The locations: Snow's, Franklin, Smitty's, and Cooper's
Distance driven: ~380 miles
Funds expended: ~$170
Start: 6:30am (meet in Round Rock at 7:15)
Finish: 7:15pm
My apologies for the pictures, they were taken with my phone and edited only slightly. I'd like to take a nice camera but the grease..... This is a BBQ crawl after all.
Snow's - Lexington TX
http://www.snowsbbq.com/
This was my second trip to Snow's and the food lived up to the 2 year old memory. BBQ at 8:45am is an experience that I think more people should experience. This is a great way to start a day and aside from the drive this is a great place. My brisket was excellent but a few of our party complained that they got a dry portion. The pork loin and the sausage were the stars here and probably the best examples of those meats all day. They have a little bit of seating inside but since it was so early we chose outdoors for more space.
Franklin BBQ - Austin TX
http://franklinbarbecue.com/
We got to Franklin between 10 and 10:30am. The line was already frighteningly long and it was approaching 100°. We spent 2 hours in line and ended up sitting outside where it was shaded but still fairly miserable. The brisket more than made up for the wait and the sausage was also very good. One of our party got the last 4 pork ribs and reported that they were very good. I can't say enough about the brisket here. It's juicy and has a condensed beef flavor that I am not used to getting in this cut of meat, and a perfect bark. The owner here is a true artisan, he just needs more seating, more meat and faster service.
Smitty's Market - Lockhart TX
http://www.smittysmarket.com/
Smitty's is in Lockhart and the food is good, the unfortunate thing about a BBQ crawl is that sometimes the order of the visits puts a location at a disadvantage. Following Franklin is tough for 2 reasons. First is the fact that noone lives up to Franklin's Brisket and second after the sun stroke inducing wait at Franklin, most weren't even hungry enough to order much real BBQ and settled for ice cream and drinks. The food was all good and I still think Smitty's is an excellent BBQ experience but their execution is just not up to the comparison in this years crawl. They were the biggest disappointment.
Cooper's BBQ - Llano TX
http://www.coopersbbq.com/
Our car was the only one to make it to Llano because of some nonsence about taking a wrong turn (in a car with ATLEAST 4 GPS units going to a place that they have been to before). We got there after 6pm and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they still had pork chops and even some lamb chops left. The brisket here was good but again after Franklin... well i think i have beat on that enough. The star here for me is always the pork chop, they are huge and juicy and the black pepper and salt crust is excellent. The lamb chop might even give the pork chop a run for the best thing I had here but pork is king and that settles any confusion about what is best to get at coopers. Their line was short and their service fast, their dinign area wasn't huge but its bigger than anyone but Smitty's on this crawl and they also give away free beans which would come into play on a normal trip where space in the stomach isn't at a premium.
The Conclusion....
It's hard to not pick Franklin as the best BBQ experience because their attention to detail and raw skill in their products is by far the best of the day but the wait in the sun and then not having a very comfortable dining experience thanks to the same sun leaves me with no choice but to say that Cooper's In Llano Texas is the best all around BBQ experience in Central Texas.
Here is a report card I made up to help justify my decision. I am a little disturbed because it shows Smitty's as a second best choice and I would have to go with Franklin or Snow's as a second on pure emotion.
