Kreuz Market, Lockhart

The hamlet of Lockhart, located about 30 miles outside of Austin bills itself as either the Barbecue Capital of Texas or the Barbecue Capital of the World, depending on what sign you're looking at and what time of day it is. The title comes to the town for good reason. There are three or four BBQ joints in Lockhart which consistently rank among the top places in the state and Kreuz Market is one of them.

Started around the turn of the 20th century, Kreuz has been serving its smokey meats for well over a century and while nothing has been cooking that long, they do have a nice way with a brisket. In fact, their sausage is top notch as well and so are the ribs. In fact, I can offer no complaint about any meat I've ever eaten at Kreuz - it's as good as, if not better than, pretty much any BBQ you're going to eat, save the truly special places. You see, despite it's rank as one of the top 5 this past year, the Kid's not bestowing such accolades on Kreuz this time.

Like I said, the meat was delicious. You can go in and feel secure that whatever you order from the old ladies who operate the chopping block is going to be delicious. The trouble starts when you head into the next room to get the rest of your meal. When I first heard of Kreuz I was told there were no sides. All you got was meat and bread and a couple slices of cheese if you were so inclined. I believe this is the way they should have stayed. On a recent afternoon I tested their german potatoes and beans and was disappointed in both. So often a side can make or break a BBQ place and I feel like the bad sides at Kreuz really ruined the place for me.

There was one more gripe - the place offers no sauce. Well, they do have hot sauce, which the Kid was forced to pour on his brisket, but that's not really the same as BBQ sauce - is it? The story goes that the meat at Kreuz is so good it does not need the indignity of sauce. I wish this were the case. As I said before, the meat was good, but it's a rare cut indeed that does not benefit from a bit of flavor that BBQ sauce adds and the meat here certainly could have used that little pick me up.

If you find yourself in Lockhart I will go ahead and recommend stopping at Kreuz. The building itself is enourmous and if you go on a weekday you will find it mostly empty. You can then try to imagine how it is on a Saturday when the place is packed. I suppose it's a bit like Disney Land for the BBQ crowd - folks will wait in line to ride on Space Mountain and they will wait in line to dine on what they are told is the best 'cue in the state. Also, the cutting room is something I've never seen before and like I said, the meat won't let you down. Perhaps the key is to sneak a little bottle of sauce in with you. Then you can really enjoy the meat the way God intended - sauce and all.

Manns Smokehouse BBQ - Austin

I believe there are always expectations, which often cannot be met, when something is included in a 'best of' list. Before you ever even get to a place, or buy a record, or watch a movie, you're already thinking you're in for one of the great experiences of your life. Such was the case with my recent visit to Mann's Smokehouse BBQ.

I learned of the restaurant in a recent edition of Texas Monthly which claimed to list the top 50 BBQ joints in the state. Manns was one of two places in Austin-proper which made the list, thus I had to check it out. The place was not that easy to find and this made me think that maybe I was on to something. It's located in the shadow of the 183 on a frontage road which means if you miss it going one way, you have to drive about 5 miles to get back to it. As you can imagine, I missed it, but I did eventually make my way to it's smoky door.

The place looked fantastic. It's located in a former Kentucky Fried Chicken but you can't really tell that anymore. There's tons of crap on the shelves and walls and they have an old-school video game you can play for free. Also, they had a sign up advertising free home-made ice cream on Friday nights! Unfortunately for the Kid, I was there on a Tuesday. After taking in the decor I made my way to the counter and ordered the night's special - a pork plate, plus a couple sides and a sweet tea.

After a bit of a wait the food eventually found its way to my table, delivered by a friendly guy who knew where California's Imperial Valley was. I like people who know this as the Kid spent a good part of his Texas-exile roaming this strip of desert just north of the Mexican border. After a bit of small talk I dived into my meal, hoping to satisfy my sophisticated BBQ pallette with some of the state's best 'cue.

It only took one bite for me to be disappointed. It's not that the pork was bad, it just wasn't that bad. The macaroni and cheese casserole also was okay and my other side, black eyed peas, well, they tasted just like black eyed peas so I have nothing to say about them one way or the other. Getting back to the meat, it was not as moist as you'd like it to be. It was served pulled which gave me great hope for it prior to my first bite. However, it was a little dry and the sauce they gave me was nothing special and in the end I quickly ate my meal and left, not even taking the time to play the free video game.

It's at this point in my discourse on bbq that I think I might need to develop a rating system because I'm at a loss for how to close this. Mann's is okay. I find it hard to believe it's one of the state's top 50 places, but I'm also almost positive the people at Texas Monthly did not eat at even 10 percent of the BBQ places in this state. If I did have a rating system (and I don't) I'd give it 2 and 1/2 sauce bottles (that's out of a possible 5). Try this place if you like. Just realize, there are far better places right in Austin where one can satisfy their 'cue craving.

Poll results ...

It seems sauce was the choice for what ya'll believes makes a great BBQ restaurant. I'm not sure I can disagree. I will say that a place with great meat and decent sauce is usually better than a place with fantastic sauce and so-so meat. That seems to be the way it goes for the Kid anyway. I didn't vote, but if I had I think I might have picked sides. So often you find the meat and the sauce to both be solid but when the sides are lacking it really puts a damper on the dining experience as a whole.

Anyway, thanks for participating in the first poll. I'll try and think up a good question for the next one.