About a week or two ago I posted [here](https://reddit.com/r/austinfood/s/c973fvgaUi) looking for tips on a planned barbecue tour of Austin. I am happy to report that with all of your suggestions we made some slight adjustments and had a great time.
A few things to note:
– I definitely underestimated the richness of Texas barbecue and I questioned whether I could continue following the plan. We did our best.
– ACL didn’t really impact our trip. Traffic was good all weekend and we never really had any issues getting around town.
– always opt for cole slaw on the menu for one of your sides and get some pickles. The acid really helps break up the richness.
This was our actual trip:
Day 1 lunch: Franklin Barbecue. We ordered more than we could eat but this is where I learned about how rich Texas barbecue actually is. We loved Franklins. We felt the wait and the community in the line was well worth it. The food was phenomenal. I am convinced they dip all of their meat in tallow and/or butter. We ate more than we could handle as the fat really creeped up on us and took some leftovers back to our Airbnb. If you normally get a 1/4 lb. I’d recommend going for half of that. Your stomach and your wallet will thank you.
Day 1 dinner: KG BBQ & Bird Bird Biscuit. We were massively full from Franklins so we decided to take a walk later that evening. Turns out our airbnb is right down the road from KG and Bird Bird Biscuit. Despite not being hungry I had to try it so I got a baladi salad and a pomegranate glazed pork rib at KG. On the way back my wife decided she wanted to try a chicken sandwich (she didn’t eat at KG) at BBB. Even though I wasn’t hungry I think the pork rib at KG was better than Franklins. I thoroughly enjoyed the unique flavor. I only wish I had more room in my belly to try other things. My wife loved the BBB sandwich.
Day 2 lunch: Leroy & Lewis. This place was not exactly traditional barbecue but we loved it. The beef cheeks and the whole hog were our favorites. Perfectly cooked but not drenched in fat. The sides were also on point. The food wasn’t as rich as Franklins and we didn’t feel disgusting after we ate lunch. I can understand why it was rated #5 on Texas Monthly’s list. We made friends with some guys in the line and they shared their bacon rib, beef rib and a bite of the L&L burger. All great in my opinion. Next time I’d probably just settle on getting a 2 meat plate with sides OR a burger.
Day 2 dinner: Eldorado Cafe. We wanted to break up the bbq so we decided to go for some tacos. This meal was good and this might come as a surprise but we’ve had meals like this in Pennsylvania where we live. So while we were hoping to be blown away by this meal we compared it to a spot that we frequent in our hometown. Again, it was good. But if you asked me to compare the tacos in PA and Texas based on this spot, I’d say it’s a draw.
Day 3 lunch: Interstellar BBQ. The meats were equally on par with Franklins and L&L. The sides were the best here in my opinion and I love that like L&L they are breaking outside of the traditional barbecue menu. The peach tea glazed pork belly burnt ends and the chorizo and cheese grits were my favorites. I loved the jalapeño popper sausage. Overall this was my favorite tray of barbecue from the variety of the menu to the flavor of everything I tried.
Day 3 dinner: We acquired various leftovers since Day 1 so we actually decided to just go to HEB and get supplies to make ramen. We used our leftover meats in the homemade ramen. It was a great way to use that up since we weren’t planning to fly home with our leftovers. And it was a light meal after eating so much heavy foods.
We went to Comedy Mothership and spent 4 hours watching locals and the crew do standup. There were a lot of funny comics and a few bombs. For the value (it was like $15 a ticket) I highly recommend checking out the open mic and crew show.
Day 4 lunch: Kreuz Market. By day 4 I was spent and wasn’t really in the mood for barbecue BUT I wanted to see the historical pits at Kreuz Market. We drove the 30 minutes south and got a very small amount of barbecue to share. Despite hearing a lot of negative things about this place we actually enjoyed it. The sausage was a bit over cooked and the meats weren’t cooked with the same level of detail as some of the newer spots but we enjoyed the history, the drive and looking at the pits. The German potatoes were great.
After Kreuz we decided to take a drive through hill country. We didn’t have a plan but we ended up in Driftwood and stumbled upon The Salt Lick. I figured what the hell. We stopped and I can’t say it was bad. It was just different. I don’t know if we will be back to this spot haha but the drive out and back was nice.
So that is it for the bbq. Along the way we tried coffee at a few different spots. I usually only get cold brew coffee and none of these spots disappointed in that respect but a few of them were standoff-ish. Customer service goes a long way.
Try hard coffee
Cosmic coffee
Thunderbird coffee
Fleet coffee
by KeystoneButcher
32 Comments
Thank you for visiting and experiencing Austin. This was a lovely write up.
