I spend a lot of Saturday mornings and afternoons riding my motorcycle to small Hill Country towns in search of the best ribs and brisket in Texas. Perhaps one of the most famous BBQ joints in all of Texas is:

• An easy 66.7 mile ride from my house in west Austin.
• Always recommended whenever the talk turns to great BBQ (this topic comes up often here in Texas).
• I have the same last name as this place.
• President Bush’s favorite BBQ joint.

And yet I’d never been to Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-b-que in Llano, TX.

In 2001, Texas Monthly magazine published a list of 50 Things Every Texan Should Do. The Top 3 were:

1. Read William Barret Travis’s famous letter while inside the Alamo.
2. Raft down the Rio Grand through Big Bend’s Santa Elena Canyon.
3. Pick your own piece of meat from the giant pit at Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano.

I can now check #3 off my list.

The Ride

Llano, TX (Google Map) is about 70 miles NW of Austin and takes you through the hills where the last Indian battles were fought in Texas. Make sure and stop to read the two historical markers near Packsaddle Mountain in the southern part of Llano County:

A mile further west is this historical marker:

Yes, those are bullet holes in the sign. Here’s another view of Packsaddle Mt. (click for larger image):

Here’s your traveling hero exploring some side roads around Packsaddle Mt. off of Hwy 71:

The Town

Llano is a quiet town of 3325 people — a bit higher on Saturdays when bus-loads of tourists stop for lunch and hundreds of bikers stop on their way to somewhere else. The Llano River runs through the National Historic Downtown, and you’ll need to cross the old Roy Inks Bridge over the river (heading north) to get to Cooper’s Bar-b-que.

The Joint

Pulling up to Cooper’s Bar-b-que, the first thing I noticed were all the motorcycles parked up front and on the sides. This is pretty common, as I’ve found a lot of other riders, clubs, and groups who plan their rides along the route of great BBQ joints.

When you arrive at Cooper’s, you don’t go inside. Instead you get in line outside, as shown in the above picture. Then, when it’s your turn, you pick out your meat from the outdoor wood-burning pit (”cowboy style” with hot coals directly under the meat; the dripping juices sizzle like mad):

The pit is filled with slabs of beef and pork ribs, brisket, chicken halves, sausage links (jalapeno and regular), sirloin steaks, cabrito (goat), and Cooper’s specialty, the Big Chop (pork chops as big as a mini-roast):

The pit master will slice you as much or as little of any piece of meat that you want. He’ll ask if you want sauce (NOTE — almost everybody said yes to the sauce. He then takes your entire slab of meat and dunks it in a large pot of a thin, red vinegary sauce.)

It is my recommendation that you also have him dunk your meat in their sauce, as it’s part of what separates Cooper’s from anywhere else.

He then drops all of your meat onto a read plastic tray, and you head inside to pay.

I opted for a bit more than a 1/2 of brisket and 4 pork ribs, all doused in their house sauce. The meat was weighed and wrapped in butcher paper as I made my way down the line. I didn’t order any side items, and opted for ice tea.

The ribs and brisket were about $7 each, and my entire lunch tab was about $16 (which would be more than enough food for two normal people. I’m not normal).

The eating area is comprised of large wooden tables, where everybody eats family style (you won’t have a table to yourself). The bread, hot sauce, and other condiments are on the table. At each end of the dining room, you’ll find raw onion (no pickles) and a huge pot of pinto beans (complimentary).

The beans were good but not great, with just a mild flavor. But they were a nice compliment to the very flavorful BBQ.

The Meat

My pork ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender, and had a good (but not great) meat-to-bone ratio. The house sauce is a thin vinegar and cayenne pepper sauce that doesn’t distract from the meat at all, but adds a great and distinctive complimentary flavor.

My brisket was not as fatty as I typically like it, but the smoky flavor was as good as any brisket as I’ve ever had, and it was exceptionally tender. I have a feeling though, that had I not doused the brisket in the sauce, it might have been a little dryer than I like.

The brisket and ribs were as good as I’ve ever had, and I would highly recommend either. But I think I missed out by not trying the sirloin (which was rare and juicing with a peppery crust, judging by all of the slabs of it that were being eaten around me) and the Big Chop.

I think a return trip (soon) is in order to try these two items.

I’ve heard a lot of people say that Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-b-que is the best in the state. I think it would take more research and a few more visits (to judge their consistency) to say for sure — but after just one trip, I can tell you that it deserves to be in the conversation, and it was definitely worth the 159-mile round trip ride.

Rating: 10 out of 10 rib-bones

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On the ride home I turned off on Farm Road 2233, heading north towards Lake LBJ and the village of Sunrise Beach, TX (the name of the village, just 4 miles north of Hwy 71 was too intriguing not to drive through).

At a house sitting on a small inlet from the lake, I stopped to take a picture of these 5 large buck whitetail deer that were resting in the shade of somebody’s front yard:

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Sunday, September 16th, 2007 | Trackback |