Sam's BBQ: Austin, Texas

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: need to get some more lamb ribs

Sam’s Barbecue is located in East Austin and may not show up on a lot of people’s radar but that is their mistake. The place is run down, it is old, there are faded photographs on the wall and there is no air running through that place. The tables are clean, but have that layer or that sticky coating. You sit on the vinyl booths and you question if you are able to get yourself up because the heat of the place and you sweating, you just maybe stuck to the chair. Weirdly enough, the only “modern” thing was the television in the middle of the dining area, blaring some old Western. Walking in there is the notable slogan of Sam’s Barbecue, “you don’t need no teeth, to eat our beef”. 

I was already bursting at the seams with meat, eating and despite my usual meaty trifecta, I was straight going to die (I had Black’s and Salt Lick earlier that day). I went with the two plate combo of brisket and mutton, came with a side of beans and potato salad and came to the grand total of 10.95. The cheapest barbecue I had yet. The mutton was the special here and the thing to get. The mutton is from the breast/ribs and fatty. 

“Do you like the fat” He asked. I acknowledge that I did and that fat is where the flavor is at and that gave him a chuckle. I kept thinking back to the tagged mantra “no teeth to eat our beef” as he carved the mutton, its meat sagging over the ribs and the brisket, that required both hands to scoop up into the tray. He ladled on a sauce without a choice, but did give me the choice of either white or wheat bread, surprising that I actually had options and being a first. 

I decided to take my chances outside in the hot Texas sun and besides, barbecue taste better outside…especially when it is like 101 degrees. The mutton was great; it had a great gamey flavor to it and hint of smoke. He was not kidding about it being fatty, I am pretty sure that the meat basically confited. The brisket was again, moist and almost like pot roast however, I think the overall fattiness of the beef, did not allow smoke penetration to the meat. The sauce was plain, straight tomato based sauce but overall neutral. It lacked any acidity or sweetness, and just tasted like tomatoes. I guess it served as a lubricant rather than a flavor enhancer but like all the barbecue I have had in Austin, it did not need sauce. 

As I was sitting there baking in the sun, I cannot help and think of the history behind this place. Admittedly, this place is not located in the best part of East Austin. I mean you would feel nervous coming here late at night. But this you cannot help and admire at all the pictures on the wall, unintentionally chronicling the history of this place and Austin. Upon further research, Sam’s is one of the oldest African American owned barbecue joints in Austin. Though there has been some negative press about the place recently, it is still a place that barbecue eaters should continue to go and it is true, you don’t need any teeth to eat their beef.

Sam’s BBQ

2000 East 12th Street

 Austin, TX

Salt Lick Barbecue

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Salt Lick was the first time I got actual utensils let alone metal ones…it left me confused

One of the final places I visited in my mini-barbecue quest was the Salt Lick. I guess wanting to go to the Salt Lick is like when people not from New York rave about Grimaldi’s. This was my introduction to Texas barbecue when I first sampled them at the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. The first time I thought their brisket was fine and the sausage was out of this world. I however, we ate this at the end of the trip, after eating at a lot of other barbecue places. In short, it is okay.  

The Sauces

Sausage and Turkey

It is a tourist trap no doubt. There are just droves of people there and tour buses parked on the side. It is literally in the middle of nowhere, I was surprised Garmin was able to find it. It is a ranch basically and the inside is a cavernous dining hall. We were hitting our proverbial wall and instead of going by the poundage, we went with 2 combination platters and an extra half order of sausage. The combination allowed us to sample the pork ribs, brisket, turkey and surprise, more sausage. This is too easy to make an immature sausage joke. 

Ribs and brisket

The pit at the Salt Lick is impressive; you cannot be impressed by this. It is an open round pit with a grill and just mountains of meat and sausage just hanging from up above. We just ate barbecue about forty minutes before hand and this sight made me hungry. The Salt Lick differs in which they do not do the low and slow method; they are going for high heat, well high heat for Texas. There is no 200-275; it is more like 300-375. They are using oak like others but in addition they use soaked pecan shells to add flavor and as a makeshift temperature controller. 

sausage

One gripe, they did not have sweet tea or Big Red. How can you claim to be Texas barbecue if you do not have these iconic Texas, specifically barbecue beverages? I mean this is what I have come to know and love, Big Red? I just taste like Red. They did have Dr. Pepper though so I guess you get a pass. The brisket though tender had no flavor. It did not pick up any of the smoke from the wood. It was edible but did not wow me at all. The pork ribs were very good and if I was to eat at the Salt Lick again, this is what I would go for, the pork was able to get a bit more of the smoke and the meat was just right. The turkey was great and question why anyone would not smoke their turkeys for Thanksgiving (I know I do). Maybe it was the combination of beef palate fatigue but we wanted more, regardless the breast meat was supple and juicy. The sausage was good here though very different from the sausage that we had at other places. It was a finer grind, heavier on the salt but good amount of spice. It was similar to a kielbasa in texture, which lead it to have the best snap. The sauce however, is great and I can understand the cult-like following for this sauce. I personally brought back two bottles, and rationing it sparingly. It is a perfect mix of sweet, tangy and salt and just something that makes everything taste better. I guess I will soon be joining the legions trying to crack this recipe. 

