Smittys VS Kruez Market (Lockhart, TX)

HISTORY

EST. 1900 - In 1999, following a disagreement between the son and daughter of Edgar "Smitty" Schmidt--who bought the market from the Kreuz family in 1948--had a falling out, and the original Kreuz split into two. The brother took the name and started a barn-like new place out on the highway that runs to Austin, which is the barbecue called Kreuz Market today. 

Smitty's Market

 You walk in to the dark pit area filled with smoke, it's so awesome because you swear you were about to get your face ripped off Texas Chainsaw style! We ordered sliced beef, ribs, and sausage, no sides. It's all served on butcher paper as it should be, they offer no forks nor sauce (and you will soon read why this is bad for them.) Okay so we can start with the good, the sausage was DAMN GOOD. It had an awesome smoke flavor, it was so juicy (greasy, whatever). The filling was a nice and flavorful, with a nice texture to the casing. Now we can talk about the OKAY ribs. The ribs of course were pork spares, lean and a little dry. There was a nice sweetness to them that seemed to come out but I sadly didn't get a smoke taste. For the Crust on the ribs, it wasn't there and I swear they were reheated wrong. Here is the BAD....the sliced brisket was so dry. I couldn't figure out if it needed to be smoked longer or if it was from the reheating process. Here is what bothered me the most: The fat was not finished rendering, there was no smoke ring, and there was no smoke flavor..what? If you are going to serve this sort of brisket, please offer sauce so we can drown the slices out.

RATINGS

Sausage-9/10

Ribs-5/10

Brisket-4/10 

Kruez Market

Here, it is about the same. You walk into the pit, order your meats and pay, walk in and order sides and drinks. Once again we ordered the ribs, sliced beef, and sausage. All served on classic butcher paper, and once again no sauce or forks. The good here is going to be the brisket. The brisket was very moist, had a nice smoke ring, fat was nice and rendered, and it had the smoke flavor; no sauce needed. The sausage was about the same, just more pepper was noticed and the meat was more coarse. Here is the bad, and it almost ruins the trip to here...THE RIBS WERE NOT GOOD AT ALL. No smoke flavor, a little tough, and in general the flavor just wasn't there. (Sauce would have came in handy here.)

RATINGS
Sausage-7/10
Ribs-3/10
Brisket-7/10

 THE WINNER: SMITTYS   

all about the sausage and atmosphere