The new joint in downtown Austin: Blue Ribbon BBQ
By pure luck we heard that there was a new BBQ joint in downtown Austin called Blue Ribbon BBQ. Since most of the EatsBBQ crew works in the area that’s awesome for us. It’s actually just across the street Mike’s office, and few blocks away from mine. It’s in the bottom of the Frost Tower (in the old WeFuse space) on 4th Street.
When you walk in it’s not your typical BBQ place. There aren’t pits anywhere to be found. Before you lose total interest, know that they actually smoke the meat in Taylor, TX. So there is some cred there, just not the full allotment. It looks like a restaurant that’s in an office complex. Walls are clean and untarnished by smoke, there are windows and they let a lot of light in, and their are pictures of BBQ pits, pitmasters, and meat on the walls. Very atypical of the every other BBQ place you’ve seen.
Even with the decor not what I was used to, I bellied up to the counter and placed my order. 2 meat plate with sausage and brisket, sweet corn, and potato salad. The rest of crew ordered and I think we got every kind of meat they had available. So there was a sampling of everything. One of the bright spots of day was the serving size. It was very large. In the downtown area you just get accustomed to paying a lot or small serving sizes. So nice surprise.
Photos by Ray Pierce - click on the images to go to the Flickr set
The brisket was well smoked and had a good flavor. It wasn’t as tender as I would have liked, but not bad none the less. It seemed to be a pretty lean cut of meat, and I suppose that is what lead to it. The sausage was a medium ground packed sausage. It was well above average. Not as good as Meyer’s sausage, but good. They serve it with a sweet BBQ sauce. Not as sweet as the Salt Lick though. From trying the other guys plates, we also found out that they do a mean smoked turkey. Next time that I go I will probably order it.
As for the sides, they had large serving sizes as well. The corn that I had was very good and seemed pretty fresh. The potato salad wasn’t as good as I was hoping for. It was like Rudy’s Potato salad, just not as good.
I was very pleased with the results of the lunch. Especially since it wasn’t overly expensive either. I spent under $15 for all of that and was more than I should have eaten. It’s not got the history of some of the out lying BBQ joints, but it puts up a decent fight. So in my opinion this was a very good value and would recommend it for anyone in the downtown area.
BBQ Tour: Meyer’s BBQ
So the EatsBBQ Crew got to gather again for another stop on the BBQ tour of Central Texas. This trip was just a little ways outside of Austin to Elgin, TX home of Meyer’s BBQ. Both Elgin BBQ joints are known for their sausages. You can find Meyer’s Sausage in a variety of flavors at area HEB’s (grocery stores).
I lived outside of Manor, TX for about 7 years, so I was quite familiar with Meyer’s. I’ve eaten there a half dozen times for more. I’ve got a preference to it over the other establishment in Elgin that we’ll review later.
The restaurant is just off of HWY 290 on the South side of the road in the middle of town. Once you get inside, they have a collection of taxidermied wild game. Elk, Deer, Fish, etc. They also have some old equipment used to make sausage on display in the entry area. You also have sausage/meat counter that you can buy sausage by the pound to take home. The ceiling of the meat counter room is lined with all of the competition and awards that Meyer’s has won over the years. Quite an impressive amount.
It’s really hard to compare different places unless you order similar things at each place. So I ordered Brisket and Garlic Pork Sausage this trip with Potato Salad and Pinto Beans. Pretty standard fare so that I can compare apples to apples. Just wish I had a bigger stomach to try every thing everywhere we go. The Brisket was tender and had a good smoke ring on it. It was dry though, but it still maintained a good flavor. All I had to do was use some of the vinegary Hot Sauce they had on the tables to add some moisture back. They also had two other kinds of BBQ that were a more traditional thickness and flavor.
The sausage was served as two links together. This was by far the best sausage that we’ve had on our tour. It had a really good consistency and texture. It was nice and juicy just like it’s supposed to be. You didn’t get an overwhelming garlic flavor like I was afraid we might. It was really good on it’s own, but a combo of the thick BBQ sauce and the vinegary sauce we quite nice on it.
I tried some of Carrie’s pork ribs and they were quite tasty as well. They had great flavor and weren’t tough. Then again it’s hard to make a prok rib tough.
The potato salad and pinto beans were just so so. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. They are pretty much what you would expect at a Texas BBQ joint.
All in all I think the Brisket and sides missed the mark today, but the sausage and the vinegary hot sauce were right on.
Snow’s BBQ
Texas Monthly laid down the gauntlet. The claim: Best BBQ in Texas. Lofty to say the least. But with the bar set that high was there really any chance of success?
So, the story goes they are a small place with a big reputation. They are open 1 day a week. They open at 8am and sell out by noon at the very latest (sometimes much earlier). Pulling up to the sleepy establishment you can see signs of the Texas Monthly celebrity status: Jaguars, BMWs, Porsches. These are the patrons traveling for Texas’ Best BBQ. The owners are as humble and sweet as I suspect they have always been. But you don’t read this blog to hear about the peripheral stuff. So, on to the BBQ!
Snow's - Sausage and Brisket
Jumping in line at 9:45 we benefitted by a morning of rain to keep the crowds away. We had no problem getting brisket, sausage, pork loin and pork ribs. I sat down with the brisket and sausage. The brisket was moist and tender. I mean plastic fork, pot roast tender. Good smoke ring, nice flavor though I felt the rub was a bit salty. Not overly so, but noticeable. The sausage was obviously home made, looked and tasted to be primarily beef. The seasonings were good in it but I have learned I am not a fan of the coarse ground homemade beef only sausage. I like a little fat in my sausage. I like a finer ground. After a few bites I remembered I was supposed to get my wife (who could not join us) some BBQ to go.
