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Skriven 2015-04-01 09:53:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: San Marcos 454
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On to the sleepy town of San Marcos, whose claims to fame
have been based on the blind salamander (native to the springs
in town) and Texas State Normal School (now University; the
only Texas institute of higher education to have a president
of the US as an alumnus). Lately, it's become a bit of a
cultural center, especially of the barbecue culture and,
though I didn't see this, the football.

We made the evocatively named Viola Street Inn our local
headquarters - it's a Victorian house that, long derelict, has
been turned into quite a luxurious b&b furnished with period
articles. The breakfasts are elaborate and abundant enough to
keep one going all day, which is bad for someone of moderate
appetite going on a bbq pilgrimage. The rooms are quaint,
the beds comfy, the public areas inviting and stacked with
candy in huge jars, chips, fruit, and snacks of all kinds. The
housekeeper and her daughter, both quite lovely, bake abundant
goodies for breakfast and tea and snacking in between. My
downfall (despite the dairy-laden starchy delights available)
was the Hershey's Special Dark with Almonds, for which I raided
the candy jar and came away with some 40 miniatures.

Note to the unsuspecting. Hershey's Special Dark with Almonds
contains lactose.

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Hays Co. BBQ is on the southbound frontage road of I-35 and
thus not too easy to get to unless you already know where it
is. Well, the clue is it's behind an auto body shop.

This was a rarity among smokeries - it was run by black
people (as opposed to people named Black). Of the bunch of
Texas joints we've visited, I recall only Sam's and this one.

Our moist brisket was pretty good - not world class either in
meat or seasoning rub or smoking, but quite respectable.

A rib came kind of dry and ehh. If I'd have known, I would
have asked for some sauce for it. I also got a sausage ring,
which was pretty textureless though fairly balanced and
decent-tasting with the salt and pepper and smoke.

You can get sliced onions and jalapenos for free, whole
peppers for some amount of money, but when I went back for
a whole one and tried to pay the guy waved me off.

Martin Ray Cabernet was a decent accompaniment, a little
sweetish, brambly-curranty, with spice notes. For drinking
by itself, the reserve version might be fine, but this fewer
dimensional one went unobtrusively with beef.

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San Marcos BBQ is a little outside of town. It's run by
yet another scion, this time of the grandson of the pitmaster
at Chisholm Trail in Lockhart. We'd heard good things and
were eager to see what another family could come up with. At
the original Chisholm we'd found the brisket luxuriously
moist but not smoked long or intensely enough.

Here the moist brisket was nicely smoked but not nearly moist
enough - mostly regular with a strip of fatty on top, a bit
more chew than I was hoping for.

The rib was excellent though (or perhaps because) sugar-rubbed;
a sausage ring was mushier even than that from Hays, with a
mouthfeel that normal people might find unpleasant but that I
tolerated well.

Maipe Cabernet was a bit heavier than the Martin Ray, a little
acidy as well, nothing notable.

We had also been told to go to Kent Black's, but investigation
yielded that it was though technically unrelated to Black's of
Lockhart, in fact owned and overseen by the same Kent Black who
controls the Lockhart-Austin operation and is the deadly
competitor to Terry Black, see below. Being confused by all
these Blacks, we decided to give this location a pass; perhaps
we should have gone for the sake of science, but there is only
so much moist brisket one can eat.

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