Second location

I worry about the Brenham location once they do open the second place.

I heard in an interview that he will go back and forth between the two locations when it Houston first opens up for awhile, but him being a native Houston-ite makes me think he will eventually settle down at that location and then the Brenham one gets left for someone else to manage.

So much of bbq is the guy tending the pits, hopefully whoever he gets to do the Brenham location can do a good job but those are big shoes to fill.

It's hard to keep that kind of quality at more than one location. I can't imagine either will be able to hit the consistency they're currently achieving in Brenham once the 2nd one opens.

I couldn't tell you, but my bet is Leonard will put his heart and soul in to Houston. That's where he's gonna make his $$$ and also please his investors (Jason Fertitta and Johnny Carraba). I've always assumed that Brenham will eventually close, but maybe they'll try to keep both running.

Leonard told me he currently cooks about 40-45 briskets per day in Brenham. He wants to cook 3x as many per day in Houston. I think he can do it and keep the quality up, but we'll see. Would be much harder if he's constantly going back and forth between Brenham and Houston.

Well, ate at Smitty's in Lockhart again today. As usual wasn't anything impressive. The pork ribs were actually better than I've had in the past, but the shoulder clod and brisket were just pretty average. As always it's really cool to see the fires built right next to the brick pits and chat with nice people there, but I just can't rank it up there with great bbq. Better than average for sure, but not elite.

It was Phil's BBQ out of San Diego

CDub06 said:

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It's hard to keep that kind of quality at more than one location. I can't imagine either will be able to hit the consistency they're currently achieving in Brenham once the 2nd one opens.

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Hutchins has done a good job with 2 places but Lockhart Smokehouse's quality dropped IMO. The quality always follows the pit master and he can't be in 2 places at once.

I'm definitely trying Truth sometime in the next few weeks to check it out!

Does anyone have an address for the Houston location of Truth's bbq joint?

I thought I read it was going in the old J Blacks spot at Heights/Washington

Thanks K Bo. Too far for lunch, but need to plan an outing.

Agreed. One of the coolest BBQ atmospheres IMO but food isn't anything to write home about...just like the rest of the places in Lockhart.

If I were to rate BBQ places totally on atmosphere (ignoring food):

(1) Smittys
(2) Louie Muelllers
(3) Goode Co I-10 / Bunker Hill

Seem to recall Salt Like in Dripping Springs being cool but I can't remember much else.

Martin's in Bryan is high on my "atmosphere" based list. It's the first BBQ place I can recall going to when I was a kid. There was a very old toothless woman (maybe Martin's wife) behind the register who took her time explaining the pictures on the wall to me. I always feel like I'm stepping back in time when I pull in. Wish the grub was better, but it's consistent.

BBQ atmosphere is an interesting discussion. It certainly is a factor in the overall experience. The first memory I have of BBQ is about age 10 eating at Toms with my dad circa 1993. I remember nothing but the smell of the place and how cool I thought it was to eat everything off butcher paper with no silverware. It's hard for me not to think that BBQ should be in a rundown building, a gas station, or just outside under a tent rather than a nice place. You should order your meet at a counter, beer should be in a horse trough, you better have sweet and unsweet tea. I generally want to leave there feeling very full, slightly greasy, and covered in smoke aroma.

I've had decent BBQ at two places in Colorado in 25 years here. Georgia Boys in Frederick and G-Que in Westminster. Honestly, GQue is better, but Georgia Boys has the atmosphere I like so i seem to always find myself there along with recommending it more.

In KC everyone is all about Q39 these days. Joes still is busy, but Q39 is always slammed. If you've never been to the two, they couldn't be more different. Original Joes shares space with a gas station. It's a beautiful place. It's usually busy, but somehow, as soon as you get your food, there is magically a place to sit. Decor is smoke dulled BBQ team banners, beer signs, and old photographs. Contrast that with Q39. It's a sit down, full service restaurant and bar. Fancy lighting, open kitchen, loud. The BBQ I had there was serviceable. The best thing I ate was the onion straws. The burnt ends were good, but they only come on one specific BBQ platter and not al a carte. I just got the feeling if I were blindfolded I would have thought the bbq was actually better.

Long story short, Texas bbq is better than KC bbq in every way. Including decor.

NColoradoAG said:

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In KC everyone is all about Q39 these days.

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Never had their actual bbq, but their bbq sauce is awesome, too bad it sounds like they really need it from your experience...

As part of my consulting work, I do business with a large grain company out of KC. They sent us a Christmas card and couple of bottles of Q39 at the end of 2017. So I used the bottle up and thought it tasted good (I know we have a lot of bbq snobs in here that say no sauce ever, but reheated bbq the next day(s) really needs it, plus I'm not afraid to admit I've smoked some sub par ribs or a brisket a time or two that needed some sauce).

I was talking on the phone with someone from there again a month ago and mentioned I liked the sauce they had sent and how I had several bbq events coming up and they decided to send our office 12 more bottles of the stuff!

NColoradoAG said:

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BBQ atmosphere is an interesting discussion. It certainly is a factor in the overall experience. The first memory I have of BBQ is about age 10 eating at Toms with my dad circa 1993. I remember nothing but the smell of the place and how cool I thought it was to eat everything off butcher paper with no silverware. It's hard for me not to think that BBQ should be in a rundown building, a gas station, or just outside under a tent rather than a nice place. You should order your meet at a counter, beer should be in a horse trough, you better have sweet and unsweet tea. I generally want to leave there feeling very full, slightly greasy, and covered in smoke aroma.

