Smitty's Market BBQ Day 2
Smitty's Market BBQ
A great day trip from Austin, Lockhart, Texas is only about 40 minutes south and east of Austin by the back roads on TX State Road 130. Driving through flat cattle and small ranch country, Lockhart was once a regional shipping center for local cotton and part of the Chisholm Trail. Texas Longhorn cattle were driven to the nearest railroad station and then shipped to St. Joseph, Missouri during the Civil War era.
The county seat of Caldwell County, Lockhart is the self-proclaimed Barbecue Capital of Texas. Several well-known and celebrated BBQ pits call Lockhart home. We chose Smitty’s Market. Once a General Store, it is now one of the most unique and delicious BBQ places in Texas, let alone Lockhart!
Smitty's Market
208 S Commerce St
Lockhart, TX 78644
(512) 398-9344
Smittysmarket.com
The building was the original home of Kreuz Meat Market. Smitty’s is a down home, bring cash, eat with your hands, kind of BBQ, exclusive to central Texas. Signs let you know that the pit fires have been burning since the 1900’s and great BBQ does not need additional sauce. The meat is king at Smitty’s.
The menu includes beef, pork, turkey, and sausage. The sides are cole slaw and beans as usual, but at Smitty’s you can also get a creamy mac and cheese. We paid for our meal right next to the hot fire pit and then went inside a narrow hall to sit at long tables.
Lunch was served on pieces of butcher paper and we were issued a plastic knife and told to eat with our hands! A first for Gennie was a Big Red soda, a soft drink originating in Waco, TX in the 1930’s. A type of cream soda, Big Red was marketed exclusively in Southern and Central Texas until a wider marketing campaign in the 1970’s.
After devouring beef brisket, sausage, pork chops, ribs, beans and coleslaw, we decided to walk around Lockhart to take in the city. A traditional small town in Texas, the quaint square had several churches and one of the most photographed courthouses in the South.
The no frills ambiance of Smitty’s Market BBQ and the small town of Lockhart, made the journey well worth the drive and a look back at Cow Country Texas.
Comments
Hi Charles Pugh, Thank you so much for your two comments on the Salt Lick and Smitty's. Your thoughts and depth were superb. And they provided our readers with the historical perspective of your family and their love of great BBQ. THANK YOU! Vic
Post a Comment!My grandfather used to take me to Kruetz before the family split the BBQ business in two following the death of the family patriarch. I continue to go to Smitty's when visiting my Lockhart relations as it is the true essence of Central Texas BBQ. The building, the traditions, and even some of the people still working there have been a part of my life for close to 50 years.
Smitty’s Market
Lockhart, Texas
The Smoker
Dining Room
Smitty's Market BBQ
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