WOW...I am not sure where you ate at, but I will categorically restate that as a native Texan AND Austinite, I have never found BBQ (brisket, pork etc) at any of my favorite haunts (including County Line) to be "sweet"....as someone else posted, properly cooked BBQ will develop its own caramelized sweetness and not from an artificial garbage (like McDonald's or others)...and, I guess that "sweetness" could easily be very subjective as well??:confused:

Cheers,

Most of the places where I eat beef brisket, they don't offer BBQ sauce. Even the few that do, I wouldn't miss it if they didn't...although I have a great fondness for Franklin BBQ's espresso BBQ sauce. McDonald's McFib sauce, it isn't.

Pork, however, is an entirely different animal (pun intended). Got to have a mustard-based vinegar sauce for my pulled pork. ;)

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

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Many Cuban/Latin restaurants use MSG as a spice also FYI.

Do you and your family members also avoid other natural sources of glutamate like soy sauce, tomatoes, bread, mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, or anchovies? I'll bet that gets tough.

I had a friend who was sensitive to MSG. It gave him nasty headaches. He was usually able to handle most Chinese food, but always had trouble with KFC of all places.

What's the scoop on Houston? Different style than Austin/San Antonio or essentially the same?

I would say the style is the same (low heat, slow smoked), but not as much emphasis on brisket as in Central Texas. To me, it's hard to find a really decent BBQ joint in the city itself. Hartmann would probably have the best recommendation, however, since that's his turf and he probably knows of some places that I've never heard of. ;)

Another similar viewpoint: http://houbbq.com/

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Cool, thanks! I also reached out to ND Sol. The unfortunate thing is that my trip will be so short I can only really check out one or two places.

I dunno about best BBQ in Houston, but I had some excellent smoked sausage at Goode Co on Kirby Rd.

If only we had something similar out here in So Cali.

Oh yes - heaven. IIRC you can do some train spotting too!

That is indeed a poor indictment of the state of BBQ in Southern California. ;)

Seriously though, I always heard that the Santa Maria style indigenous to that region was very good and I was looking forward to trying it someday.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

The central Texas style around Austin and San Antonio was until recently hard to find good examples of in Houston. Most of the places, I hear, are more of a Southern/KC style with the sweet sauce. True Texas BBQ should always come with sauce on the side if at all.

I visit Houston regularly, and in the past year and a half found Gatlin's and Brisket house to do a decent job in the central Texas style. Gatlin's in particular has been very good the last couple times I've had it. Very flaky with the take out orders, though. Check your order before you leave. Brisket House has been good in my experience but a little more uneven and hasn't quite matched the highest Gatlin's level the times I've tried it.

People bag on Luling City Market near the Galleria, partly because of their bad history with respect to City Market in Luling, TX, but it's been good not great the couple times I've tried it.

There are a couple other places that I've been to that were sort of promising but not quite up to the same level as the above three.

Snow's in Lexington, Smitty's and Black's in Lockhart, City Market in Luling and City Meat Market in Giddings all dwarf the Houston places, but they're 2 hrs away. Kreuz had excellent sausage as I recall.

According to a friend of mine who travels to and competes in 20+ BBQ competitions a year, the answer is a definite yes. He says it's almost impossible to place well without at least some in the rub. He also says it's rarely discussed in public.

Had a BBQ lunch at one of my favorite joints, the Original Q-Shack in Durham, NC. They do a baked potato with sausage, bacon, cheese, sour cream and onions with a side of hush puppies. Mmmm.

I like Louie Mueller, Big Bob Gibson, and 17th Street Bar & Grill, and Ed Mitchell’s whole hog. When forced to do BBQ in NYC, I think the best are Hill Country and Fette Sau. I want to try Mable’s and John Brown’s soon.

Have you tried Baby Blues? http://www.babybluesvenice.com/#/home There's a branch in West Hollywood, but I prefer the authenticity of the original in Venice.

Lulling City Market's suasage just melts when you eat it. Its like nothing I have eaten before or since.

There is a new place in Dallas at the Farmer's market only open for lunch a few days a week called Pecan Lodge. I have not been but it has recently been voted the best bbq in texas by Texas Monthly. It won over the likes of Franklin's, Hard Eight, City Market, Coopers, etc.