Tex-Mex is comfort food. It’s the result of culturally displaced Tejanos making do with what they had available. If you accept it on those terms it can be very satisfying. If you expect it to be something more you’re going to be disappointed.
Tex-Mex is underrated. Just because it’s made in what is now the US doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its own authenticity and interesting cultural roots.
Any thoughts on Terry Black’s just south of the river? I am currently within walking distance to there so it would be the easiest. Seems to get just as high a rating on Yelp/Google as la Barbeque which would have to be an Uber ride.
ETA: Reviews and Top BBQ lists all seem to vouch for it. Will probably be heading there.
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I’ve never been there, but have heard very positive things. My basic assumption is that any bbq place in Austin that has solid reviews and has been around for a while is probably worth it.
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This. I’m sure it’s very good.
“A while” is a very relative term here. Good BBQ in Austin is a recent thing that didn’t really exist before Franklin opened a little over a decade ago. There are no old school joints worth mentioning inside the city limits. For those you need to head out to the sticks.
Tex Mex is great food; there just isn’t any remarkable Tex Mex to be found in Houston, so far as I can tell.
Houston’s Chinese food is like an order of magnitude more elevated than either its Mexican or Tex Mex offerings.
Paris trip is cancelled ):
Easy decision, all variants considered. C’est la vie.
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That sucks. Sorry.
Sorry to hear it sri
This is all true. But back in the day, if I told someone I was going to Austin and was looking forward to some good barbecue, it was assumed that I wasn’t talking about any place in the city. So I think “BBQ in Austin” can be more loosely interpreted to be anything within reasonable driving distance* of Austin.
*reasonable driving distance is also relative
Is Salt Lick good? A friend said it was but I wasn’t going to Uber out to it.
Je suis désolé
It’s good but not life changing, Also it’s better if you’re in a big group IME though it’s been years since I’ve been out there.
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Salt Lick was always super meh at best. The location is great, but not great enough to make up for sub-par BBQ.
According to the TX BBQ bible Texas Monthly, few of the old school joints can compete with the new players. Almost every single one of their current Top 50 opened in the last 10 years. TX BBQ Trail mainstays in Luling, Lockhart and Elgin don’t even get an honorable mention anymore. Thankfully my personal fav Louie Mueller in Taylor still makes the cut. Well worth the trip for the food and the atmosphere, unless you don’t like having your eyes burn from being in a building drenched in 70 years of pit smoke.
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If you just picked it up and moved it to (or near) most other large cities in the US, it would probably be the best BBQ option available. But for Austin area it’s nothing special.
I liked Salt Lick.
I love Texas BBQ pinto beans. But it always pisses me off they don’t have fries. I grew up dunking fries in BBQ sauce.
We went to Lockhart and ended up at Smitty’s. The sausage was great but everything else was meh.
But being in that building where I’m guessing a fire has been going for 70 years straight was pretty cool. Basically the whole building was a smokehouse.
Actually, now I’m wondering - anybody have a line on somewhere that ships legit hot guts sausage?