQ. I would expect that this is the same feel that I would have gotten if I had walked in the 1950′s. There is a wall of business cards that line one wall that are browned with time and smoke. It gives it a distinct look and personality.
When we got in line it wasn’t all that long. Mostly the other BBQ blogger with their Digital SLR camera’s in tow. Also just wanted to point out that someone from the back came out and told me that they really liked my Texas Tech hat, that’s a big plus when you are in Longhorn country. When you get to the front of the line, you are greeted with a small chunk of brisket to help you make your decision on ordering. I tried to get a sampling of all the meat they sold per pound. So I got a 1/4 lb. brisket, 1/4 lb. pork loin, 1/4 lb. turkey, and 2 spare ribs. A pretty good sampling I think. I also got a side of potato salad along with pickles, onions, and bread.
The brisket looked delicious, nice bark, nice smoke ring, moistly glistening. So I started in on it. The rub on it was overly black peppered in my opinion. The black pepper flavor masked most of the smoke flavoring. The meat wasn’t as tender as I was expecting. Due to the seat selection that we had next to one of the giant fans, I’m pretty sure the brisket dried out prematurely. The center of it was moist, but the edges were a bit dry. I’m willing to forgive that though because when I first started on it, it was moist. Nothing that the thin vinegar based BBQ dipping sauce couldn’t help cure.
The turkey I had was outstanding. Turkey is such a finicky thing to smoke, so I’m truly impressed with it. It wasn’t nearly as pepper flavored as the brisket, but was seasoned quite well. It was extremely moist as well. The smoke flavor really came through in it. I’d recommend that to anyone.
Next I tried the pork loin. It was forgettable. No deep smoke flavor, it wasn’t tender, and it didn’t have a lot of flavor.
I tried two different types of ribs while I was there. I ordered the spare ribs. Lots of meat on them. They have the right amount of tenderness to them. They weren’t falling off the bone, so you could still handle them appropriately, and a little tug on the meat and it came off. I also had some of Andy’s baby back ribs. Almost the same as the spare ribs, just a smaller package.
They also had some nice beef sausages to select from. Andy and Colette ordered one of all 3 types. Chipotle, Jalapeno, and Original. Flavorwise, the Chipotle won for me. The Jalapeno was good and there were distinct piece of jalapeno in it. I was a bit too stuff by the time the Original made the rounds, so I didn’t sample it.
The potato salad was more like a homemade potato salad to me, with its fine grain potato pieces. It was made with mustard, but it was a mild flavor in it. Quite nice, I really enjoyed it.
While we were there, one of the guys dropped by our table and let us try one of his creations. Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce Ice Cream. It was interesting to try, but I don’t think it’s ready for mainstream America just yet.
