Texas Barbecue Chapter 3

City Market Luling, Texas 3/2/09

The City Market in Luling is one of the premier barbecue houses in all of Texas. It consistently rates in the top ten in Texas year after year, by many different rating groups and/or individuals. We have eaten here once before, about five years ago.

Luling is fifty miles east of San Antonio, situated in long low undulating hills. The movie, Second Hand Lions, was filmed not too far away. A double railroad track runs the length of the business district in a grassy parkway. The town of about 5000 hosts a watermelon festival every summer.

The City Market is a modest place in an old building in downtown Luling. The pits are in the screened-in back room. It’s necessary to walk the length of the restaurant and enter the cramped dark smoky pit area where you order from one of three pit men. He slices up what you want, flops it in brown butcher paper, squeezes the ends of the paper up so that the package resembles a canoe and you pay for your meat in the pit room – cash only please. Carry your meat back into the restaurant and you can buy side orders at a counter back in the middle of the eating area. Beans and potato salad are your only choices. You get drinks there also. We noticed that Big Red was the choice of at least 60% of the diners while we were there. This visit was at lunch time, and most of the customers appeared to be locals. The majority were either Hispanic or African American.

The meats are served without a sauce, but one is available back in the eating area. We tasted the sauce and found it very good. Many of the Texas barbeque houses have perfected a mild sauce with a great balance of sweet, sour and spice over a tomato base, and this was one. Good as it was, we felt the meat was better sans sauce. We thought the brisket and ribs were among the best we have had. The brisket was moist, cooked until it wouldn’t hold together, and with a wonderful smoked outer layer. We both rated the brisket 4.5. The ribs were almost as good, but not quite as moist. We rated them 4. The sausages were smaller than we have usually experienced, seemed to have been smoked forever, and had an unusual mixture of spices. The skin was brittle and crackly, and the meat was coarsely chopped. The result was a sausage unlike any we have had previously. Despite this, B liked it. However, K did not. We rated the sausage 3.5 and 1, respectively. The beans were ordinary, but the mustard potato salad was quite good (per B).

This place has great atmosphere, and very good food. I'm glad we don't live close by Luling - we'd be there too often. The City Market is near the top of our list, and we will return whenever we are near.

New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church. Huntsville, TX 3/4/09

We were fortunate to find this smoke house open on a Wednesday. We had understood they were open Wednesday through Saturday, but the new sandwich sign out at the curb said Thursday – Saturday. Smoke was curling up from the smoker in the front driveway, so I was encouraged. I was there at 8 AM, just to confirm I could find this church-run barbecue house. An old black gentleman was tending the smoker, and he explained that they had had a request to accommodate a tour coming up from Houston, 80 miles to the south, so they would be open on this particular Wednesday.

We had first learned of this barbecue joint in a book by Bill Geist, the CBS TV human interest reporter. He had given the food rave reviews, but had been even more impressed by a wife and husband team that had decided they could open a restaurant on church property, and give all the profits to the church. New Mt. Zion also shows up in the Texas Monthly Top 50 in Texas List. Territory north of Houston is unknown to us, and far from our hill country favorites, so we had made a special side excursion on our way east and out of Texas.

We were the first customers at 11 AM. This place is very humble, as you will note from the photo. The interior floors have long ago assumed a posture that is clearly more comfortable for them than level, or even uniformly sloped. There were six long oilcloth covered tables inside. The ambiance level was high. We ordered the only smoked items that were available on this unusual Wednesday, ribs and brisket. Pinto beans and potato salad were the sides that were offered. The two meats came to the counter with a light covering of the house sauce. This version shaded toward the vinegar end of the spectrum. B was happier with the sauce than was K. Both meats were well smoked and done so that they fell apart at the slightest pressure. Our particular ribs were quite fatty. We rated the brisket at 4 and the ribs at 3. The sides were forgetable.

We suspect we not return to the New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

The Shed Ocean Springs, MS 3/5/09

We now have a clearer understanding of how to watch DD&D. If Guy Fieri makes a comment that could possibly be construed as negative, make a note of that. In this case, as the barbecue sauce was being mixed up at The Shed, he commented, “wow, that’s going to be really sweet”. We had brisket, ribs and pulled pork. All came heavily soaked in a sauce that seemed to be one part tomato and four parts sugar. No other spices were detectable. The sauce drowned any possibility of detecting a smoke taste. In addition the brisket had been chopped. We were very disappointed. No ratings were issued or earned.