This was my first repeat visit and I looked to Schoepf's to do two things for me. Redeem themselves after my first visit in July 2011 and deliver the great BBQ that has them featured in numerous national and local publications. It was my birthday and I had to pull the BBQ birthday trigger. After getting my pants set on fire by Stiles Swith and Lambert's in Austin...it'd be nice to wrap up the week on a central Texas BBQ high note followed by whiskey that evening. Unfortunately every birthday wish doesn't come true.
Let's start in July 2011...Schoepf's had been on my agenda for a long time and the opportunity presented itself to eat there after a river trip with some buddies. Needless to say we were not impressed with what we had. Fast forward to now, cross my fingers and surely that day in July was just a fluke.
I pulled into a decently busy parking lot close to 1 pm. First thing I noticed there wasn't a heavy smell of smoke resonating through the air. Granted it was windy but even when I walked up closer and checked out the pits...nothing. Ok, so maybe the smokers were done for the day. Walked into the ordering line and ordered my standard with jalapeno cheese sausage. The sides I ordered were the cucumber salad, potato salad, and jalapeno cornbread. The Atkins diet is good and all but man cannot live on meat alone. I think that's what I read in the Bible.
I went straight for the sausage and the cheese oozed from the center. It was good but honestly too overwhelming. The ribs had flavor from the salt and pepper but other than that...I was fighting a losing battle taking the meat off the bones with my teeth. Probably resembling an old man trying to bite into an apple...without his dentures. By far the toughest ribs to date. The fatty brisket was served with a lack of bark and smoke. Roast. I would imagine most BBQ joints would taste some of their meat before serving but maybe I'm naive about that. You can see a faint ring on both ribs and brisket but it's just that...faint. Jalapeno cornbread was good!
After this being my first repeat visit on a BBQ joint and having bad experiences both times...I can't find myself recommending it to anyone. I'm sure this would be excellent to some but I wonder about those journalists and food critics who have written them up numerous times. I've read Yelp reviews giving them 4 and 5 stars after bitching about the meat but because the sides are good. Huh? Only trust the 1 stars for those Arm Chair reviewers are not lost in space. Thank Jesus for the whiskey.
No comments:
Post a Comment