Gotta admit, that's good eating! Been there done that, would love to again!
Someday I'll have to tell yall about Cheseapeake Bay Blue Crabs. Get a long
picnic table, roll out a roll of brown butcher paper for a table cloth, get
a few wooded hammers, rolls of paper towels and bring on Da Number one hard
crab for good eating!!
PS, also good reading. Did you get out of the Lone Star State "unhung"?
----------
> From: CobMeister@aol.com
> To: alpines@autox.team.net; tigers@autox.team.net
> Cc: johnsmallwood@santafehotels.com
> Subject: RIP in Round Rock (#C, VERY Limited Sunbeam Content)
> Date: Sunday, August 23, 1998 2:00 PM
>
> So anyway,
>
> Back on the road tomorrow, me and Janet and the 'Beamish Boy. The
general
> direction will be west but the precise routing is best left unsaid... The
less
> warning they have the better!
>
> The layover here has been good... I did not accomplish much on the car
but it
> was not for lack of opportunity. Did enjoy plenty of quality time with
the
> kids.
>
> Yesterday, Saturday, August 22, dawned gray, rainy and hot. Actually,
the
> high only got up to 84 degrees -- cool and comfy by comparison to what we
have
> been experiencing -- and at noon the relative humidity was 100%. Hovered
> around that reading all the day long.
>
> With outside activities not really a reasonable choice, we spent much of
the
> day at the movies, some big ol' 20 screen movie plex, where we watched
The
> Negotiator, a pretty decent film though a bit longish. After the show we
went
> out for -- you guessed it -- barbecue.
>
> Rudy's is a semi-interesting place. A convenience store-gas station with
a
> barbecue pit incorporated. Actually, that is misleading as all hell
since the
> pit is now the place. It is an old Austin tradition and I am sure a real
gold
> mine.
>
> Brian was very hesitant to go near the place this Saturday because it has
been
> advertised as a Corvette Saturday at Rudy's, about 200 cars and 300
people
> expected to show up for show n' shine n' slop. However, I point out to
Brian
> that: A, ain't no way the Corvettites are gonna have their cars out in
the
> rain and 2, it is almost 3 PM and there ain't no Corvettites gonna still
be
> suckin' up the hot guts even if they did brave the rain to begin with.
>
> At Rudy's red clapboard building you go in past the cashier for the gas
(the
> automotive gas) and queue up for smoked meats, pulling your drink choice
> --Shiner's, Lone Star, Big Red, and IBC Root Beer, mostly, out of ice
filled
> galvanized water tanks on your way. 'Tater salad (reg'lar and mustard),
cole
> slaw, beans, and so forth are available by the 1/2 pint, pint, quart, and
> gallon.
>
> The meats themselves, beef (brisket) @ 4.14 per half-pound, extra lean
beef @
> 4.49 per half-pound, pork loin, turkey, and chicken, all at $4.39 per
half-
> pound, and hot sausage @ $2.29 per link. I ordered up a pound of extra
lean
> -- gotta think about the ol' ticker, ya know --, haffa pound of turkey,
haffa
> pound of pork, four hot links, pint'a beans, pint'a tater salad, and four
soda
> pops. From the convenience store side Dana picked up a big bag o'chips
and we
> made our way to spots on one of the extra long picnic tables. We ate
inside
> because of the ladies... I'd have been happier at one of the outside
(under
> roof) picnic tables but my opinion was not solicited.
>
> The meats -- which hit the cash register at just over $51, but hey! Half
this
> stuff went home in a bag -- come with a loaf of sliced Wonder bread, some
> plastic table wear, and four pieces of butcher paper. No plates. Quart
> bottles of hot barbecue sauce (at Rudy's, spelled "sause") and big boxes
of
> Morton Salt (no salt shaker) and Pepper (need I say it?) along with
bottles of
> totally superfluous Tabasco sit at the end of each table.
>
> The beans turned out to be so spicy even I couldn't hardly stand to eat
them
> but the rest of the meal was absolutely delicious! Janet alone struggled
> along for a while with her plastic knife and fork, the rest of us knew
that
> this is all finger food and proceeded accordingly.
>
> Rudy's is arguably the best barbecue in Austin. Oh sure, it is still
pretty
> pale when compared to the Saltlick, the Buda BBQ, the Manchaca
(pronounced
> Man-chak) Fire Department, or the County Line, but awfully, awfully good
and
> much closer in. I am really glad we were able to get to Rudy's for a
bite.
