Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 07/15/18> “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” Texas BBQ Review Vol. 9 , Southside Market, Elgin, Texas.

Will Eat BBQ 4 U” Texas BBQ Review Vol. 9

You don’t have any idea on how much pleasure it gives me to finally be able to write this edition of the "Will Eat BBQ 4 U" Texas BBQ review for your reading pleasure. This BBQ establishment and meat market has been on my radar screen to review for a long time now and each prior month when I thought I would be able to get by there and share a bite with you something always came up and I would end up somewhere else.

The one thing I knew…

Elgin, Texas is a town that is situated about thirty miles east of Austin, Texas and most folks who are not from the area couldn’t tell you much about the town other than it is home to some great BBQ and has been for a long, long time. So long in fact, that you won’t find a BBQ place in Texas or the United States that has been serving slow smoked BBQ longer than the place we will be eating at today.

I also fell into that category of person when it came to knowing about Elgin; I just never have gotten off the main highway that skirts Elgin on the south edge of the town. Everything a person passing through town might need is right there on that highway named US 290, so I just never had left the main road and ventured into the town proper. Since I have been doing these BBQ reviews I have come to realize a couple things that I had never given a second thought too.

Lessons learned…

The first thing is there is still a lot of unexplored area in south Texas that I am still uncovering for the first time. Sure, I know the towns by name, and can tell you the main highway that will take you through the town or around it in a lot of cases, but I really didn’t “know” the towns or about the history that was behind the towns. Elgin was no exception in that regard.

The other thing that I have come to realize is just how important the railroads were in establishing these small towns. It seems like every edition of the BBQ review has had some photos of the rails and the depots and this edition won’t be any different in that regard either.

One other commonality that I keep noticing is the old churches of these little towns, back when Texas was being settled those folks back then were believers in more ways than one. They obviously believed in those two things, otherwise those wouldn’t keep showing up. They also believed in Texas, there was a point in time back in the mid 1800’s that Texas was its own independent republic complete with a president, senate and congress and most importantly a constitution.

So lets see just what Elgin has to offer…

The first place that caught my eye on the drive down the main road into town was the old railroad depot which now serves as an historical museum. Unfortunately, the museum was closed the day I was in town. As far as depots go, this is quite a large depot and it wasn’t that portions had been added, all the construction appears to be of the same materials and quality.

What makes this town special when it comes to the railroad is that it has two major rail lines that run through the town, one is an east / west rail and the other is a north / south rail line and those lines intersect just a few yards from the depot so back in the days of passenger trains I would imagine this was a busy whistle stop.

The rails looked to have been redone recently and there were a few of the old iron railroad spikes lying in plain view. I looked at a couple of them for foundry marks and dates but there were neither on the spikes I looked at, I have seen old spikes that were dated back from the 1800’s before in my travels.

Two depots…

Most small towns only have one depot, but Elgin actually has two old depots, the second one is actually the very original depot and is located a couple hundred yards to the west of the current one housing the museum. I was told by a local man that the east / west line was the first line through town and so it had the depot by the Memorial Park. When the north south line was constructed and opened, the railroad company built the depot right near the intersection of the two lines in order to serve both, that way passenger would not have to walk far or transport baggage to get from one depot to the other. He also told me that the depot that was closed to the passengers became sort of an overnight rest stop for the crews of the trains, they were able sleep in the old depot which essentially had become a bunk house for the crews of the trains.

Small town charm…

Another real interesting building that caught my eye was the city hall. It is a majestic looking little piece of history and is registered as such with the Texas Historical Commission. The history is all located on the plaque by the front door of the building. Now if some of you are thinking this looks like an old brick house, you would be absolutely correct. It was originally built and owned by the town physician. The building for the most part is all original and another building was added directly behind it to house some additional offices and the city municipal court.
There are several other older homes in the town that are of similar size and probably date to about the same time as this one that was converted into city hall.

Church bells ringing…

For a town of less than 9,000 there is no shortage of churches but the church that drew my attention is the old Methodist church with the large bell outside and the big beautiful stained glass windows.

Those were some real artists who constructed these windows. Not many churches will you find in a small town like this with such a magnificent leaded stained glass feature. The old bell still rings the folks to church on Sundays and has for over 100 years. The church was founded in 1874. This church is also on the Texas Historical Commissions register of historic places.

Downtown is...

The downtown area of Elgin is lined with old building that date from the 1880’ up through about the 1930’s from what I could see, when was the last time you saw a “dry goods” store, well if look here in the photos you can answer that with, "just now." It is still a store and sells mainly hardware and such. I think back in the day when it was truly a dry goods store it was more selling of beans, flour , and corn along with some fabric for clothes making.

Stranger danger…

When a stranger comes to a small town and starts taking pictures of buildings, especially government buildings, it kind of puts people on edge just a tad. While a was photographing city hall a young woman, probably in her late twenties or early thirties, came out of the side door of the building and walked past me going to her car. “Can I help you?” she asked me.

Well, the answer I gave her wasn’t that answer I wanted to give her; but I politely told her that I pretty much knew how to take a picture, so I declined her offer of help. When she got in her car she promptly got on her cell phone, that usually means that I would be seeing the local law enforcement shortly, I have had it happen in a couple of the other little towns, so I pretty much expected a visit from the police department. This time I wasn’t going to wait around and them come find me, I went looking for them.

