Saturday, November 28, 2009: Earth Locker (Earth, Texas)

Russell emailed the family’s review:

Having manned up the entire Thanksgiving long holiday weekend on a bounty of goodies, including mule deer backstrap fresh from the field, the fam & I were primed for some BBQ by Saturday.

Thankfully & surprisingly to some, there is a BBQ joint here in the big City of Earth Texas (population approx. 1200) ---it's really a meat locker, but on Saturday, for as long as I can remember, my dad has always brought us brisket & pork ribs from proprietor Carlos Duran's little Earth Locker.

The downside to Earth Locker is that it only offers BBQ Sat mornings (much like Snows in Lexington, it's til they run out, so come early!) ...but the huge upside of Earth Locker is that where else can u get BBQ that is smoked right on the same premises as where it's slaughtered & butchered?? --- You wanta talk about some fresh Q! They got fresh authentic BBQ right off the bone, practically.
Our family us a bit biased perhaps, as we grew up on the stuff, but for a tiny West Texas panhandle type place, Earth Locker does it right... & now..without further delay...Here is how the fam scores it:

Ribs: RP - 9.92 (huge, juicy mouthwatering pork ribs, not unsimilar to Louis Mueller's pork ribs; but Carlos' ribs require a bit of sauce usually, unlike LM's); Dana - 9.95; Dad - 8.87; Joel - 10

Brisket: RP - 7.67 (decent flavor, but a bit too jerky like & not well marbled enuf for my taste --- however, that's how the rest of my fam likes it, lean & providing a need/excuse to use a bunch of sauce evidently!); Megan - 8.33 (she likes hers lean, & they do lean, even tho she's not a big brisket person generally); Mom – 9; Dad - 9.5 (both my parents, unlike me, like brisket lean with their tangy red BBQ sauce smothered all over it!); Joel – 10; Dana - 8.9 (mainly about the nostalgia factor for Dana, as the taste of this brisket brings back good memories of Sat mornings at home in Earth, she says - ie simpler times maybe ;)

(*note - I'm foregoing the general 24 hr waiting period/cooling off period to publish scores rule ... just this once ... because: our fam has had years to consider scoring this place - Carlos' time honored Earth Locker - which has been such a big part of our Saturdays growing up, & perhaps had a big role in making me the BBQ lover I am today :)

Overall: RP - 8.57; Dana - 9.25; Dad (Dan) - 9.4; Mom (Betty) – 9; Megan – 9; Joel – 10

(*note - Joel luvs ALL BBQ! ...& he wanted me to put the caveat that his score is relative only to other TX BBQ joints that don't have an area where u can sit in there & eat --- i.e. meat market takeout only sort of joints).

God bless all BBQ lovers & ur fams.

RP

Overall Man-Up Score: 9.2033