Cobbler

I had to do dessert, I mean if the option is out there and it is descent, no matter if I am burping up enough meat to re-taste my meal I will always take a gander at it. I went with the blackberry cobbler with a scoop of ice cream on top. I am glad I did not skip it, this was one of the best desserts I had all trip, the cobbler was full of fruit, flaky crust and ice cold ice cream just melting all over it. Even my friends that were at their limit could not resist a taste of it. Besides, you need a bit of sugar to cut all the salt and fat.

Now that I have eaten a lot of Texas Barbecue, the Salt Lick is more about the atmosphere. It relishes in that Hill Country romantic nostalgia of cooking on an open pit and relaxing with others while eating copious amounts of meat. They do what works for them, using high heat cooking which you lose the smoke essence in the barbecue. However, their methods are warranted given the high volume of business they are doing. I am conflicted, the barbecue let’s face it, is just average compared to what else you got. But at the same time, it is sure a hell of a lot better than the majority of the places here in the Northeast. Though I would eagerly wait in line during the Big Apple BBQ block party, I do not see myself coming back here the next time I come through Texas. Though I will be picking up a couple of bottles of the sauce the next time I pass through the airport. Here is a tip, unless you are desperate for ‘cue do not do the airport Salt Lick, it is all hot/steam bagged, you might as well go to a Famous Dave’s. 

Pit Porn

Salt Lick

18300 FM 1826
Driftwood, TX 78619

www.saltlickbbq.com/

Donut Quest: Gourdough's and Mrs. Johnson's

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Austin- Only place I have ever used a fork and knife to eat a donut

In Austin, there is this magical trailer called Gourdoughs. Besides having a great name, they are making some of the best donuts I have ever had. This is nothing like what exists in New York. This is just a whole other genre of donuts; this is the definition of excess. I mean, you need to use a fork and knife for this donut because there is no possible way that you can eat one of these without it looking like you got in an all out brawl with Duncan Hines and Tim Hortons. The doughnuts here are what I call dessert donuts, in which they are bluntly covered and showered with sugary goodness. They picked up on the bacon trend with their Flying Pig, covered with in a maple syrup glaze and bacon. Do I need to really explain this? You can beat the trend to death but it works, salty sweet. 

Flying Pig

The Porky

They also are overachievers and push the donut making arts with the Porky, a donut covered in cream cheese, jalapeno jelly and Canadian bacon. The Porky sounds like an odd combination but it works, the salty Canadian bacon, gooey cream cheese and the sour sweet Jalapeno jelly just plain works. The Donuts themselves are fried to order and yeasted. Even without the outrageous toppings it was a good donut that was light and airy. That did not stop me from trying the pudding, cream cheese icing, and bananas and crushed vanilla wafers filled with cream. There was also the Mama’s cake filled with yellow cake batter and covered with chocolate icing. These were just coma inducing and hit you like a pastry cream filled bunker buster. I think the idea of yellow cake batter as a filling is genius and will most likely steal this idea for a future dessert. Sure it seems like that anyone can just put a mountain of toppings on a donut, but there is some finesse to the making of their creations and the donut itself is good enough to eat on its own, though with the addition of cream cheese, chocolate and meat does not hurt at all. 

Pudding- bananas, creamed filled, vanilla wafers, cream cheese

Mama's Cake

I am a romantic sucker, so places like Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery is right up my alley. I went there when it just about opened, about 8pm (hours are 7pm to 1pm the next day) and Airport Blvd. road was empty and dark with the sign from Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery they only sign of urban development. 

Their sign glowed like a firefly’s light in the darkness. It was slightly comforting to me given I was basically in the middle of nowhere looking for donuts. Their doughnut machine is impressive and the conveyor belt donut maker and glazer are impressive to watch. But much better is to eat them. I was rewarded for my 5 minute wait and patience with a free donut to eat on the go on top of my order. Love the places in New York but sitting in that dark parking lot, eating that fluffy sweet donut there was nothing better than that donut I was eating.

