Luling or Lockhart?

[dimsumgirl]

Where is the best BBQ between the two of these cities?

[rasputina]

Well, if we aren't doing the brisket at home ( like today) then we will drive to Blacks in Lockhart.

[twyst]

Inspired by this thread I got in my car this morning and made my first trip down to luling and lockhart hoping to be able to give you an answer. The only thing I can say for sure is that there is good BBQ in both these places and you cant go wrong with either!

I had the added bonus of showing up during some kind of watermelon festival in luling and got back to austin with a trunk full of different varieties of melons :)

[Jaymes]

So you were in Luling for Watermelon Thump! Did you see the parade? Did you meet the queen?

Was City Market open?

I don't think it usually is on Sundays.

[twyst]

My visit was very short so I saw none of those things! Perhaps next year I will make a plan and really experience the festival as I am a huge fan of melons! I just stopped for a minute at some roadside market near 183 and bought a bunch of produce.

[Jaymes]

If you start practicing now, perhaps by next year, you'll be good enough to win the watermelon seed spitting contest.

[twyst]

I doubt it, the record is like 70 feet or something ridiculous like that!

[carfreeinla]

Bummer- I wanted to know who was crowned queen. I bought a watermelon a few weeks ago from the farmers market- was not impressed.
Has anyone tried Luling BBQ ( not City Market, the one across the street in the farmers market)??

[dimsumgirl]

Thank you twyst and Jaymes. I will be in San Antonio and shuttling hubby and a friend to Austin so I will have three days to roam around and check out BBQ joints. I guess I will go to both places then! If you have any recs for specific items at each of the places, I'd love to know!

[SAhomecooking]

IIRC, Black's in Lockhart is the only one of the 3 major places in that burg who serves chicken; this was a necessity for non-red-meat-eating dining companion. Also according to memory, those other establishments may not serve barbeque sauce, the idea being that the meat should stand on its own. You can't really go wrong anywhere down that road, as everyone else has noted. We enjoyed looking at all the authentic memorabilia (pictures of the high school football teams dating back to the 1920s) on the walls of Black's. It's like a trip back in time, complemented by the striking historic courthouse nearby.

[James Cristinian]

dimsumgirl, I like the prime rib at Smitty's, and I can't go past Luling without getting the ribs at City Market. The good thing about these places is everything is served by the pound, so samples of many dishes are possible. Being the hillbillies we are from pancake flat Houston, we always pack a toaster oven for leftovers in our San Antonio hotel room.

[SAhomecooking]

Nice idea on the toaster oven! Will put that in the travel notebook.

[James Cristinian]

Pretty much every hotel has a minifridge and a microwave, but the microwave just doesn't re-heat like a toaster oven. We also pack aluminum foil, ziploc baggies, and salt and pepper. We overorder because we like to sample different foods at new places and enjoy snacks from the leftovers.

[rexster314]

Ok, everyone put on your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride

[Jaymes]

Well, not from me, and I suspect my view is pretty typical, which is why nobody has answered.

And that is that there is no definitive answer.

With very few exceptions (such as time constraints), every time I visit one of these two towns, I also visit the other.

So which is the best?

Answer: you never know until you get there.

[carfreeinla]

Completely agree. I go to both and each time I would answer differently.