Post-BBQ tour & tasting at Hops & Grain Brewing (Austin, TX)

After our late-February Texas Q Tours group downed its third meal in Lockhart in 3 hours, we drove them back to Austin for a private tour & tasting at Hops & Grain Brewing. Speaking of Hops & Grain, they will repeat this year as host of our 4th Annual Gettin' Sauced! festival!

The rest from Smitty's Market (Lockhart, TX)

Rest of the pics from our late-February Texas Q Tours visit to Smitty's Market (Lockhart, TX):

Ordering at Smitty's Market (Lockhart, TX)

Some pics of the ordering area at Smitty's Market, taken during our late-February Texas Q Tours visit

Texas BBQ Wannabe: 82

82. Selma's Texas Barbeque (Moon Township, Pennsylvania)

*For the record, Selma's sounds like my kind of place. Smoked meats & farm-raised catfish. BBQ smoked all night. Made-from-scratch sides. Home-grown techniques & family recipes. Tea brewed fresh throughout the day. If I'm ever in the area, I'm there!

Updated list:

1. Texas Smokehouse (Decatur, AL)
2. Hill Country Barbecue (Manhattan)
3. Dallas BBQ (Manhattan)
4. Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q (Beijing)
5. Capital Q (Washington, DC) - RIP
6. Little Texas (Iasi, Romania)
7. Back Forty Texas BBQ (CA)
8. West Texas Barbeque Co. (Jackson, MI)
9. Dr. Hogly Wogly’s Tyler Texas BBQ (Van Nuys, CA)
10. Barn Burner Texas Barbeque (Pasadena, CA)
11. JR’s Texas Bar-B-Que (Sacramento, CA)
12. Texas West BBQ (3 CA locations)
13. Tootie’s Texas Barbeque (Cathedral City, CA)
14. Armadillo Willy’s Real Texas BBQ (Los Altos, CA)
15. The Original Texas Barbecue King (Los Angeles)
16. Longhorn Barbecue (3 WA locations)
17. Bubb's Big Texas Style BBQ (Big Bend, WI)
18. The Texas BBQ Company (Northborough, MA)
19. DJ's Texas Style BBQ (Lewiston, ME)
20. Serious Texas BBQ (3 CO locations)
21. Abbey's Real Texas Bar-B-Q (San Diego, California)
22. Jake's Authentic Texan Bar B-Q (Rensselaer, NY)
23. Buster's Texas Style Barbecue (3 OR locations)
24. Howard's Texas Barbecue Service (Portland, OR)
25. Bennett's BBQ (CO, TN, & NC)
26. Kin Folks Texas Style BBQ (Altoona, IA)
27. Cecil's Texas Style Bar-B-Q (2 FL locations)
28. Shaw's Texas Style BBQ (Hercules, CA)
29. Backwoods BBQ (Corona, CA)
30. Cedar River Smoke House (Renton, WA)
31. Big Al's Texas BBQ (Lehi, UT)
32. East Texas BBQ, LLC (Huntsville, AL)
33. Bonehead's Texas BBQ (San Francisco, CA)
34. Texas Pride Barbecue (Huntsville, UT)
35. Bart's Texas Style BBQ (Traverse City, MI)
36. Roland's Bar-B-Que Company (Hot Springs, AR)
37. Ralphies Texas Style BBQ & Ribs (Fairmont, WV)
38. Taste of Texas Bar-B-Q (Spencerport, NY)
39. Danny's Little Taste of Texas (South Windsor, CT)
40. Taste of Texas BBQ (McCook, NE)
41. Lockhart's BBQ (Royal Oak, MI)
42. Big John's Texas BBQ (Flagstaff, AZ)
43. Big Star Texas Barbeque (Flagstaff, AZ)
44. Big Mouth BBQ (Great Falls, MT)
45. Bull Durham’s Texas BBQ and Steakhouse (West Chester, PA)
46. Texas Ribs and BBQ (Clinton, MD)
47. The Silver Spur Texas Smokehouse BBQ (Elm Grove, WI)
48. Elmer's Authentic Texas BBQ (Battle Lake, MN)
49. Doc's Texas BBQ & Burgers (Sonora, CA)
50. Dixie's Smokehouse Texas BBQ & Rotisserie (Kings Park, NY)
51. Bob's BBQ & Mexican Grill (Pattaya, Thailand)
52. Bob's Texas BBQ (Boise, ID)
53. Hickory River Smokehouse (6 locations in OH & IL)
54. Texas Tony's BBQ Shack (Naples, FL)
55. Roosters Texas Style BBQ & Steakhouse (Nashville, TN)
56. Lee's Texas Style Bar-B-Q (Detroit, MI)
57. Texas Smokehouse Bar-B-Q (Woodinville, WA) - RIP
58. Austin BBQ (Wheaton, IL)
59. Alamo BBQ (Richmond, VA)
60. Austin's BBQ (Mountain View, CA)
61. 4C BBQ (Ponce De Leon, FL)
62. Rotuno's Texas Style Barbeque (Elyria, OH)
63. Smoke City Market (Sherman Oaks, CA)
64. The Ranger Texas Barbecue (Manhattan)
65. 4Rivers Smokehouse (2 FL locations)
66. Podnah's Pit Barbecue (Portland, OR)
67. Taste of Texas BBQ (Keystone, NE)
68. Bubba's Barbecue (Jakarta, Indonesia)
69. Molly's Smokehouse Texas BBQ (Wahiawa, HI)
70. Smokin' J's BBQ - Real Texas Barbeque (Gulfport, FL)
71. Texas BBQ & Steaks (Nha Trang, Vietnam)
72. Texas BBQ (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
73. Lynyrd Skynyrd BBQ & Beer (Las Vegas, NV)
74. Red River BBQ (Melbourne, Australia)
75. Triple A Bar (Toronto, Canada)
76. Texas Bar-B-Q (Puebla, Mexico)
77. Bubba's Texas BBQ (Philadelphia)
78. Tex's World Famous Bar-B-Q (Nashville, TN)
79. Gilley's BBQ (Las Vegas)
80. Texas Pit BBQ (St. Thomas, VI)
81. Texas Best BBQ (Valley Village, CA)
82. Selma's Texas Barbeque (Moon Township, PA)