I decide it’s better for me to get in line at that point than to chance them running out, so I got up from my tray and did so. 15 minutes later I was back to my seat with a pound of brisket to go. This is germane for 1 key reason. Someone switched my brisket! Or it sure seemed that way. What was this succulent mass of meat became a pile of brisket jerky. Still very tasty but dry and tough. This was consistent across all the brisket we ordered. What was consumed while still steaming was worth bragging about. What didn’t get devoured in that narrow window, however, lost a lot of its luster.
I only tried a few bites of the pork. They were consistent with the brisket but somewhat less remarkable. Tasty when fresh, dry very quickly. The BBQ sauce was unlike any I have had before. It seemed more fitting for eggrolls than BBQ. But, somehow, it worked. It grew on you. I was dipping everything in it shortly after my initial reaction. The free beans were solid and the potato salad was decent if not spartan.
So here I sit, wondering how to rate this BBQ. I think I’ve got to go with my gut and say very solid BBQ made by some very nice people who still do things the way it should be done. My hat’s off.
BBQ Tour: Snow’s BBQ – Lexington, TX
Snow's BBQ
Snow’s BBQ
516 Main Street
Lexington, TX 78947
After hearing about Snow’s BBQ and subsequently reading about it in Texas Monthly the EatsBBQ crew decided we were going to put Texas Monthly’s claim of Best BBQ in Texas 2009 to the test. That is a pretty lofty claim given the level of BBQ in Texas, much less Central Texas. So we loaded up, gathered a few friends to join us and start on our romp.
Snow’s is in Lexington, TX. It’s not exactly on your way anywhere and isn’t on a major road. It’s only open on Saturday’s, and it starts selling BBQ at 8am. The stay open until they sell out. From what I’ve read on several blogs and articles was that you needed to be there before 10am to make sure you got what you drove for. So this little gem has eluded a lot of people for a long time because of the location, quantity, and time. Texas Monthly really put the bright spot light on this little joint. The demand for Snow’s BBQ has skyrocketed since the article I’ve read, but I’ve also read that they increased their output as well.
Snow's - EatsBBQ and Snow's Owner and Pitmaster
Today we got to Lexington around 9:45am. It took us a little over an hour to get there from 183/290 E area (outskirts of Austin). It was a very rainy and cold day, so that works for us and against us. The rain and cold keeps the crowds away, but there’s not much seating inside of Snow’s. It’s only got 6 picnic style tables indoors with the other seating outside. Luckily we got two tables next to one another inside by pure chance.
As we usually do we try to get a sampling of all the fare that is offered. I ordered the Pork and Pork Ribs, Mike ordered the brisket and sausage plate, and Nathan ordered the same as Mike. They had already sold out of the creamed corn by time we got there, but they still had potato salad. They have the typical condiments, BBQ sauce, onions, pickles, and bread available for everyone. They also have free pinto beans. For drinks they had Sweet and Unsweet Tea, Water, and canned soft drinks.
So on to the tasting!
I started with the pork ribs. They were very moist and had a very smokey flavor. They were very tender, but not to the point where you could just pluck the bone out. In hindsight, this was probably my favorite of the meal. Only got 3 ribs and gave the smallest one to Mike of course.
Then I tried the pork butt. It was quite good. It had a great flavor and a good smoke ring. It was however a bit dry. Not to the point of overcooked by any means. Nothing that a little BBQ sauce couldn’t cure. I shared a little with friends, but I devoured most of it myself.
Snow's - Brisket, Sausage, Pork Butt, Pork Ribs, and sides
I tried some of Mike’s brisket, and the same solid flavor and smoke ring was there. But it was a bit dry as well, although Mike claims that it wasn’t dry when he started on his plate. Read his review about it. The meat itself was still extremely tender. Later in the meal Nathan let me have some of his since his had a bit more fat on it. It was better, but still drier than I would have wanted. When our friends Andy and Colette showed up the brisket they got looked much more moist than what I had sampled, but unfortunately I was reaching my food intake limit by then. So this may have just been the piece of brisket we were sampling from. It happens and you can’t predict it.
The sausage was a homemade sausage. It didn’t have a huge amount of fat in it which worked pretty well for it. Because of that the sausage wasn’t very greasy. On the other hand it felt like the meats wasn’t bound together and solid. I liked it’s flavor, but I was a bit annoyed trying to cut it
The BBQ sauce was a sweet and tangy blend. One of the guys commented that it was like a sweet and sour sauce for egg rolls. It definitely had some of those characteristics, but not in a bad way. I found that it grew on me the longer I sat there and ate. You have to have a good BBQ sauce to go with your smoked meat in my opinion. I really think that it complemented the flavor of the meats and allowed the smoke flavor to come through and didn’t over power it.
The free pinto beans were quite tasty. Not as peppery as some, but enough you could taste. It was a good contrast to the meats.
Snow's - Smoker
All in all I think Snow’s is a great BBQ place. All smoked BBQ has fallen to off days in the smoker, and I think that have happened to us today. It’s just the nature of the beast for dryness to set in the longer something sits. I think if we came back another day, it would have different moisture in the meats and maybe a totally different opinion. Personally, I don’t think it lived up to the Best BBQ in Texas title, but it’s definitely in the conversation. I’m willing to give it another shot on another day.
I would recommend any BBQ lovers to come and try Snow’s and take in the experience. Just be prepared to get up early, drive, and stand in a line to get it. You will be rewarded with some top notch BBQ.
