Zimmerhanzel's BBQ has closed.

Longtime Smithville BBQ joint Zimmerhanzel's BBQ has shuttered. Another BBQ joint is opening, in its place (Smithville Pit BBQ, I believe. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.).

The rest from Zimmerhanzel's BBQ (Smithville, TX)

Yesterday's lunch at Zimmerhanzel's BBQ (Smithville, TX)

(Sidenote: This is my 1,000th post. No, I don't want a cookie.)

My scheduled lunch yesterday had to be postponed, so I found myself with some free time. So, I got in the car and made my first trip to Smithville (of Hope Floats fame) for lunch at Zimmerhanzel's BBQ. A blog reader put Zimmerhanzel's on my radar a couple of weeks ago, so I was glad to be able to hit it up so soon. I arrived around 12:30 and found a pretty full dining room. I took a look at the menu while waiting in line and decided to get a half chicken and some brisket or maybe some pork ribs. Turns out the chicken the guy in front of me got was the last one. I figured it was just the last one on the line, but it was the last one period. They were also out of pork ribs, so I decided on a sliced-beef sandwich.

At that point, I was kinda bummed that I drove 45 minutes and couldn't get chicken or ribs. But that feeling was over when I started in on the sandwich. It was excellent. The brisket was soft, moist (but not fatty), had a beautiful red smoke ring, and good flavor. Soft bun, several pickle slices, and sauce that, though the sandwich didn't need it, I poured on because it was too good not to. The prices are way lower than most every place I've been, so I found the value to be fantastic here (from the $3.46 for my sandwich to the brisket, at $8.75 per pound, to 93 cents for a large tea with free refills). Zimmerhanzel's is just over a mile off Hwy. 71, so it will be an easy stop whenever I'm passing through.