Text 25434, 72 rader
Skriven 2015-03-27 05:15:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: bbq trip San Ant 432
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Two barbecues in San Antonio and one in Lockhart

A little birdie told me about Two Brothers, a newish pit in
the north part of town. It's hard to find, tucked off the
road in a glade of trees behind a Mexican restaurant, out
of which came nice smells that tempted us despite our
mission, which was the fabled moist brisket.

The place was deserted when we arrived, so I took my time
ordering, which meant that I ordered too much. A pound of
moist, fine; but how did I get it into my head to get a
sausage, a chicken thigh, and a pair of ribs, these latter
two recent aberrations in the Texas Q repertoire, sort of
like a string quartet playing Lady Gaga arrangements?

Anyhow, the moist was some of the best I've ever had, good
smoke, well seasoned, tender as Franklin. And the chicken
thigh was absolutely delicious, the meat moist though done
enough that the skin had turned into extremely tasty leather.
The sausage, having a bit of pork ground in to the beef
base, was not quite authentic but juicy, spicy, and worth
eating. The ribs - one good, full-size, moist and juicy,
though the rub did it no favors, the other, well, we were
full enough not to miss it when it went into the can. I got
me a Shiner black, but for Lilli we smuggled in a bottle of
Nieto Senetiner Malbec, whose natural smokiness went well,
though by itself the wine managed to be both too sweet and
too sour at the same time.

--
The Granary is down inland from the Riverwalk someplace,
I'm not sure I could find it again amid the yuppified
warehouse district that surrounds it. It's actually an
old bungalow turned bar in the same way the 6th St. homes
in Austin have done.

The beer list is handwritten on a chalkboard behind the
bar, and I couldn't read it, so I threw myself on the
mercy of the bartender, describing what I favored vs.
what they had on tap there.

I sampled three of her recommendations, extremely diverse
choices - a black IPA, which I liked, but which probably
would war with brisket, a Weizenbock with not so much
Weizen in it, which I decided Lilli might drink, and a
Saison that was way out in left field, a strange Belgianish
substance that I didn't favor at all.

When we'd arrived, people were beginning to queue up for
happy hour. At first I took this to mean that food wasn't
starting up for a while, but that wasn't so - barbecue was
available, not the bargain-priced gastronomique food that
those guys wanted. So I ordered another pound of moist,
which came out pretty quickly, almost but not quite tempting
these other folks into rethinking their plan. I took the
order to Lilli, waiting patiently at a table in the next
room. The meat was excellent. Not as fine-grained and marbled
as at the very top places, more the pullly pot-roasty that
the second rank tends to exhibit. Rich smoky flavor.

Lilli, not wanting any beer after all, had the Angeline Pinot
Noir, I don't remember if we smuggled it in, were allowed to
bring it in, or bought it there. It was a tasty though somewhat
characterless generic Pinot Noir of the grapy west coast style.
It was the drink of choice with the brisket, its bright
acidity cutting the fat nicely. The Weizen, which she turned
her nose up at, went okay as well, so it didn't go to waste.
I had my black IPA for dessert.

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