Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Best of 2009: Best Brisket

Our final menu-item award is for the gold standard of Texas BBQ: beef brisket. Generations of Texans have mastered the art of turning meat that was probably never meant to be eaten into something delicious - something that, arguably, defines Texas BBQ. Every place we hit up (just like every place we didn't hit up) serves brisket, and we collectively ate more brisket than any other item. As such, we had far more brisket scores than scores for anything else, making this race the most highly contested.

Fittingly, as it turns out, the results of the top 3 are also the closest of all the menu-item awards. Only 1 of last year's winners (#1, in fact) made this year's list (at #3). So, without further ado, here are our picks for Best Brisket of 2009 (rounded to the nearest thousandth - because rounding to the nearest hundredth left us with a tie for #1). Okay, I lied. Further ado: Before you get in a tizzy from not seeing a pic of glistening, fatty beef, I don't have a picture of the winner's moist brisket - so a pic of their lean will have to suffice:


1. Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse (Elgin): 9.664

2. Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que (New Braunfels): 9.663

3. Snow's BBQ (Lexington): 9.63

10 comments:

Doug Zedler said...

Could do without the inclusion of the giant thumb in the photos. Makes for a less than appetizing reading experience. Please consider this constructive criticism, not sniping.

Drew Thornley said...

I don't disagree with you, Doug, but that's the only pic I've got. Even if I had cropped it, still leaves you with a thumb nail, and that's not much better.

Drew Thornley said...

Oh, wait, you mean ALL of the pics where I'm holding some meat. Gotcha. Yeah, those are here to stay. You'd be surprised how many emails I get from people who find my thumb appetizing.

Doug Zedler said...

Maybe it'll grow on me. :?)

Drew Thornley said...

That's the spirit!!!

RP said...

Notwithstanding the thumb, I do not think that is Meyer's best cut of brisket buddy. Anyway, Meyers at our last visit didn't have any brisket worthy of their ranking. I think we need to make sure Louie Mueller, Salt Lick and Snow's get fairer shakes by our scorers in the new decade! Great work as usual my man.
RP

Drew Thornley said...

Thanks for weighing in, RP. So folks are clear, yours truly doesn't pick the winners. In fact, no one person does. Rather, all of the scores are averaged, and the numbers decide it.

RAT7299 said...

What thumb??? Would have been nice to have the meat just laying there but thats cool! You picked it up for emphasis!!

Anonymous said...

If Black's is not in your Top 3 for "Brisket" you folks dont know good brisket, simple as that.

Drew Thornley said...

Anonymous,

I appreciate your thoughts (and have no doubt that many, including some in our group, would agree with you), but we didn't visit Black's in 2009 (We did in 2008 and have visited in 2010.) Thus, it was not in the running for any "Best of 2008" award. Keep in mind that our "Best of" awards are not sweeping pronouncements of the best so-and-so in all of Texas. Rather, they are the top picks (only) from our visits that particular year.

Cheers,
Drew