From an article in the Baltimore Sun:

The Lone Star State is widely known for its outstanding smokehouses, which produce some of the most succulent, slow-cooked meats on the planet. But this quiet town of 12,000, a 30-minute drive south of the state capital, has a special status. It’s the Barbecue Capital of Texas and has been since 1999, when the legislature in Austin passed a bill giving Lockhart the official seal of taste approval.

I promise you that this is not hyperbole. Gourmet Magazine, writing about the smoked meats of Lockhart once wrote, “the best BBQ in the heart of Texas, and therefore the best on earth.”

Yep.

There are four primary joints in Lockhart responsible for this designation: Black’s Barbecue, Smitty’s Market, Kreuz Market, and Chisholm Trail Barbecue (in the late 1860s Lockhart became a starting point for the Chisholm Trail).

All four of these BBQ joints routinely top any list of the Best BBQ Joints in Texas.

I’d be hard pressed to say which is my favorite — I’ve had outstanding Q at all four. But I end up at Kruez Market (pronounced Krites by the locals) more often than the others because 1) it’s the first joint on the way into town, and 2) because of how consistently good their brisket and ribs are.

Last Saturday I found myself on my bike making the all-too-familiar 37-mile ride down to Lockhart — and once again I pulled into Kruez.

The Joint

Kreuz Market, a century-old grocery store and meat market (opened in 1900) that evolved into a barbecue restaurant, serves its slow-cooked brisket, ribs, and sausage in a large red-brick-and-tin building.

Kreuz is the most traditional of the four barbecue places in Lockhart and refuses to provide barbecue sauce (”it just covers up the true flavor”) or forks (”for 100 years, folks here just used their hands and a knife. There’s no need to change”). A few side dishes have been added recently, including beans, German potato salad, sauerkraut and a new jalapeno cheese sausage (my wife’s favorite sausage in the area).

When you walk into Kruez, make sure and stop by the ATM machine near the front door if you don’t have plenty of cash on you — they don’t take credit cards and they don’t take checks. Per their house rules…err…traditions:

Here’s the menu:

Once you’ve figured out what you want, open the doors into the pit room and order your meat directly from the pit boss:

Pay for your meat, then head into the dining area where you can order your drink, choose from a very limited side-item menu, get your condiments (remember, no sauce), and plop your butt down at a table and dig in.

The Meat

The brisket at Cooper’s in Llano might be a little better. The pork spare ribs at Smitty’s might be a bit tastier. But the quality of the meat at Kruez is consistently outstanding — and I’ve eaten here so many times that I’d say I qualify as an expert on consistency. I’ve never had an experience here that wasn’t great. Or better.

I usually just order some brisket and some ribs — but if my wife is with me we get the jalapeño and cheese links too:

I always eat my bbq the same way — with a side of pinto beans, a lot of sliced white onion, a chunk of cheddar cheese, and some cayenne pepper/vinegar sauce (just a small dab on every other bite or so of brisket). That’s the homemade hot sauce in the Big Red soda bottle.

The brisket is just the way I like it here — nothing but salt and pepper rub, slightly black on the outside, but fall apart tender on the inside. I always try to order from the fatty or moist side of the brisket.

The ribs are always exceptionally meaty and tender — I don’t think I’ve ever been served “small” ribs here. The smokey flavor is addicting, and I always take home extra (plus, my dogs love the bones).

The Ride

There’s not much between Austin and Lockhart — and it’s such a short ride that there’s really not much point in stopping along the way anyhow.

However, if you have a little bit of time to kill, stop and visit the Lockhart City Cemetery — one of the oldest and biggest cemeteries in all of Central Texas.

Overall Impression

Consistently great q makes Kruez Market one of the top bbq joints in all of Texas. At Kruez it really is all about the meat — and they do it so well that you won’t care that there aren’t many sides to choose from or tasty deserts (other than handscooped Blue Bell ice cream cones) to choose from.

You might find better bbq elsewhere on any given day — but not this close to Austin. And at Kruez you know it will always be good (pit bosses can have bad days too…so I usually try not to judge a joint too harshly after just one visit — but I’ve never had that “bad day” at Kruez).

If you have a friend or family visiting from out of town — or especially from out of state — then skip the more popular Salt Lick BBQ in Marble Falls Driftwood and take them to Kruez Market instead.

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Monday, November 5th, 2007 | Trackback |