Foghat’s the best thing on the radio on the straight shot from San Antonio to Austin. I haven’t eaten since a morning bowl of cereal in Chicago and it’s about 5pm. I got a call from a friend’s little brother who runs the Whole Foods prepared foods department in Austin and a couple of BBQ places were picked out.

We started at Stubb’s BBQ. It’s a neat place with a large music
venue around back. Shiner Bocks and a variety of meats and we set to
business. The best castillo hinchable thing I tasted in Texas was some smoked sausage. It
was quite unlike anything I’ve had before and wonderful. The rest of
the offerings were, well – pretty dry. The brisket was dry, the pulled
pork was dry… and the slaw was lacking flavor. Needless to say an
hour drive for BBQ does elevate it to smoky goodness no matter what. I
was stuffed and off we went to Rudy’s – a chain of gas stations/BBQ
restaurants in the state.

The ice-filled troughs of beer and sodas ran along the roped off
line of people waiting to order. While you wait you can watch the “Cut
Cam” where you see brisket after brisket sliced with precision. When we
got to the front they ask you if you’ve been there before and then
offer you samples of anything you want. So I tried a bunch of stuff.
The brisket was good and they offer you a selection of fatty to lean.
It’s good. The Big Red was good too. They best part is that they let
you buy by weight. It’s what we’re missing here in Chi-Town where
otherwise the BBQ is just as good as the 2 places I’ve been to in the
Lone Star State.

The Texans and Chicagoand agree that no matter what state you’re in the best BBQ is the stuff you smoke in your own back yard.