Text 35728, 85 rader
Skriven 2010-03-11 17:46:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 913
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A dilemma: prepaid breakfast before prepaid AYCE Q.

Gluttony or thrift or whatever won out. I shoveled a few
sausages and strips of bacon down the hatch to make a good
prelude for the day; then e-mail, then our Sheraton awaits.

It's about 30 miles to Driftwood, the site of the original
Salt Lick Barbecue. The site lists two others, but as it
turns out these are a stadium and an airport concession.
And twisty turny miles they are, so by the time we got there,
we were hungry to a frenzy. Well, not really, but it sounds
good. We were sent to the misnomered Garden Room, a concrete
monstrosity tacked onto the back of the annex, which itself
is across the driveway from the real restaurant and the pit;
it looks and feels like the mess hall at summer camp, if you
went to summer camp when you were a kid. The food is
summer camply only if you had the good fortune to go to
summer camp in heaven, though.

(Oh, by the way, we stopped en route at a place called
Bubba's, as there isn't a beer to be had at the Salt Lick,
which is in apparently dry Hays County. There's a pretty
good selection of beers and some wines at not-too-bad
prices. They do make it up in volume - this is the nearest
boozerium to the pilgrimage site. I got a Lone Star (tastes
sort of like PBR) for old times' sake; forty plus years ago,
underage and thirsty, I'd drink this or Jax, which I believe
no longer is made, and thank goodness for small favors.)

The prix fixe offers family-style (if your family is called
a pride or a streak) platters made up of

brisket - very tender, nice flavor, almost corned beefy but
without most of the salt. Smoke wasn't overdone, but I like
oversmoked meat if it's not too salty;

ribs - excellent; the exemplar of ribs if you will: smoky,
tender, but not mushy nor falling apart. But I am a
Texas Q purist - pork must take second place to beef;

sausage - I think maybe the best spicing, but I thought it
quite a bit too salty for my diet.

The famous sauce came on top and on the side. I thought the
small dose on top was more than plenty, but I am not a great
fan of the mustardy sauces, of which this is one.

Vegetables on the side:

chicken - it was chicken, what can I say. As close to a
vegetable as animal protein can be. Even with gallinophiles
dominating our table there was a piece left over;

potato salad - cuminy and tasting almost like Indian food;
I liked this quite a bit;

beans - good for beans; but I didn't want to discomfit my
traveling companion(s) by my reaction to beans;

slaw - didn't taste, partially because it's green and
partially for the same reason.

Interesting thing about the brisket - after the table
polished off all of it, I ordered a second plate, whose
contents were less tender and juicy than the first (but
still well in contention with the best from the previous
day). It also came unsauced, a plus.

Our table ate distressingly modestly. I am told that
others made up for our abstemiousness, and it is said that
one wealthy but thrifty person ordered a platter of brisket
after being full, to stuff it in a giant Ziploc that
somehow miraculously appeared at the table.

We accompanied our meal with my Layer Cake Shiraz, Lilli's
Butterfield Station Cab, and the aforementioned Lone Star.
Also offered were Shiner beers aplenty, in various flavors
and colors, courtesy of the Sheraton guy.

Dessert (extra charge) was I believe peach cobbler, anyhow
something cobbler. Our table I believe passed unanimously.

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