>
> This morning the Sunday, August 23, Austin American Statesman has a big
> article on the Kruez (pronounced approximately as "Krees") Market in
Lockhart,
> Texas, about 40 miles south of here. Now, this joint is the certainteed
best
> barbecue in Texas.
>
> It is a hundred year (98, actually) old market-butcher shop with a
barbecue
> pit attached. 'Course, nowadays the pit can seat a couple of hundred
people.
> When I first ate at the joint back in 1983 the seating capacity was about
a
> hundred in one room, another hundred in a room that was never open.
>
> The pit -- the place where meats are cooked -- had half-a-dozen brick
pits and
> the entire inside of the whole room was absolutely black with soot from
the
> non-stop oak fires. Supposedly, the fires have burned continuously since
the
> place opened in August of 1900. The black soot on the walls was actually
> fairly attractive when compared to the butcher shop -- where the sausage
was
> made and other meats were prepared for cooking -- which had walls
uniformly
> covered in a gray fuzz, the result of penicillin growing on grease.
>
> At Kruez Market you get no plate and no fork or spoon though nowadays I
hear
> that they are letting you have a plastic knife. In the old days (say
fifteen
> years ago) they had steel knives secured to the tables with two foot
lengths
> of chain every couple of feet. You just wiped the knife off when you
were
> done with your meal. If you remembered. Don't you know the health
department
> just loved that?
>
> Another interesting thing about Kruez Market is they don't serve sauce
with
> their smoked meats. Yup, no sauce in the place. Fifteen years ago when
I
> displayed my ignorance by asking for sauce I was told, politely enough,
that
> they don't serve sauce. I pushed it just a bit and inquired "why not?"
> "Because," the man with the big knife told me, "sauce insults the meat."
They
> feel their meats are of such high quality, the preparation so
painstaking,
> that embellishment is out of the question.
>
> They do still offer the choice of "bread or crackers with that?",
something
> that most of the other barbecue pits stopped long ago, instead just
flinging a
> stack of bread at you as you go by.
>
> Kruez Market is also the only place I know where Smoked Prime Rib is on
the
> menu written on the wall. Now that is gilding the lily... A good way to
screw
> up a perfectly good prime rib, donchaknow?
>
> The other smoked meats include beef clod, beef brisket, turkey, chicken,
and,
> of course, sausage which is made on premises. The newspaper says they
are now
> making 3,100 sausage rings every day except Sunday when they are closed.
Man,
> even at 85% beef content that is a lot of hog fat!
>
> Though not up to the standards of the late, great Elgin butcher shop's
Hot
> Guts, Kruez Market sausage is very good. Nice coarse texture, not too
hot but
> still authoritative. I remember it well even though it has been years
since I
> have eaten any.
>
> So anyway, the whole point of today's newspaper article is that Kruez
Market
> is changing... The owner is erecting a new building which will have have
twice
> as many pits made out of (gasp!) steel instead of brick. They will be
able to
> seat 700 people for lunch! This in a town with a couple of thousand
> population and thirty miles from anywhere.
>
> The real reason they are moving the pit seems to be (if the paper is to
be
> believed) that brothers and sisters can't get along. The brother owns
the
> business, the sister owns the building the business is in. Now brother
is
> moving up the street a couple of hundred yards and sister plans to reopen
> under a new name.
>
> The fires that have burned for 98 years will, however be extinguished.
Is
> nothing sacred?
>
> Today is another overcast, humid day giving me a perfect excuse to laze
around
> eating leftover bobbycue and playing with the Alpine.
>
> I got out there in the garage and pulled the JVC deck out. I was able to
> confirm that the ground was intermittent due to a screw that was slightly
too
> small for the hole it was screwed into but correcting that did not give
me
> sound. We eventually confirmed a good ground, electricity into the
radio,
> good fuses, and no sound out, so I reluctantly conclude that the radio
itself
> is dead, RIP.
>
> One real concern, of course, is the amount of rainwater that was coming
in at
> about the time the deck quit working...
>
> Oh well, I will wait until we are back near home before trying anything
else.
>
> I played with the carb linkage just a bit, too, but lacking a proper
spacer,
> there is not much else for it.
>
> Heavy rain is coming down now and it is time for me to have a nap... Just
one
> of those days.
>
> --Colin Cobb, Comfortably and Dryly Watching Plenty Big Rainstorm Outside
> Austin, Texas
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