Austin City Limits – Day 1

We flew into Austin yesterday morning.  Instead of doing go the hotel when we landed, we drove to Lockhart Texas…land of BBQ.  There are literally 4-5 barbeque places there.  We did attempt to pace ourselves but after two, we all rolled back to Austin. 

We began with Black's.  Oldest family owned BBQ place in the state.  85 years and running.  They serve up some amazing bbq from a smoker that has been around for 85 years.  It is an impressive place and we even got the backroom tour. 

You begin in line almost like a school cafeteria.  Sides are abundant.  Since I was working on pacing myself I only went with cole slaw and pickles but managed to try everyone else's sides when we sat down.  Really good cole slaw.

I picked up some brisket and baby back ribs.  The brisket was unbelievable.  Falling apart and full of flavor.  The baby backs were good too but the brisket ruled.

Josh got the beef rib which was different.  Falling off the bone.  Had a chance to try the chicken and regular pork ribs too.  You really can not go wrong.  BTW, Black's ships all over the country. 

This is where the food goes before they serve it out to the customers.  That man is the third generation of Blacks.

This is the wood board for chopping up the meat.  Been in the family for 50 years.  It is no longer a flat surface.

This is where they smoke the food.  A huge smoker with the handmade sausages carefully hanging on the side.

Underneath is where the wood is put for fire.  Runs 24/7. 

Special wood that has been aged for about a year.  Top notch BBQ. 

We then drove the 3 minutes over to Kreuz.  A new joint compared to Blacks.  The building they are in was stablished 1999.  A large dining hall where they only serve spoons and knives.

There is one dining room and one smoker room where you buy your meat.  The smoker room is huge.  Similar smokers compared to Blacks just more and newer. 

We had sausages, brisket and prime rib.  Brisket was much better at Black's but the prime rib was really good.  Something that I never thought of smoking.  Excellent sausages.  Germany style.  We sat next to a family that looked like it had bought a side of beef and they got a loaf of white bread and just went to town.  Classic.

Back to Austin and over to the festival.  We have back stage passes.  It isn't so easy.  You get to the back area of the stage way in advance and they let 30-50 people up on the side areas of the stage.  Not a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination.  Personally at this point of my life standing in a crowd with thousands of people is just not my thing.  Luckily I got up on the stage for Spoon.

I got up there for the Strokes too.  This shot gives you can idea of what my birds eye view is.  The people across from me are looking at me. 

Back to the hotel for a quick change and out to dins.  Nothing there to write about.  More on Austin later.