Texas Best Smokehouse

5/21/10 Alvarado, TX. I've been wanting to sample the food here for some time now. It's right off I-35 and they typically have the cleanest restrooms, but the most expensive gasoline in the I-35 corridor between Ft. Worth and Austin. The restaurant lies inside the Shell gas station and even shares the eating area with a Sonic that's also part of the Shell building.

So there's all that. This place is not good at all. The brisket was barely ok, but nothing remarkable. I will say that I only paid 6.99, so you get what you pay for. The banana pudding tasted like bubble gum, yes bubble gum. The cole slaw was average. The sweet tea was the worst I've ever had. They really need to address that immediately because an old dog could make better sweet tea. The onion and pickle tray was filthy and appeard that it hadn't been cleaned all day.

This place would get an F if their special brisket sandwich combo wasn't so cheap. Again, if you pay $7 for a full dinner with dessert and drink, expect to get shitty food. Congratulations on the 2nd D- I've dished out in a row. I'll come back here, but I'm not going near the food...

Chief's BBQ

5/17/10 South Austin, TX. I tried the brisket, it was okay. The beans however were really good. There seems to be a couple different tastes going on in there, and they are definitely sweet. They apparantly have another location inside Westgate Lanes. I've actually been there before and they were out of everything except sausage.

I can't really say much about Chief's. It wasn't terrible, but I've got no reason to go back. D-

Louie Mueller Barbecue

5/13/10 Taylor, TX. Extremely good BBQ and well worth a visit if you happen to pass through Taylor. 2 true shining stars; the sausage and the friendly atmosphere. The sausage is loosely packed, not too greasy, full of flavor and you get 3 choices; regular, jalapino, and chipotle smoked sausage. I sampled the jalapino sausage and man, it's got a kick! It's way, way better than any jalapino sausage I've had at any BBQ joint so far. Also tried the chipotle sausage a long time ago and I remember it being very good as well. The brisket is very good. It's not going to compete with Texas' best (Smitty's, Cele's, etc.), but it's close.

Bobby Mueller is a super friendly guy and he's going to be the one slicing up your brisket for you. Have a chat with him and you might even get some tips on quicker ways to manuver through Austin traffic. Everybody seems to be in a good mood at this place, even the customers. This is one of those intangeables that makes Louie Mueller Barbeque a guaranteed return visit (of course the 'best jalapino sausage' title doesn't hurt either)! The only "damnit" moment came when I discovered that there was NO sweet tea. I'm starting to seriously consider bringing my own sweet tea to these places, just in case.

One final note, the sauce is extremely unique. It's very, very thin liquid. It's got an orange hue to it and has chunks of onions here and there. The uniqueness comes from the fact that it is the mildest sauce I've ever tasted. It's sort of oily, but thinner. It in no way overpowers any tastes from the 'que. The closest sauce I can compare it to is Cele's. It's almost as if at some point, a conversation like this occured. "What kind of sauce should we offer?" "Don't need sauce." "Ok, how about a sauce that barely tastes like anything, but customers who insist on sauce can still taste everything the BBQ has to offer." "Sounds good. Let's make this BBQ Sauce-Lite." "Oh, and let's put the sauce in old, glass Listerine bottles on the tables." See pic... This place is as solid a grade A as anywhere.