City Meat Market
Giddings, TX 78942
Hours: Open Mon–Fri 7:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Sat 7:30–4. Closed Sun.
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Texas Monthly rating: 4.00
TEXAS MONTHLY SAYS: 2008: Be advised: Meats go fast. Phone orders the day before are recommended.
This friendly shop with blackened walls has been going strong for more than sixty years, and the locals swear by it. Though the brisket was average the day we went, everything else was excellent—pork, sausage, and chicken, all smoked with post oak in an iron-lined and tile-covered brick pit.
2008: This friendly shop with blackened walls has been going strong for more than sixty years, and the locals swear by it. Though the brisket was average the day we went, everything else was excellent—pork, sausage, and chicken, all smoked with post oak in an iron-lined and tile-covered brick pit.
BBQ SNOB SAYS: 2011: You may remember that City Meat Market makes its own sausage for the market and provides links to Snow’s. After just having been at Snow’s, we wanted a good comparison of not only the sausage, but also the brisket. The meats just didn’t have the same moist and tender quality of Snow’s, even the sausage, which was a bit less smoky and quite a bit dryer. It was amazing to see just how different the same raw links can taste after a few hours in different smokers.
2009: All that separates you from the smokers is a short counter and a friendly pit boss, Gerald. The ribs and sausage were taken straight out from under the heavy smoker lid, but Gerald pierced the brisket with a large carving fork and lifted it from a metal vat full of captured brisket juices, which he believes keeps the meat more moist than simply wrapping it. The brisket was excellent, with a nice smoke line, and the crust had not deteriorated as you might expect with it soaking in liquid. City Meat Market supplies Snow’s with their sausage, and it was delicious and smoky just thirty minutes earlier in Lexington. This version had the same texture but was drier, far less smoky, and simply not as good.