Gourdough’s

1503 S 1st St
Austin, TX 78704

Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery

4909 Airport Boulevard

Austin, TX

J. Mueller BBQ

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: I don’t drink that much anymore, but I don’t turn down free beer

“This is it? It’s a trailer dude.”

That was my friend’s first introduction to Texas Barbecue. Maybe we should have gone to the more impressive Lockhart or something else but no, I chose to go to J. Mueller’s. I mean, within the Austin City limits, the automatic answer for going to barbecue was not in Austin, was to go to Taylor, Luling or Lockhart. But now, the two most recommended places and need to go are Franklin’s and J. Mueller’s. Nerds might recognize the last name, same family running the famous Louie Mueller in Taylor, he branched out and went to Austin and from the lines, people here are thankful for it. 

J. Mueller is composed of a lot, one that smokes the meat and the other for carving and paying for the meat. Though the man was busy, he had time to mess around with me, answer some questions and pass out some cans of Lone Star on that hot Texas day.

We went with what I dubbed the trinity of Texas barbecue, brisket, beef ribs and sausage. Thankfully, my friends let me order which may or may not have been a bad thing because I always go for moist and ask for maybe a slice or 2 of lean, to see how it is. They were unfamiliar with the ordering system but it is basically like ordering from a deli. Prices are listed out by poundage and you tell them how much you want. They carve it, pile it on butcher paper, throw in white bread, (or crackers, but I really never seen anyone get crackers) and help yourself to the condiments of raw onions or pickles. Since I wanted to pretend to be healthy, I got an order of the chipotle coleslaw. On to the meat porn!

Take me Back to Black's: Black's Barbecue

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If the butcher paper ain’t transparent by the end of the meal, your ‘cue probably didn’t taste that good

My original plan was to go to Lockhart, Texas and eat at Smitty’s, Kruez and Blacks. However when we got there on Monday, they Smitty’s and Kruez were both closed. Their coals maybe continuously burning, but they were not serving barbecue that day. I was a bit disheartened (actually probably for the best, because I would have ended up leaving Lockhart with gout) but thankfully, the one place that I really wanted to visit, Black’s was open as it should, claiming to be open 8 days a week. The town of Lockhart is fun for a person that grew up in suburban New Jersey. Cliché as it sounds, it looks like a place stuck in time, like when you see old Cold War reels of Reds invading American town, Lockhart is the town they are talking about. Black’s Barbecue has been in operation since 1932 and boasts are being one of one of the oldest, same family ran operation. Kent Black, the current Black runs it and was kind enough to indulge my inner nerd and gave me a tour of their pits and gave me a whole run down of the operation. Oak, aged for a year, pits run about 225 and they do not do no Texas Crutching here. Which, I would expect from a place in business since 1932. 

Rat Cheese-love it

This is the type of atmosphere and aurora that I was chasing for during my trip. You grab a plate and indulge on the cafeteria style spread of sides and desserts and then you order your meat. I loved the fact that they had the little packets of rat cheese and how nice the whole staff was and patient with those that could not decide on what they wanted. Here we got the standard fare, brisket, beef rib and sausage, got the jalapeno cheese and their original. First the sausage, I am a fan of the medium grid sausages, I like the texture. The original sausage unfortunately was that great, neutral tasting and did not pop with any flavor. Thankfully, their sauce is quite good, peppery and acid, it solved the monotonous sausage. The Jalapeno and cheese fared better, slightly spicy and chunks of cheese present it was good. Meat after the jump!

Franklin Barbecue

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If bacon is a gateway meat, then this brisket is like…an 8 ball I guess?

It is 9:05am in the morning in Austin Texas. It is about 80 degrees and climbing and a slight humidity. I wanted to pretend to be cool and not show up at 9am, wanted to be too cool to show up at 9am on the dot and looking like a crazy person. That changed when I got there and the line was already 20 people deep. Right after I showed up, 10 other people showed up and by 10:30, the line was out to the parking lot as far as I could see. Okay, I did not have my glasses, but the line was very long. This is the typical scene at the line at Franklin’s Barbecue. This may have actually been a toned down line because the UT game was the previous night and otherwise hardcore ‘cue fans were nursing and tired out from an easy UT victory. 

10:30am. They open at 11.

Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue does not have a barbecue generational pedigree story, though his parents owned a barbecue place for a few years. At most, he has a trailer to brick and mortar story, of succeeding. His brisket has been voted, tested as one of the best in the nation. And since no one does barbecue like we do, I will affirmatively say, in the world as well. I was a doubter and thought it was a whole lot of hype but I quickly changed that when I ate there. 