A counter of food at Smitty's!

After meals at Kreuz and Black's, our late-February Texas Q Tours group lumbered up the stairs at Smitty's Market in Lockhart for one final meal of the trip: brisket, sausage, pork ribs, beans, pickles, onions, and cheese:

Aaron Franklin one of "The Coolest People in Food for 2013"

The Daily Meal recently named "The Coolest People in Food for 2013." Lo and behold, an Austin BBQ pitmaster made the list. Here is the copy from the story:

Aaron Franklin, Pitmaster

The Texas barbecue tradition is full of ancient pitmasters with pits even older than they are. Franklin meets them on their own turf. His Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas, which grew out of a food truck, makes 'cue so good that you've got to line up early in the morning to have even a chance at sampling it. Franklin could build bigger pits, quadruple his seating, and hire 20 more assistants and probably make a fortune. He's more interested in making barbecue, at his own pace, and he sure hopes you like it. His pit is smoking; he's cool. 

We've joined The Daily Meal!

Today, we announce that we are now part of The Daily Meal's Culinary Content Network! The Network is a collection of food bloggers from throughout the country who are all about spreading the message of good food and drink. You can find some of our posts (moving forward) in the CCN section of The Daily Meal's website. We are delighted to be a part of a community of fellow food bloggers and look forward to helping out the best we can. Check out our The Daily Meal footer at the bottom of this page, and check out The Daily Meal on Twitter and Facebook!

Houston BBQ Festival today!!!

Today, we have the pleasure of a booth at the 1st Annual Houston BBQ Festival! Sure to be a good time, with a bunch of Houston-area BBQ joints and vendors. We're looking forward to tasting what H-Town has to offer and meeting new folks who love Texas BBQ. The event is sold out, but you can follow along vicariously via our tweets from @ManUpTexasBBQ!

More from Black's

More from Black's Barbecue (Lockhart, TX), taken during our late-February Texas Q Tours visit

Trays of meat at Black's!

After our late-February Texas Q Tours clients had a big meal at Kreuz, we moseyed on over to Black's and settled in for the 2nd of 3 meals of the day: trays of brisket, sausage, pork ribs, beef rib (cut into bite-size pieces), chicken, & turkey.

The pit at Kreuz Market (Lockhart, TX)

After our late-February Texas Q Tours group feasted on their first of 3 meals of the day, they took some time to tour Kreuz Market's pit.

Pans of meat at Kreuz!

The first stop of our February 23 Texas Q Tours trip was Kreuz Market in Lockhart. Our group of 20 started the 3-meal day with pans of brisket, sausage (original and jalapeno-cheese), pork loin, turkey, and prime rib. We still had 2 meals to come, but our group chowed down on all of it. After the meal, we toured the pits (pictures of the pit to come).