Yahoo, good rocks and good eats

Mel you always find the good rock piles you must have rock radar. A few pictures may make you feel better lol. Mel you know you are in Texas now its not burgers its Texas Bar-Bee- Q. I have drove over 100 miles to just to eat what I thought was the best. In south Texas they have the Barbaco sp (Mexican bar b-Q) which is nothing like Texas -Q. Me and the wife were in Brownsville looking for a good barb-q place to eat this is back in the late 80s we are told by most people we asked that it would be chuyies or something to that effect. But of course it was always after we had to explain what barb-q was this should have raised a red flag. Well after asking 4 or 5 more people and getting puzzled looks we stumbled upon one of the famous chuy barbaco places. It was small toll both size plus half more I kid you not,with a stone oven built in the side. We pull up and told them we wanted some barb-q Chuy himself says we no got barb-q we got barbaco its Mexican barb-q better he says.Well me being the brave soul that I am having drug myself down to this foreign land not knowing how to speak one word of Spanish. Well unless you count''whore- hay'' which I finally figured out is my name in Spanish. I ask the guy if we could try some before we decide what we wanted he said sure. He says in not very good English well it wasn't really English he had chik and tone. I took chik to be chicken so we were safe there now this tone I had no idea so I ask him what kind of animal did the second meat come from he said both same beef. I said I thought you said you had chicken he says no chik and points to his cheek. I guess in exasperation he turns and retrieves his barbaco out of the oven to show me. Which turns out to be a whole beef head fully cooked he points at the cheek which had been carved on and says chik. He sets it down and cuts off a slice of cheek and gives it to me I hand it to the wife but chuy knew my ploy he has another slice waiting when I turn back to my surprise it was very good. The tone was next and it turned out to be the tongue I never had any idea a beef tongue was so large as he had it cut out and laying across front of the pan. That was one of the worst things I have ever eaten the texture and the thought were both bad.We bought 1/2 lb. of each but the tongue fed a hungery critter somewhere along the Brownsville ship channel as it got tossed on your way back to South Padre Island.The best barb-q for me was up by Victoria right on 77 no rest room, paper plates, no in door seating, no elctricity best q I have had anywhere. Well Mel You had enough time to of added some pics after all that lol.
George

*LOL* George, I flat love that story! In Texas, you really have to pay attention to the kind of meat you are buying. Lots of wild game ( venison, buffalo, blackbuck, even friggin ostrich) goat ( cabbrito) and lots of weird cuts of meat. Being the son of a taxidermist, I hate wild game so always go for good beef, chicken or pork. If you get the right Mexican babarcoa place ( I think one chain might be called Texas Taco Factory) the food is excellent and really inexpensive. Their breakfast tacos at 99 cents when doctored up at the salsa bar, are flat out of this world good and being from a Mexican area of southern Calley, I love my Mexican food! Ton's of great American style BBQ too but man they always serve too much food. Our riding association has a feed every year and so does the volunteer fire dept and there's so much food you have to stop eating before you explode! As I've hinted above, good burgers are a bit tough to find but a few places have the best I've ever eaten anywhere.

I did finally post some pics of just a few of my finds up in the members photo section. I've washed everything now and those rock piles had wonderful stuff. Even found a little more palm in the stuff I selected. Still fighting the friggin crud though. Took the wife ten days to get over it and I'm only on day six. Yuck!.....Mel

Ahh, Bill Miller's now that takes me back. I loved their brisket, sweet tea, and of course cobbler. Too bad I wasn't as into rocks back then but at least I learned about bbq in Texas.

Sorry you got the crud Mel, here's hoping it doesn't take 10 days to get over. Get well soon.

Mel, my normal selection at Bill Miller's is their "Wrangler plate" - only one meat and 2 sides. And, of course, tea and a slice of lemon merengue pie! They make some of the best pies I've ever eaten. If you're a big eater, the next size plate up is 2 meats and (I think) 3 sides. I love their tater salad, their green beans, and their pinto beans. I'm getting hungry just telling you about it.

If you like brisket, but don't care for all the fat, you can ask for "extra lean" and they will cut it for you, no extra charge. Can't beat that with a stick!

Tom

Well, shucks! I'm about to take my sister on a circular hill-country photo/sightseeing drive, and had planned to lunch at Mac & Ernie's in Tarpley, but I just now looked them up on the web, and found they are only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Poo! And I had my mouth all set up for a great burger!

Oh, well. I'm sure I'll find another place to eat today.

Tom