There are many folks around the country that may have just been introduced to the existence of City Market, in Luling, earlier this year when Newsweek published their list of the “101 Best Places to Eat” around the world. I myself have joked at the dubious nature of most lists like this one, but as one of only fourteen restaurants in North America to make the list alongside such names as Husk, Daniel, and Momofuku, City Market was in good company. I too had sang the praises of this temple of Central Texas-style barbecue to anyone that would listen. “No barbecue trip to Lockhart is complete without a stop in Luling” was my normal line to smoked meat novices on a virgin Central Texas barbecue tour. It’s only a fifteen-minute drive after all. My first visit was after an early morning drive from San Antonio, where a religious experience was had with a breakfast of beef brisket smoked simply over post oak and a link of homemade sausage baptized in a golden sauce. I thought it would always be that good, but it is no longer. One of the mighty in Texas has fallen off a bit, and that sweet memory from years ago was strong enough to cloud my better judgment for a few years.
After that meal I strolled back to the alley behind the building and walked to the open door of the pit room. Pitmaster Joe Capello Sr. was there and greeted us warmly. He showed us the smallish steel pit and the wood pile that was just disorderly enough to know that somebody was actually using it. Joe didn’t explain much about their smoking process but did fill us in on some history of the Bar-E Ranch that was owned by the family that started City Market (the sign above City Market reads “Bar-E Barbeque & Sausage”). The ranch still exists north of town, but the briskets aren’t from the cattle at the ranch any longer. As I turned to leave I noticed a stainless steel Southern Pride rotisserie smoker in the corner. I tried to hide my disdain when asking Joe why it was there, hoping that it was just a joke, but Joe said they had to crank it up during busy weekends to keep up with demand. The smoker felt cold and hadn’t been fired up recently enough to cook the meat I ate on this day, but the fact that a recognized pillar of Texas barbecue tradition uses it at all is alarming.
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Several months later we found ourselves back in Luling. It was early in the morning just like it had been on my first visit, that religious experience in 2007. I wanted to make sure I hadn’t fallen victim to the barbecue doldrums of mid-afternoon. I carefully guided the meat cutter to select a fresh brisket and cut liberally from both the fatty and the lean end to get a good sample. I selected pork ribs from both the short end and the center of the rack to keep from getting that one bad rib that might be lurking in the rack. Two links of sausage would also be needed because, well, I wasn’t going to share one.
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