----------
> From: CobMeister(at)aol.com
> To: alpines(at)autox.team.net; tigers(at)autox.team.net
> Cc: johnsmallwood(at)santafehotels.com
> Subject: RIP in Round Rock (#C, VERY Limited Sunbeam Content)
> Date: Sunday, August 23, 1998 2:00 PM
>
> So anyway,
>
> Back on the road tomorrow, me and Janet and the 'Beamish Boy. The
general
> direction will be west but the precise routing is best left unsaid... The
less
> warning they have the better!
>
> The layover here has been good... I did not accomplish much on the car
but it
> was not for lack of opportunity. Did enjoy plenty of quality time with
the
> kids.
>
> Yesterday, Saturday, August 22, dawned gray, rainy and hot. Actually,
the
> high only got up to 84 degrees -- cool and comfy by comparison to what we
have
> been experiencing -- and at noon the relative humidity was 100%. Hovered
> around that reading all the day long.
>
> With outside activities not really a reasonable choice, we spent much of
the
> day at the movies, some big ol' 20 screen movie plex, where we watched
The
> Negotiator, a pretty decent film though a bit longish. After the show we
went
> out for -- you guessed it -- barbecue.
>
> Rudy's is a semi-interesting place. A convenience store-gas station with
a
> barbecue pit incorporated. Actually, that is misleading as all hell
since the
> pit is now the place. It is an old Austin tradition and I am sure a real
gold
> mine.
>
> Brian was very hesitant to go near the place this Saturday because it has
been
> advertised as a Corvette Saturday at Rudy's, about 200 cars and 300
people
> expected to show up for show n' shine n' slop. However, I point out to
Brian
> that: A, ain't no way the Corvettites are gonna have their cars out in
the
> rain and 2, it is almost 3 PM and there ain't no Corvettites gonna still
be
> suckin' up the hot guts even if they did brave the rain to begin with.
>
> At Rudy's red clapboard building you go in past the cashier for the gas
(the
> automotive gas) and queue up for smoked meats, pulling your drink choice
> --Shiner's, Lone Star, Big Red, and IBC Root Beer, mostly, out of ice
filled
> galvanized water tanks on your way. 'Tater salad (reg'lar and mustard),
cole
> slaw, beans, and so forth are available by the 1/2 pint, pint, quart, and
> gallon.
>
> The meats themselves, beef (brisket) (at) 4.14 per half-pound, extra lean
beef (at)
> 4.49 per half-pound, pork loin, turkey, and chicken, all at $4.39 per
half-
> pound, and hot sausage (at) $2.29 per link. I ordered up a pound of extra
lean
> -- gotta think about the ol' ticker, ya know --, haffa pound of turkey,
haffa
> pound of pork, four hot links, pint'a beans, pint'a tater salad, and four
soda
> pops. From the convenience store side Dana picked up a big bag o'chips
and we
> made our way to spots on one of the extra long picnic tables. We ate
inside
> because of the ladies... I'd have been happier at one of the outside
(under
> roof) picnic tables but my opinion was not solicited.
>
> The meats -- which hit the cash register at just over $51, but hey! Half
this
> stuff went home in a bag -- come with a loaf of sliced Wonder bread, some
> plastic table wear, and four pieces of butcher paper. No plates. Quart
> bottles of hot barbecue sauce (at Rudy's, spelled "sause") and big boxes
of
> Morton Salt (no salt shaker) and Pepper (need I say it?) along with
bottles of
> totally superfluous Tabasco sit at the end of each table.
>
> The beans turned out to be so spicy even I couldn't hardly stand to eat
them
> but the rest of the meal was absolutely delicious! Janet alone struggled
> along for a while with her plastic knife and fork, the rest of us knew
that
> this is all finger food and proceeded accordingly.
>
> Rudy's is arguably the best barbecue in Austin. Oh sure, it is still
pretty
> pale when compared to the Saltlick, the Buda BBQ, the Manchaca
(pronounced
> Man-chak) Fire Department, or the County Line, but awfully, awfully good
and
> much closer in. I am really glad we were able to get to Rudy's for a
bite.
>
> This morning the Sunday, August 23, Austin American Statesman has a big
> article on the Kruez (pronounced approximately as "Krees") Market in
Lockhart,
> Texas, about 40 miles south of here. Now, this joint is the certainteed
best
> barbecue in Texas.
