We had brisket, ribs, cat fish and turkey. I've had plenty of bad brisket in my life and this was pretty good.
Brisket is always one of those things that outside of TX I say to myself: "I've had it, I do it, I don't need to eat that here" Now, pulled pork and ribs...I'll let those guys show me how it's done however they choose to do it
I would sh*t if J&M was there...It's not very good...Again, I love me some Pit Room, I used to like Luling City, but it's gone downhill in my opinion...I am not a fan of Demeris, and I thought Loro was ok, overpriced...
Demeris is on the level of Papas BBQ and Spring Creek. Barely edible. Should only be visited if your kid's school is having a fundraising night or if you need some emergency insulation for your walls. My friend and I had a theory. If a BBQ restaurant serves fries, they're going to be crap. 9 times out of 10, it's proven to be true. I've only been to City Market once and I was not impressed at all.
I've noticed a lot of big name BBQ places are cranking out so much food the quality has gone from tender and juicy to greasy to keep up with demand.
I miss the good old days when great bbq joints were under the radar & inexpensive, & brisket was cheap to smoke on your own.
Big red flag is if their listed hours don't include the phrase "or until we run out" Unrelated, there's nothing earth-shattering here, but the market correction in the bbq business has hit full stride: https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/higher-costs-fewer-customers-killing-texas-bbq-joints/
Luling Market, the bbq is mid level. The sausages they make are slightly above mid level. The #1 there is their sauce is fantastic. I buy it by the case and have it shipped. Mentioned here before but The Hickory Pit is great. Ive been going there my whole life. Even now when I get to Houston I hit it up. they also have amazing fries.
I've noticed a crap-ton of bbq joints shutting down. Places that have been around for 20-30+ years (That only takes us back to the 90s? Damn, I'm old). BBQ is too damn expensive for people in these challenging times. Brisket selling at $30-$40/lb is putting a lot of these places out of business. One of my favorite storis is, and I hope I have the establishments correct - if not, correct me, when a Killen's location sold their store to a Whataburger because Whataburger made a great offer they couldn't refuse. lol. I wonder how many people were pissed off because they lost, I'm assuming, some decent bbq, and how many people were excited because now they could afford to eat at that spot.
That is The Woodlands location of Killen's...which was horrible. I ate there a few times and it was never good. Plus, Ronnie Killen decided he didn't want to have to drive so far so he closed that and the Killen's Steakhouse (which was doing decently and was very good). The bbq location (originally a Culver's) was in fact sold and is in the process of becoming a Whataburger. No one is pissed. We have plenty of good BBQ options near by that are much better (3rd Coast, Corkscrew, Tejas).
New Pinkerton’s location at the old 59 Diner spot was awesome. Brisket, Sausage, Glazed Ribs, Turkey were all incredible. And the homemade honey-glazed biscuits are so good. Had Pit Room a few days before and think Pinkerton’s is better (though the pit room is still great and their tacos are so good) I love that we have so many great bbq places around town. Long Gone are the days of Goode Co and Luling City Market being the top two choices (and shout out to whoever mentioned Hickory Pit…used to love that place but haven’t been in years).
