Wasn't it Socrates who once said that Barbeque is the highest art form which a cook can aspire to? Or is that why the Golden Age ended - they lost the secrets of marinating brisket properly? Somehow, passed down from generation to generation and from the old world to the new, the deepest secrets of smoking meat to perfection have been preserved by the Schmidt family and put on display at Kreuz Market in Lockhart, Texas.
Lockhart is the Mecca of Texas Barbeque, largely because of Kreuz Market and its cousin Smitty's Market. The original Kreuz Market began selling Barbeque out of the back room of the butcher shop and market when the Schmidt family took over the store from the Kreuzes in 1948. Pretty soon their exceptional smoked meats became the main focus of the business. After 99 years in the same location, Kreuz's ended up moving to a new location on the Austin-Lockhart road because of a family squabble over who would control the market. Part of the family stayed behind and launched Smitty's Market in the original Kreuz's location and Rick Schmidt built a literal palace of Barbeque to continue the Kreuz Market tradition.
Both the new Kreuz's and Smitty's have the same basic meat recipes and the same general style of presenting their offerings, but they've added small variations to their menus since they split up, while keeping the essentials the same. For example you won't find German Potatoes or Sauerkraut at Smitty's, but they're open on Sundays - trying a bit harder since they didn't get to keep the name - and they've made some small changes in how they cook some of the meats. Both are excellent, but there are just enough differences to distinguish them from each other. Look for a full review of Smitty's soon. The new Kreuz's is literally a barbeque palace, with enormous pits modeled on the brick monstrosities at the old location but three times the size, and with two dining halls big enough to function as a convention center. There are two cutting blocks and two condiment bars so there's not much of a problem with lines even at prime times. It's the biggest barbeque restaurant I've ever seen, easily large enough to accomodate 800 diners.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
Ooh, exciting. I got a trackback.
Dave
2 - Aaman
Very nice article, too, Dave. What do you think of the BBQ joints in Dallas?
3 - Dave Nalle
I'm not as familiar with BBQ in Dallas as I am in the central Texas area. I've tried a lot of them, but none really stood out. I'm going to go up there at some point this year and have my brother-in-law show me around to some of the better ones. I'll write reviews if any of them seem particularly good.
There are a couple of small BBQ chains up there which aren't bad -Red, Hot and Blue and Colter's. I also want to try Sonny Bryan's and Dickey's which are supposed to be the best up there. What I've heard about Sonny Bryan's isn't that appealing to me personally. Dickey's sounds more like my kind of place.
Dave