. . . unless you care about barbecue, that is.
I’ve just arrived in Austin, and if you are here, too, and you care about the sweet goodness of slowly smoked meat almost as much as you care about intense importance of quickly getting this country back on track, then maybe we should talk. . . .
I know Austin has a lot to offer us—some red-hot music, an icy-cold watering hole, and a whole lot of great speakers, panels, and organizing sessions at Netroots Nation—but if you’re a ‘cue chaser, then perhaps you are thinking what I’m thinking: We are so close to really great barbecue!
Sure, Austin proper has some barbecue joints that get good reviews (or maybe not, I leave it to those with local experience to, uh, flesh out this point), but the legendary pits are a little further afield.
If you live ‘round these parts (I don’t), or do silly things like read about barbecue, go to barbecue festivals, and/or make wholehearted half-successful stabs at smoking on your own (I do all three), then you know that I am speaking here of the heady smoke, plump sausages, and fatty brisket at places like Louie Mueller, City Market, Smitty’s Market, Kreuz Market, Southside Market, Black’s, and Salt Lick.
But these hallowed, hazy halls are not in Austin—they are in magical places with names like Luling, Taylor, Lockhart, and Elgin. Now, as noted, I am not from these parts, and though I am told that all of these places are in the area, I know that you can’t walk to any of them from the downtown Hilton.
So, what are we to do?
This is my first YK/NN, so I will admit a solid ignorance about the amount of time we might have to explore parts adjacent. The schedule looks chockfull of events that I expect I will want to attend, but I gotta think there will time for a few intrepid gourmands to venture out to one or two of these legendary smoke joints. (Or at least I hope there will be time—is that audacious of me?)
So, barbecue it is—but how. . . and when?
Alas, beyond tossing out the idea, stoking the coals, throwing another gnarled (hickory? mesquite? apple wood?) log on the fire, I have no plan to offer. I also have no car to offer. So I turn to you, my fellow ‘cue-craving Kossacks. . . if there are fellow travelers here who share my desire for fire, who care about smoky links as much as hyperlinks, who want to chew the fat while actually chewing fat, please drop me note below—all suggestions are welcome—and let’s try to make this happen!