I've had decent BBQ at two places in Colorado in 25 years here. Georgia Boys in Frederick and G-Que in Westminster. Honestly, GQue is better, but Georgia Boys has the atmosphere I like so i seem to always find myself there along with recommending it more.

In KC everyone is all about Q39 these days. Joes still is busy, but Q39 is always slammed. If you've never been to the two, they couldn't be more different. Original Joes shares space with a gas station. It's a beautiful place. It's usually busy, but somehow, as soon as you get your food, there is magically a place to sit. Decor is smoke dulled BBQ team banners, beer signs, and old photographs. Contrast that with Q39. It's a sit down, full service restaurant and bar. Fancy lighting, open kitchen, loud. The BBQ I had there was serviceable. The best thing I ate was the onion straws. The burnt ends were good, but they only come on one specific BBQ platter and not al a carte. I just got the feeling if I were blindfolded I would have thought the bbq was actually better.

Long story short, Texas bbq is better than KC bbq in every way. Including decor.

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Live in KC myself. Q39 is good. We really love barbecue and enjoy a few places up here a lot, but after the top 2-3 places there is a huuuuge drop in quality. And even the top places aren't usually "great" all around. I've had 9 of the TM BBQ top 10* and of any of those places except Micklethewait was in KC they would instantly be the best place imo.

Just left Truth wearing a "Kansas City. Barbecue Capital ofnthe World" t-shirt and got quite a good ribbing. I had to let them know I come to Texas 2-3 times a year just to eat barbecue.

In KC you can have a great barbecue "meal" but if you want great straight up smoked meat Texas is unrivaled.

Make sure they send the chipotle and zesty sauces too. Zesty is awesome.

CDub06 said:

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The Salt Lick has all the atmosphere. The food isn't bad, but atmosphere is where it really shines.

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Really? I agree atmosphere is great (driftwood) but I think it's the most overrated bbq restaurant in the state. What would you rate it on your scale? I think Rudy's kicks its ass.

My wife likes Salt Lick, but I wasn't impressed at all. I don't like table service barbecue in general, and a convention center sized dining room with some trees around wasn't enough to overcome the fact that I didn't get to select the cuts that I wanted.

I give it like a B or so. I was expecting something worse than Rudy's but was surprised when it wasn't bad. I'd never take someone there, but it's better than Goode or Spring Creek or Pappas. Shame it's not better though, because it's a nice slab of land they have out there

txag2008 said:

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Evie Mae's in Lubbock. Really really solid place. Everything I had was top notch.

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I have a friend who was in Lubbock on business. I told him I had heard good things about Evie Mae's, so he was there yesterday also. He loved it. He said their chocolate pie was pretty legit also.

Heading back to KC now. Ended up going to Killens, Pit Room, Tejas, Corkscrew, Truth, Leroy and Lewis, Valentina's and John Mueller's Black Box.

I'll post some pictures soon. I enjoyed Tejas, Corkscrew and Black Box far more than anywhere else. Valentina's was awesome too but I only had tacos. Tejas' pastrami beef rib and Reuben are absolutely incredible And everything else was a solid A. Corkscrew has the most flavorful brisket I've ever had. The smoke was unreal. Their pork rib had the same excellent flavor but the tips were a little tough.

Truth was pretty disappointing this time. I'll chalk it up to a bad day. I had brisket, pulled pork and turkey. Everything else was sold out. Brisket and pulled pork were pretty dry and the brisket was cut way too thick.

Black Box was really good. Beef rib was one of the best I've ever had. That bark is just on another level and the meat was perfectly cooked. Pork ribs were solid. Sausage had fantastic snap and flavor, A+ there. Brisket was good but inconsistent.

The other joints were all good but nothing to write home about. L&L is doing some cool stuff. I enjoyed the beef cheeks but was disappointed in their beef rib. I didn't notice much from the szechuan peppercorn and the bark just wasn't great. Pretty tasty overall though.

Aggie1946 said:

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Truth was pretty disappointing this time. I'll chalk it up to a bad day. I had brisket, pulled pork and turkey. Everything else was sold out. Brisket and pulled pork were pretty dry and the brisket was cut way too thick.

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Dang, that's one of the first bad reviews I've heard on Truth, hopefully just a very rare off day for them. I've been a few times myself and always been extremely impressed, and everybody I've talked to that has been liked it a lot as well.

Your whole trip sounds like it was a good one though. I need to get down and try Corkscrew eventually.

Sounds like an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing.

Truth was incredible the first time I went. Not sure what was up...

Man that Tejas food looks legit. I've got to get down there.

Bummer on Truth. I'd probably chalk it up to maybe an off day as well as getting the last food of the day. Surprised they still had brisket if they were out of ribs and sausage already.

Last Friday I took the drive up to check out Tejas.

Unfortunately, the experience left me scratching my head as to if I just caught them on a bad day or if my palate is completely different from everyone else.

I got there not long after they opened, and they were out of burnt ends by 11:30. The line moved very slow despite not being very long. I ordered a bunch of stuff a la carte, along with the chocolate bread pudding.

Unfortunately the only thing that I found outstanding was the chocolate bread pudding and the pork belly. It wasn't that the rest of the food was terrible, but from my taste there was nothing spectacular about the brisket, pork ribs, etc.

The soda fountain was a cool touch, and the staff was very warm and friendly.

I haven't been able to try Truth yet, but my current rankings (in the Houston area):

Brisket: Pit Room
Sausage: Pit Room
Pork Ribs: Ray's on OST (sounds random, but their ribs are outstanding)
Pulled Pork: Killens
Beef Ribs: Killens (others come pretty close as well)
Pork Belly: Tejas