A day this past weekend was declared BBQ Birth Day. One half of tosabarbell turned 45 on Friday and though it’s policy to hit a PR on your birthday, enjoying a leisure road trip took precedent. Rumor had it that some of the best BBQ in Texas was in our path and to not take advantage of that fact would be unacceptable.

The day started with a gas up and breakfast burritos at Rudy’s BBQ in Waco. Even though we rolled through after breakfast hours, the service oriented workers quickly assured us that they would be happy to wrap us up some fresh brisket, egg, and cheese burritos that were the best I’ve ever had. Every bite had the perfect amount of the smoked meat and eggs without being impossible to eat on the road by melting cheese. It was an excellent start to the day. Our youngest member of tosabarbell ordered the sausage and it was some of the best I’ve had in Texas. I’ll definitely be looking to order more of it in the future.

Interject fun Texas Bluebonnet picture here:      

Our next stop was a few hours down the road in Lockhart, TX. We had two stops to make here so we decided to eat in at Kreuz’s Market.

Matt has stopped there in the past and thought I’d enjoy the atmosphere. He was right. The feel of an old Texas dancehall that smells of smoked meat makes for a very festive combination. We decided to compare brisket, sausage, and ribs at each BBQ so that’s what we went with. The brisket was very good and the sausage was fine but Rudy’s sausage was much better. I loved the beef rib but it was a little salty for Matt’s taste.

From there, we drove about a mile down the road to pick up some BBQ to go at Black’s.   Again, we grabbed some Brisket, a ginormous beef rib, and some sausage. We saved this for dinner later so we had no idea what a gold mine we had waiting for us in the car. We then sauntered down the road to Luling where I had gone in the past. A few years ago, this was my first experience entering a smoke-room and ordering directly from the smoke masters.  I decided that finding air fresheners that resemble the smell of the Luling City Market smoke room is high on the priority list!

After a side trip to Gonzales (“Come and Take It”, enough said) we headed to San Antonio to get settled and lay out the BBQ spread.

Final Verdict: Black’s BBQ takes the Blue Ribbon. The beef rib was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted and lacked the additional salt that Kreuz’s had. It was scrumptious. The brisket was ‘fall off the bone’ and tender all the way into Saturday night. It was by far the best BBQ of the day.

We give the Luling smoke room experience an A+. The smoke masters were friendly and fun and having the smoky smell infused in our clothes the rest of the weekend was a nice reminder of BBQ Birth Day. The food was incredibly good but really didn’t compare to Black’s.

In conclusion: there is plenty of good BBQ in Texas. Hell, Rip’s is probably the best place I’ve been  for any kind of wood smoked red meat! We didn’t hit it all, but we did good. BBQ Birth Day was a total success! What does this have to do with strength and conditioning? Who cares? It’s BBQ Birth Day!!!!!