Texas BBQ

I had left by then, but decided to stop in Belton at Miller's Smokehouse. I hadn't eaten anything all day, so I pulled over and just searched for anything on Yelp or Urbanspoon near the rest stop I had pulled over to. One of the returns was for Miller's Smokehouse. A quick Googling showed it had made the Texas Monthly BBQ Top 50. It was as if God wanted me to go there. Ok, I kid. Anyway, Belton was just about 10 miles up the road on the way back home to Dallas, so I stopped off. They currently only have ribs on Friday and Saturday, so I decided to get the brisket and ribs (2 meat plate with 2 sides).

I could tell the brisket wasn't fresh out of the smoker and had been sitting cut up for a bit because the meat was barely warm. That being said, you could tell had it been warm, it would've been pretty good brisket. It also didn't seem to be cooked evenly or something or maybe just because it cooled off, parts of it tasted dry and overcooked and other parts tasted awesome. There wasn't much seasoning on the brisket, either - at least not that I can tell. VERDICT : If you consider Franklin and/or Snow's briskets 10's, this was a 6 with the potential to be possibly an 8.

The ribs were flat-out awesome, though. Again, not much in the way of spices, but the bark was perfect on it, and unlike the brisket, was hot. The meat was moist and pulled off the bone without falling apart. The sauce they had went well with the ribs because it was a sweet concoction. I didn't care for it much on the brisket since I don't like sweet bbq sauce on brisket (actually, would prefer no sauce), but whatever.

My two sides were potato salad and green beans. The green beans were the usual green beans fair - nothing other-worldly. The potato salad was good, but again, nothing earth-shattering. They also came with pickles, onions, and a slice of bread.

The Millers do deer processing and taxidermy, too. :grin:

It was kind of busy in there - I got there around 5pm, if I recall. As I was getting rung up, the guy at the register seemed to be running some of the stuff going on there, so I stopped and chatted with him. We talked about how I went through Austin and couldn't hit up my 2 choices to try out (J. Mueller's and La Barbecue as mentioned in earlier posts). He said he hadn't heard of La Barbecue, but had heard of the Muellers (anybody in BBQ should know of them - lol). Then he asked if I had gone to Franklin, and I told him that's probably the best brisket I've had and no doubt the best brisket/ribs combo I've had. He nodded and I told him it sucks all these places have a limited quantity of meat and shut down after being open for a few hours. He said that's the way Miller's was. He pointed to the small area I had been sitting in and said before they made the Texas Monthly Top 50, that was the entire place. Then he pointed to the back and said they expanded into a much larger area after they became popular. He also said they were going be doing the serving differently in the future, and I heard him talking with a lady saying she was one of the first to taste their "possible" new version of their sauce.

Anywho, I don't think they're quite on the level of Franklin, Snows, etc. on the brisket, but if it's fresh brisket out of the smoker, it's worth a stop in Belton. And like I said, the ribs were pretty good, but currently only available on Fridays and Saturdays. I don't know how consistent they are, since this was, of course, my first time there.

WEBSITE : http://www.wildmillers.com/index.html

 

la barbeque is the real deal. john mueller cooked at cottonwood for a charity event a few weeks ago and he's got the touch - the brisket and ribs were so damn good but the real showstopper was the jalapeno boundain... holy hell that was delicious.

i'm really curious to try killen's and see how it compares.

 

My pics never look right ...

Quick pic of food :

Spoiler

Even quicker pic of the seating at the front that used to be the entire place until they got a mention in Texas Monthly. You can see a short hallway in the back that leads to the new area they built to handle the added traffic caused by the magazine. They said they were going to do something similar to Franklin where they cut the meat in front of you instead of in the back. As usual in pretty much every small town I visit, everybody knew each other and everybody was nice as hell.

Spoiler

 

Q

When did I ever compare Salt lick to Central Texas BBQ? Of course they aren't anywhere near the same league as each other. I was just commenting on bigtexxx's mention of Central TX BBQ since its right down the street from Killen's lol. One day I'll make the trek out to Franklin's and the others, but for now, I'm content with the 10 minute drive from my house to Killen's on the weekends

 

I think he was talking about "central texas bbq" as in the style of bbq.

 

Lulings brisket and ribs were pretty tasty. I can't wait to try Gatlins on Tuesday.

How long will I have to wait in line?

 

Thanks for the heads-up, tinman! Looks fantastic, and I'll hit it up the next time I'm in West Campus. Hell, probably just find an excuse to go. Looked at their menu online and I hope they can survive with those prices, considering the thousands of students that are right there looking for some good eats.

German potato salad... mmmmm!

 

Finally had franklins. My nephew was kind enough to buy me some with his first paycheck out of grad school. Though it was really good, it's definitely overrated. Not as good as LA bbq. In my opinion.

 

Franklin's is quickly entering the "Salt Lick" realm of just being a popular thing to do. No doubt that it's great BBQ (unlike Salt Lick), but it's not 3-hours-wait better than the alternatives out there. Like you said, LA BBQ is just as good without the wait.

 

Then maybe it will work out for them. There's a huge market for good to great BBQ in Austin, which we're both keenly aware of. ;-)-

 

Went here on your suggestion. It's yuppie barbecue but it's legit. Great bark and flavor. I loved the coleslaw which tastes like salt lick's slaw with some mint leaves. I wouldn't put it up there La Barbecue but it's top tier for sure.

 

I'm going to be in Austin until next Friday and want to try to hit up Franklin's. Does anybody know the best day to go? I don't want to wait in line for three hours if I don't have to...

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I'm also going to hit up Stiles Switch, which I hear is nearly as good without the wait.

 

Go on a weekday, but be prepared to wait. I've only been on the weekend, where the 3-hour wait is necessary, but weekday lunch should put you at a 90-minute wait?

If it gets too crowded, try La BBQ. It's run by a former Franklin apprentice, has bbq that some feel is just as good, if not better, and also gives you free Lone Star as you wait in line.

 

Stiles switch is OK but it's more Rudy's level than Franklin's or LaBBQ.