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.
Smitty’s Market in Lockhart
We got back in the saddle today after few month hiatus with a trip to Smitty’s Market in Lockhart, TX. Lockhart is known as the BBQ Capital of Texas because of the amount of top notch BBQ joints in the city. From my research, Smitty’s is one of the four must stop BBQ joints in Lockhart.
Photos by Ray Pierce
We showed up a little later in the afternoon, just past the lunch rush. Smitty’s is located just off of the square in downtown Lockhart. It’s really quite a cool looking courthouse, surrounded by classic small town shops. One of these days I’ll take a side trip just to shoot photo’s of it.
When we arrived, we made our way around the back of the store. It’s a little weird, but the main entrance is on the backside. There is a street entrance, but it leads you to the back of the building. We waited in a small line, and as we walked through the entrance we were greet by a soot covered doorway that right next to the serving pit. It was complete with fire going to keep the meat warm.
I ordered brisket, a pork rib, and link of sausage so that I could get a good sampling of their offerings. By the time we got there they had already sold out of the Prime Rib, otherwise I would have gotten some of it as well. I passed on the smoked pork chop because I knew that I couldn’t hold that much. They are smoked as whole pork loins and then sliced into chops when the customer orders. The servers weigh the meat on an antique scale with a rolling dial. I didn’t want to hold up the line so I didn’t get a picture of the area. In typical BBQ fashion the meat is served on butcher paper.
Something that is a little unique is that you pay for your meat in the pit area, but your drinks and sides are paid for in the dining area. Everything is cash or check, so don’t expect to pay with credit card. Pleasantly surprising though was the cost of the meat. I was expecting to pay a lot more, but either I finally ordered an appropriate size of meat or their price per pound wasn’t as much as anticipated.
The order itself looked great. The brisket dried out rather quickly for me during the process of taking pictures before I dove in. That was a little disappointing to me. For a place that doesn’t have forks, the meat was a bit too tougher than my liking. That’s not to say that it was bad, but we are talking about a joint that’s supposed to be in the upper echelon of BBQ joints. This could be because of the time that we arrived and their constant firing of the meat in the serving pit. The brisket tasted good, but didn’t seem to have a penetrating smoke flavor. It also lacked in a thick bark, but that wasn’t a deterrent for me. It’s gotten to the point where a lot of places may have too thick of bark in my opinion and this was a nice change of pace.
The pork rib was quite nice. It had a sweet flavor to it, as if they were glazed with sweet BBQ sauce then smoked. The meat stuck to the bone just as it should. Having it too tender makes them harder/messier to eat in my opinion. Just a little tug with the teeth should be all that’s needed. The sausage link was the star of the day for me. It was plump, juicy, and well flavored. Each link looked to be smoked by itself, rather than in a chain.
After the meal we looked around a bit and were told that we could go look at the empty front counter. It contained quite a bit of old antiques used in store in an earlier time. The building itself looks to have a great character about it. You know you are in a places that’s seen it’s fair share of business through out the years.
