619 North Colorado Street
Lockhart, TX 78644
We had finally arrived at our last stop on our first ever Texas BBQ run. Kreuz Market is located just down the street from Smitty's and Black's, and is about five times the size of either. They opened in 1999 by Edgar "Smitty" Schmidt's son, Rick. Rumor has it that when Kreuz moved locations he took everything, including the coals. I can personally verify that one thing made the move over, and that's Pitmaster, Roy Perez. Roy was generous enough to take some time out of his busy day to show us around.
When we introduced ourselves, Roy kindly showed us around the massive pits. Getting there early every morning, Roy makes sure that all post oak fired pits are operating smoothly at ideal temperatures. Today wasn't a very busy day so only two of the pits were fired up. I've mentioned previously that I don't like to throw the term "Pitmaster" around, but Roy Perez has definitely earned it. He mentioned that a lot of different factors go into their BBQ pits such as humidity, temperature, days of the week, and so on. This just shows Kreuz Market's attention to detail and commitment to making some of the best BBQ in the country. We started our tour in the back where the meat is trimmed and then rubbed with their salt and pepper rub. We then headed through two rooms where the sausage is made and then cooked. There's also a separate room where it's cooled and then shipped for any online orders. I'd like to note that the back rooms of Kreuz are extremely organized and clean. It's always a pleasant surprise to see this in any restaurant. We headed out back where Kreuz keeps their massive amount of wood stored. Roy explained how every piece is put in a pile based on the size and how old it is. All of the post oak that's used in their smoking has been aged for at least one year. After a couple minutes of talking, we thanked Roy for his time and said goodbye. I definitely encourage anyone who visits Kreuz to stop in and tell Roy hello. You won't meet many people who know more about how to BBQ than him.
While we all enjoyed the thorough tour of Kreuz, we were more excited to try some of their world famous sausage. We ordered brisket, pork ribs, regular sausage, and jalapeno sausage. The brisket and ribs were decent, but the jalapeno sausage stole the show. It was the best we tried on this BBQ run. It had a great flavor and wasn't too dry or greasy. I wasn't a huge fan of the regular sausage and was kind of confused as to how they could taste so incredibly different from each other. If you're ever near Kreuz Market, do not miss out on their fresh jalapeno sausage. You will not be disappointed. I didn't get a chance to try Kreuz Market's BBQ sauce for one good reason...they don't use any. It's not even available by request. Their motto is that they don't feel the need to hide any of their meats in sauce. It's a pretty strong statement and shows how much Kreuz believes in their product.
Our Texas BBQ run had sadly come to an end. It was good to try some of the top places that Texas has to offer and see how they'd compare to our past and future Georgia stops. We'll continue to document our Georgia BBQ Hunt confident that there are people out there just like Roy Perez who are committed to making their best BBQ.
I enjoyed that run with you. I hope to do the same thing one day. I will be placing an order for that Jalapeño Sausage. Texas BBQ (my second favorite) without question sticks out on a limb of it's own in the BBQ family tree. Thanks Dustin and again, Great Job!
ReplyDelete