Texas Hill Country BBQ

Texas Hill Country Barbecue Trail Tour
as experienced by Jeffrey Couch, Rick Moehring, Glenn Smith and Jerry Wolfskill

15 Texas Barbecue Joints in Three Days!
by Jeffrey Couch

Chillin' at the Salt Lick Bar B-Q in Driftwood, Texas
(Photo, left to right: Glenn and Jeffrey. Jerry is on Jeffrey's right side nawin' on a rib. Rick was either under the table looking for more ribs or was behind the camera.)

If four guys could have an amazing road trip experience eating Texas Hill Country barbecue, we did! What we didn't expect was eating at 15 total restaurants in three days, May 7-9, 2004! This feat included nine barbecue restaurants the first day, three barbecue restaurants the second day, and three barbecue restaurants the third day. We soon discovered on the first day, to our relief, the joy and gastronomic benefit of eating Blue Bell ice cream in between eating at all the barbecue joints on our tour. Believe it or not, Blue Bell made for smoother and better digestion of the salty, greasy barbecue.

Our quest began when Jeffrey Couch, Rick Moehring, Glenn Smith, and Jerry Wolfskill, of G.A.S. group fame, flew down to kick off the first leg of our Texas Hill Country Barbecue Trail Tour in San Antonio. After we arrived, we quickly rented a car and drove straight to Luling. In Luling, we met Jerry's brother and sister-in-law and ate at the City Market and Luling Bar-B-Q. Next, we jumped in the car and went lickedy split to Lockhart, apparently the barbecue capital of Texas. We ate at Black's Barbecue, Kreuz Market, Chisolm Trail Bar-B-Q (the second favorite place in Texas) and Smitty's. With no time to spare, we headed for Taylor where we ate at Rudy Mikeska's and the Taylor Cafe. Unfortunately, Louie Mueller closed early because he ran out of 'cue. Next, we hightailed it for Coupland where we discovered and met Jim Huntington, a philosopher-artist who makes some cool sculpture out of huge granite stones. After taking in the art, we headed across the street and partook of some barbecue at the Old Coupland Inn and Dancehall. Here we learned one of the owners is from Scotland and she makes some delicious blackberry pie. That night, we drove to Granger and met and visited with Rick's Uncle Red, local fishing legend and character, and listened to honky tonk music while watching folks do Texas two stepping at the Cotton Club and Steakhouse.

On the second day, we went to Elgin, Austin, Driftwood and Fredericksburg. Elgin is home to Cross Town Bar-B-Q, the finest barbecue joint we ate at in the state. The owners served us with a plethora of meats. Wow, it was so good Glenn brought back some Cross Town brisket, ribs, and sausage after his second visit so that we could eat and remember good thoughts of Cross Town. In Austin, we took in The Story of Texas at the Texas State History Museum. Next, we drove to Driftwood and ate at The Salt Lick under the beautiful cottonwood trees and then it was on to Fredericksburg. Wow, Fredericksburg! It's a nice German town with beautiful European architecture and a nice city market square where you can buy arts and crafts. This was the prettiest place we visited. On our way out of town, we passed and drove back to eat at Cranky Frank's Barbecue. Since we were so close to San Antonio, we boot scooted on down to take in the Riverwalk and eat steak at the Texas Land and Cattle Company. Bully!

The third day found us at Rudy's in Leon Springs and the Bar-B-Q Patio and Tom's Ribs in San Antonio. That afternoon, we strolled the Markado in San Antonio.

Yeehaw! This was a first-rate, awesome barbecue adventure that even Teddy Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and Earnest Hemmingway would have loved to experience. We traveled hundreds of miles, ate barbecue with no sauce added, and saw dozens of animal heads mounted on the walls of every barbecue joint in the Texas Hill Country Region. All in all, it was a barbecue right of passage that four Kansas City boys will remember the rest of their lives!

City Market in Luling, Texas
Black's Barbecue in Lockhart, Texas	Kreuz's Market in Lockhart, Texas If you look closely at the top picture, you'll see KCBS table sheets Glenn brought along for rating the 'cue. Jeffrey made comment sheets for each restaurant, but these just got in the way of eating.
(In the picture on the left are, left to right: Rick Moehring, Jerry Wolfskill, Vencil Mares (owner and nice guy), Jeffrey Couch and Glenn Smith) Taylor Cafe in Taylor, Texas This place is located next to the railroad tracks almost under a bridge. Motorcycles and beat-up pick-up trucks were parked outside. The front facade of the building made it look condemned. After we walked into the joint and looked around at the rough-looking crowd, we thought we'd have to fight everyone at the bar with our bare hands to get back outside. Thankfully, folks kept to themselves and ignored us.
The Old Coupland Inn and Dancehall in Coupland, Texas
The Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas
Cross Town Bar-B-Q in Elgin, Texas We unanimously agreed this was the best place in Texas for everything.
Rudy's in Leon Springs, Texas	The Bar-B-Q Patio in San Antonio, Texas

On May 7, 2004, a day that will live in infamy, Rick, Jeffrey, Glenn and Jerry left the comfortable confines of Johnson County and headed to Texas. We started our day riding in Glen's mafia mobile to the airport. Although many have been called, only the bravest, dedicated and courageous went forth to discover BBQ in the dusty, hot and rural country side. Staying in rundown motels with no shampoo, we persevered to examine and evaluate BBQ in the heart of the Lone Star state. Experiencing 9 BBQ joints in one day would have been too much for the GAS wimps and dweebs we left behind at the college. Being the nice guys that we are, sharing the ratings with those too timid to go will give us great pleasure. On the second day of our quest, we visited 3 more BBQ joints and took in a dance hall in Taylor, Texas. We watched a lot of boot scooting and experienced Blue Bell ice cream, the only acceptable ice cream in Texas. Then, on the 3rd day, we visited 3 more BBQ joints. We visited other sacred Texas places and finished our tour at City Market in San Antonio on Mother's Day. Jeffrey was our trusted driver throughout the trip and was very patient with Glen and Rick who would tell him where to turn just after he passed it. Putting up with Glenn's snoring was another challenge but again we accepted it and went on. We met a lot of good ole boys and had some great BBQ and some bad BBQ. We finished our trip on Midwest Express and enjoyed their chocolate chip cookies. On the 4th day we rested!