That is a lot of food in 3 days. Was the trip to Austin purely a foodie trip? What did you think of Austin?
Good job on the BBQ. That’s a lot of meat. You didn’t go to the right place for tacos though. Eldorado is a TexMex spot. Not really known for their tacos. So, can’t call it a draw with PA. Cuantos, Discada, Nixta, etc….would have been your goal.
Kreuz is the worst of Lockhart. Blacks, Smitty’s, Chisholm all better. Old Pal would have been a good place to chill afterwards with shuffleboard and beer
Great write up. Hell yeah.
Will agree that El Dorado is not a taco place. Enchiladas would be the move there.
Hell of a trip, you guys are warriors! Eldorado is definitely not somewhere I’d go for tacos so I understand your review.
No one eats tacos at Eldorado. It’s unfortunate that’s what you picked from there because the more traditional Tex mex fare they offer is off the charts.
Where in PA are you from?
That’s a great review, very informative. I can totally see El Dorado being similar to other places, it’s tex-mex and while very good at what it does, there’s a reason it’s mostly gringos that go there, that’s not a diss, just that it’s very tex on the mex. The first time I went, my husband mentioned I was the only brown person in there at the time lol, it’s cool tho.
Franklin’s does amazing brisket but other places are well worth what they’re good at so I’m glad you mixed it up a bit.
Awesome. Thanks for following up with trip report and reviews.
I’m a native Austinite and I think you pretty much nailed it. My only quibble would be a correction on Kruez. While the BBQ here is great (imo best brisket in Lockhart) Smitty’s on the courthouse square is the “Historic” spot. There’s some family drama here in the history between the two locations and is interesting if you’re into that sort of thing. Thanks for coming! You nailed the weather lottery pretty well.
You hit some great places although I’d need my stomach pumped had I done all that. Haha. Maybe when I was younger.
That peach tea glazed pork belly at Interstellar may be the tastiest thing I’ve ever had an Austin Q joint. My last time in town I grabbed a car specifically to go up there and glad that I did. Also hit Lake Travis which I’ve somehow never been to.
Not familiar with KG BBQ though.
I’m with ya on the Slaw and Pickles. A must at any BBQ joint.
Love the feedback. Thanks and glad you enjoyed your trip.
Thanks for the update!
My first thought when I read your original post was “that’s too much bbq” for exactly the reasons you laid out.
Eldorado is fine, but not representative of what we got taco-wise.
Thanks for the thorough review of everything!
As others have stated good BBQ write up and ya not sure why you went to ElDorado, didn’t ever registar on our radar for Texmex let alone tacos
And OP never had a regular bowel movement ever again
Y’all gonna have the meat sweats…
Thanks for posting the write up! It was great to read about your trip and adventures in Austin. I think I have to try interstellar now!
So sick of BBQ. Texas keeps getting lamer by the day. The lack of food choices here is @$^
This is honestly an insane itinerary, props for the commitment.
If you went to Kreutz to see the “Historic pits” then you really muffed that all up, as Smitty’s is the place with the history. It’s just right down the road off the courthouse square, and is an amazing bit of old Texas time capsule.
Hey, sounds like a fun trip! Glad you came to visit.
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The Lockhart places are all tourist/highway traps at this point dishing out mediocre Q.
Best places in Austin are Brown’s, Franklin, Mickelthwait, La Bbq, Terry Black’s, in no specific order. Valentina’s can be up there too depending on the day of the week. All of these put the Lockhart places to shame.
The Salt Lick opinion validates the whole post for me.
> always opt for cole slaw on the menu for one of your sides and get some pickles. The acid really helps break up the richness.
That’s why I like getting a big slice of raw onion to eat with the ‘Q.
We went to Kreuz Market a few months ago and were so disappointed. The brisket had little flavor and the ribs were tough.
We were expecting so much but came away wishing we’d gone somewhere else.
We went to Interstellar the next day. Simply amazing.
Awesome right up!
Glad you made it to Lockhart, that old school bbq is kinda where it’s at for me. Just not much for change, I guess.
Haha, great job on the BBQ excursion amigo. And yes, Texas BBQ is so freakin rich. My cousin came into town a couple weeks ago and i took him to Terry Blacks. We got 1 beef rib and some brisket and couldnt even finish it. He had the worst meat sweats and said he was glad to have his one Texas BBQ meal for the year. You are so correct about ordering literally half of what you think you wanna order. It’s so rich and so expensive….. but oh so good.
Great job with the reviews. I’ve been lucky to live here for decades and have enjoyed so much great BBQ. Nice hearing about home from a visitor
next time try Stiles Switch