Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 01/15/18 > Will Eat BBQ 4U Volume 3…. Oakridge Smoke House

I welcome you back to the “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” Texas BBQ review, this month’s edition takes us to another small town for some slow smoked beef brisket. This particular bbq restaurant is conveniently located just off of Interstate Highway I-10 in Schulenburg, TX. , that would be exit 674 east bound or west bound on I-10.

This particular tasting actually took place on 01/12/17 as I was making a return home from San Antonio. I always look at my calendar a couple weeks in advance of the 15th of the month so I can decide which BBQ establishment I want to feature for the month. Being that the 15Th fell on a Monday and I publish in the early morning hours of the day, like midnight eastern time, I knew that I would pass by the Oakridge Smoke House two times in the week prior to the publishing date.

I will tell you something that I never took into consideration when I decided to take on this monthly project. My preacher hit on it Christmas Eve in his sermon about the best laid plans of mice and men, no matter how good your plan is, something or anything can screw up the plans. If you remember the first volume, I reviewed Lost Pines BBQ in Giddings, TX. and the day I decided to eat there, they were closed. They had never been closed on a Friday but they were that day. Somewhere along the time of the last BBQ review I promised someone that I would make the meat for the Volume 3 review ribs, slow smoked hand rub ribs.

But before we get to deep in to the meat and potatoes of this volume 3 we need to take our customary look around town and see the lay of the land. Like most small Texas towns that have managed to survive there is a rail line that contributed to the survival. Unlike the last two towns where we dined, Schulenburg is not the county seat of Fayette County, so those neat old grand court houses you’ve seen in the last two editions will not be in this edition.

The population of Schulenburg is considerably less than those last two towns as well, Schulenburg has less than 3,000 residents according to the population number on the city limits sign. One thing about the town is that the people that reside in this town are home grown, born and raised in the area. Most all the folks you meet and talk with are native to the local area. There haven’t been a lot of people from Houston packing their bags and buying up land around Schulenburg and retiring to the small town.

Schulenburg was founded in 1873; it was named after Louis Schulenburg who settled in the area in 1867 and on whose land the rail road depot was built. At the time of the incorporation of the town in 1875 the population was 1,000 and encompassed one square mile of area. German and Czech settlers were the primary residents that settled the town of Schulenburg and the surrounding area. Agriculture was and is still the primary source of income for the area residents; crops include hay, cotton, fruits, vegetables and livestock.

The downtown area of Schulenburg really started taking shape in the early 1890’s , the city bought its first piece of firefighting equipment in 1891 it was a hand pump device used by the bucket brigade up until 1903 when water lines and a water tower were put into place. Some businesses that started in the 1920’s are still in business today in downtown Schulenburg. That first fire hand pump is on display at the Schulenburg Historical Museum that is located on Main Street across from the rail lines.

For such a small town it is not short on items of interest, aside from the Historical Museum there is what is known as the Painted Churches Tour. Five churches constructed in the early 1900’s that are substantial in size and feature painted interiors that were painted to resemble churches of Europe that had extensive marble interiors, marble wasn’t a readily available building material in the area but the settlers figured a way to paint the structures to appear on the inside as marble. The tour is a self guided event and maps are available at the towns chamber of commerce building located on Main Street.

The biggest drawn for the town is a little known museum that is dedicated to the history of model aircraft. I had passed by this museum for a number of years and never bothered to even read the sign. I got a couple nice exterior shots of the building and then ventured inside to find out more about it. What an amazing story behind this museum and the two brothers who founded and ran the Stanzel Model Aircraft Company. This story is worthy of its own Daily Dose column which it will get sometime this spring. Shirley, who is a guide for the museum, spend an hour telling me the history of the Stanzel brothers and their role in the community. I won’t elaborate any more on this museum right now, but it is a first class museum that documents the history of flight and the model aircraft that came about as the aviation industry was ramping up.

I had intentionally skipped breakfast Friday because I love the food at the Oakridge Smoke House, and I wanted to make sure I would be hungry. By the time Shirley and I parted ways it was 2:30PM and my stomach was growling for BBQ so let’s head up to the restaurant and grab some grub.

The Oakridge Smoke House has been in business since 1964, it is located on Hwy77 just a few hundred feet north of the I-10 freeway. The building has a unique look; the windows are all crooked and cockeyed. It is painted in some drab colors to boot. The appearance from the front would lead you to believe it is rather small, but it has plenty of seating in four different eating areas, it also has a bakery and a small meat counter that sells smoked meats and beef jerky.

The reason I skipped breakfast is that this is one of the few BBQ places that offers an all you can eat buffet. The buffet guarantees at least two meats, plenty of vegetables, desserts, breads, rolls, salad bar and drink. All that at a very reasonable price tag of $12.85 plus tax. I get my money’s worth each time I eat here. The one thing that I never expected in formulating my plan for the day was that the buffet wouldn’t have any BBQ meats on it this day.

Sure enough, the normal BBQ chicken and ribs were nowhere to be found on the buffet. If this were a fried chicken or fried catfish review I would have been in business and eating until my heart’s content and my stomach was full. They also had sausage on the buffet but, boiled sausage isn’t BBQ either, if they would smoke their sausage like most BBQ places I would have done the buffet. I don’t have a problem with fried catfish and chicken but it was time to order from the menu.

I’ve been eating here for over twenty years, this was the first time I had ever picked up a menu and opened it up. Having never gone down this route of menu ordering I opted for the sliced beef brisket plate, they have really good brisket but it normally isn’t on the buffet, beef prices are pretty high. So rather than chance getting a few ribs, and the size of those can very too, I went with the beef.

I also got my choice of two side orders with the beef plate, so I took French fries and French fries. Good old sultnpapper favorites, hold the veggies for somebody else. I wasn’t disappointed by any means with the meal. The meat had to be between a third and a half pound of meat, the French fries covered the rest of the platter. The meat was moist and tender; it would cut with just using the edge of the fork. That is a sign of a well cooked brisket, brisket is a tougher cut of meat and only cooking for long hours on low heat can make it that tender.

Despite the name of the establishment being, Oakridge Smoke House, the BBQ wood they use is pecan. Pecan is very plentiful in this area so they take advantage of that resource. Pecan has a good flavor; smooth tasting would best describe it, and where as oak and mesquite have a definite bite.

So while my best laid plan didn’t work out again and I am no way disappointed in the outcome. I got a good fulfilling meal, and learned a little more about Schulenburg that I didn’t know. Schulenburg is about ninety miles west of Houston on I-10, if you find yourself making the trip on I-10 be sure to stop off at exit 674 and drop in at the Oakridge Smoke House for some BBQ, you won’t be disappointed, even if you have to order from the menu.

This month’s meal rang up to $12.94, I didn’t get a receipt, and even though it wasn’t all I could eat it was more than enough by all measures.
I hope you enjoyed this month’s edition of “Will Eat BBQ 4U” and I look forward to next month’s, I will get ribs on here sooner or later, promise.

Until next time,
@sultnpapper

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