>
> It is a hundred year (98, actually) old market-butcher shop with a
barbecue
> pit attached. 'Course, nowadays the pit can seat a couple of hundred
people.
> When I first ate at the joint back in 1983 the seating capacity was about
a
> hundred in one room, another hundred in a room that was never open.
>
> The pit -- the place where meats are cooked -- had half-a-dozen brick
pits and
> the entire inside of the whole room was absolutely black with soot from
the
> non-stop oak fires. Supposedly, the fires have burned continuously since
the
> place opened in August of 1900. The black soot on the walls was actually
> fairly attractive when compared to the butcher shop -- where the sausage
was
> made and other meats were prepared for cooking -- which had walls
uniformly
> covered in a gray fuzz, the result of penicillin growing on grease.
>
> At Kruez Market you get no plate and no fork or spoon though nowadays I
hear
> that they are letting you have a plastic knife. In the old days (say
fifteen
> years ago) they had steel knives secured to the tables with two foot
lengths
> of chain every couple of feet. You just wiped the knife off when you
were
> done with your meal. If you remembered. Don't you know the health
department
> just loved that?
>
> Another interesting thing about Kruez Market is they don't serve sauce
with
> their smoked meats. Yup, no sauce in the place. Fifteen years ago when
I
> displayed my ignorance by asking for sauce I was told, politely enough,
that
> they don't serve sauce. I pushed it just a bit and inquired "why not?"
> "Because," the man with the big knife told me, "sauce insults the meat."
They
> feel their meats are of such high quality, the preparation so
painstaking,
> that embellishment is out of the question.
>
> They do still offer the choice of "bread or crackers with that?",
something
> that most of the other barbecue pits stopped long ago, instead just
flinging a
> stack of bread at you as you go by.
>
> Kruez Market is also the only place I know where Smoked Prime Rib is on
the
> menu written on the wall. Now that is gilding the lily... A good way to
screw
> up a perfectly good prime rib, donchaknow?
>
> The other smoked meats include beef clod, beef brisket, turkey, chicken,
and,
> of course, sausage which is made on premises. The newspaper says they
are now
> making 3,100 sausage rings every day except Sunday when they are closed.
Man,
> even at 85% beef content that is a lot of hog fat!
>
> Though not up to the standards of the late, great Elgin butcher shop's
Hot
> Guts, Kruez Market sausage is very good. Nice coarse texture, not too
hot but
> still authoritative. I remember it well even though it has been years
since I
> have eaten any.
>
> So anyway, the whole point of today's newspaper article is that Kruez
Market
> is changing... The owner is erecting a new building which will have have
twice
> as many pits made out of (gasp!) steel instead of brick. They will be
able to
> seat 700 people for lunch! This in a town with a couple of thousand
> population and thirty miles from anywhere.
>
> The real reason they are moving the pit seems to be (if the paper is to
be
> believed) that brothers and sisters can't get along. The brother owns
the
> business, the sister owns the building the business is in. Now brother
is
> moving up the street a couple of hundred yards and sister plans to reopen
> under a new name.
>
> The fires that have burned for 98 years will, however be extinguished.
Is
> nothing sacred?
>
> Today is another overcast, humid day giving me a perfect excuse to laze
around
> eating leftover bobbycue and playing with the Alpine.
>
> I got out there in the garage and pulled the JVC deck out. I was able to
> confirm that the ground was intermittent due to a screw that was slightly
too
> small for the hole it was screwed into but correcting that did not give
me
> sound. We eventually confirmed a good ground, electricity into the
radio,
> good fuses, and no sound out, so I reluctantly conclude that the radio
itself
> is dead, RIP.
>
> One real concern, of course, is the amount of rainwater that was coming
in at
> about the time the deck quit working...
>
> Oh well, I will wait until we are back near home before trying anything
else.
>
> I played with the carb linkage just a bit, too, but lacking a proper
spacer,
> there is not much else for it.
>
> Heavy rain is coming down now and it is time for me to have a nap... Just
one
> of those days.
>
> --Colin Cobb, Comfortably and Dryly Watching Plenty Big Rainstorm Outside
> Austin, Texas