I was going to go light because other barbecue was on the itinerary, I was going to go with a half a pound of brisket, but after a quick taste I had to add a couple more slices. A sausage link, and ribs are part of my standard fare. I got a takeout order for my friends that were not as crazy about barbecue as me and lucky for them, I am only an asshole sometimes. MEAT

Hill Country NYC

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: mason jarred drinks, food on Butcher paper, was Texas style ‘cue the OG of hipster dining?

First time I had anything from Hill Country was during the Big Apple BBQ block party and it started drizzling/raining and we ran for cover, the Hill Country trailer was right there. Even though we tried not to hit up any of the New York vendors, we decided to try the Hill Country Brisket and glad that we did. I decided to go to Hill Country for real this time and Mr. Wells giving it a respectable 2 stars, why not?

Hill Country is modeled after any Texas ‘cue place that I am hoping to experience Labor Day weekend when I venture to Austin. The only formal service you will get is the host bringing you to your table and from there, you get a place card and you have at it. The inside borders a bit on tacky, it is going for that Texas salon look and I was hoping there was a Swayze impersonator. Thankfully, they do not do the weird Lonestar/Roadhouse restaurant crap of peanut shells all over. Despite the Crapplebee’s inspired décor, the tables are pretty Spartan; do not expect a place mat, just a fork and a knife and water served in mason jars, no doubt just trying to keep up with the Brooklynese trends. 

This is all you need, for 'cue...and maybe just life

The table just had a roll of paper towels, hot sauce, a shaker of salt/rub and their barbeque sauce. There barbecue sauce in my opinion was too sweet for my taste, heavy on the molasses but apparently Rick Perry declared it the best outside the state of Texas but let’s be honest here: if he did not specify best outside Texas, he would be done politically. 

Bottom right clockwise: shoulder, sausage, brisket and rib

No matter really, the place is keeping with Texas tradition in which it is counter service and ‘cue is served by the pound. Think of it like a deli, where you can order as much or as little as you want. If you want sides, you go to another counter and get them there, and desserts are at another counter. It somewhat reminds me of a buffet, with getting up and down but the food is a heck of a lot better. I love it that it literally keeps with Texas style ‘cue in which all the meat is plated on butcher paper with a bunch of white bread or saltines and thrown onto a tray. Just wait, give it a few and you will be going to a Michelin star restaurant and they will be serving something on butcher paper. Here is the run down:

Brisket, Moist- Meat from the point of the brisket, it is moist because it is fattier but hey, fat = flavor and the brisket was nice and moist. It was tender, but not pot roast tender that it is falling apart which is good, you want it to be able to stand on its own but the use of a knife to break it apart should not be necessary. The meat had a good enough flavor that it really did not need sauce, maybe some Texas Pete hot sauce if you want some heat.

Brisket Lean- this is the cut that you get pastrami from, has fat just a lot less. Unfortunately, we got some end bits that were just dry, but the lean pieces that were not from the end were fine. I would stick to the moist bits in the future.

Sausage- from Kreuz Market in Lockhart, this was filled with jalapeno and cheese. It is a beef and pork mix, ratio unknown but I could probably look it up. It was juicy and a great snap, not to spicy, I think I would get two of these in the future.

Beef Shoulder- Also known as beef clod, something that should not be missed and the best thing on the plate, it was juicy and had a nice fat striation on the top side and left me wishing I got a half pound instead of a quarter.

Beef rib- was excited for this but ended up being the biggest let down, it was tough and chewy and did not have much in flavor. If I want ribs next time, I will go pork.

Although I see sides as a waste of meat real estate space in your stomach, the sides at Hill Country were pretty good overall:

Mac and Cheese- ziti pasta, it was in a thick and creamy cheese sauce, emphasis on the thick. I prefer the my Mac and Cheese with a runnier béchamel sauce but this was respectable, a little hot sauce helped.

Collard Greens- a winner here, the greens were tender and had a lot of potlikker on the bottom, good for dipping cornbread

Cornbread- It was slightly sweet, so I guess it would be classified as “Yankee” cornbread. Tender crumb and served with an awesome honey butter, I would get this again.

Deviled eggs- on a hot day, these are refreshing, actually these are just good. The egg filling was like eating a savory buttercream.

Finally, no ‘cue experience would not be complete without a staple dessert of banana cream pudding. The pudding was full of banana goodness and the only criticism is that some of the banana pieces were a bit too hard, the pudding needed another night to soften up the bananas, but I am not really complaining because we did finish all of it.

Overall, I like Hill Country. It is a great place to hang out and most of all, it is comfortable. This would be a great place for any group outing, just make sure most of them like meat or they will be picking at the sides.

Hill Country
30 W 26th St
New York, NY 1001
http://www.hillcountryny.com