Be on the look out…

The police station is a couple blocks due south of city hall and a block over to the west and I had no trouble finding it since it was right across the street from the city park by one of the depots. So I parked my truck, legally I might add, and got out and started taking pictures of the police station.
I figured if they were going to come find me I would make it easy on them. From the size of the police station I am guessing that crime isn’t a big problem in Elgin, it is a tiny little building and the police force must really be small since I didn’t see a cop car one as drove about town and there were only two there at the station.

Don't tase me bro...

While I was photographing the station one uniformed officer did come out and get in a marked police car and drove down the block. He then turned around and drove slowly by me as I was standing on the sidewalk directly across from the station. I am not saying if looks could kill that I would be dead; but his stare was almost like he was tasing me with his eyes instead of his taser.

Memorial Park...

So all I needed was a couple shots of the park and I pretty much would have what I needed to show you folks around the town. The city park has a military gun at the west end of the park and marble stone that said it was in honor of all the service members from the Elgin area that fought and died in World War I.

How about we go get a bite to eat? This tour guiding stuff can make a person hungry and I know just the spot to treat you to lunch, I’m buying.

Since 1882…

I would say that this is the one and only Southside Market but that would be a lie, they also have one in Bastrop, Texas which is about 25 miles or so south of Elgin. This is the original though and it has been here since 1882, the buildings have changed over the years but this is the oldest continuously serving BBQ restaurant in the state of Texas and the United States. That is 136 years of pure smoked heaven being served up , I think it is safe to say that they have withstood the test of time , and in the least likely of places, Elgin, Texas.

Now serving…

It is also home to the Elgin Hot Sausage so be sure and get you some on your plate, I am having it on mine today. Certain BBQ places are known for their signature type of meat, the Elgin Hot Sausage is that here. All the meats they smoke are excellent and my two meat plate will have beef brisket accompanying the sausage. You might also notice something on my plate that hasn’t been seen before in the previous eight editions if you have been with me that long.

Those two yellow things are corn on the cob, normally you wouldn’t see a vegetable on a plate that I have but in this case I pretty much did not have a choice, yes, there is a pickle too. I am not a veggie guy, but this place doesn’t have baked or French fried potatoes so that really throws me a curve when it comes to ordering my two side dishes.

Southside Market has all the normal sides people eat but let’s face it, when it comes to food I am anything but normal. I could eat BBQ seven days a week and I have even been known to have BBQ for breakfast, brisket makes excellent breakfast tacos in case you have never tried them.

Lunch time line…

As you can see from the pictures of the ordering line, this place does a bang up business around lunch time, this line is pretty good sized and it is close to one o’clock in the afternoon when these shots were taken. I have been here on days when it took thirty minutes just to order and get the food, it isn’t that they are slow cutting the meats and filling the side orders either, they are just that busy, and the line splits and they serve going both directions from the center. Once you order you will have your food before you get to the cashier and check out.

Pull up a chair…

There are two dining areas inside the building; I opted for the less crowded area. I just haven’t gotten comfortable photographing my food. People look at you funny when you are an old guy photographing food, I can almost read their minds. "It isn’t going on Face Book, so there, you are wrong, now mind your own business.", is what I would like to say to those folks. The place has to seat at least 160 people, if not more, so if you make here you can pretty much rest assured you will get seat to sit and eat.

The taste of Texas...

When I eat here I always like to eat the two meats separately since they are two distinct tastes, I hate to give my taste buds a sensory overload. The other thing is I always end up making the brisket into a sandwich by using couple slices of the bread. If you purchase a sandwich it comes on an oversized bun and I will tell you that you will get your money’s worth here when it comes to the meat. Normally I wouldn’t get a soda with my BBQ but since Southside Market has Seven Up as one of their selections for soda I went ahead and got one today.

Great BBQ at a fair price…

All told with tax and beverage the total came out to $15.97 and that is a fair price for the amount of meat, two sides and the drink. The pickle went in the trash, but if you like pickles you could count that in as well, the bread is free by the way. As you can see by the before and after pictures below this post, I do a pretty good job of cleaning up my plate. It’s not hard to do when the food is that good and this food is; that good.

Wood you believe…

If you were with me back in June when this meal took place you will recall a daily dose and a discussion with Phillip that works here at Southside Market, aside from what I covered in that daily dose, he did tell me that the wood used to smoke the meats is different blends of oak. He said he couldn’t let me have access to the smoker area because it is against the company policy but he did say to take a look around on the west side of the building and see the wood storage.

The amount of wood you see in the picture is right at a one month supply of wood, there is about 26 or so pallets of wood and it looks like a couple might have already been used from the way the stacks are lined up. So, basically it takes pallet of wood a day to keep this BBQ joint running. There are plenty of BBQ places that this stack of wood would last a year if not more, but they sure as hell aren’t doing the volume that this place does.

Southside Market does have a web presence and they do ship all across the contiguous 48 states, so if you liked what you saw or if you want to try some of their specialty sauces or rubs be sure to check them out using this convenient link provided here Southside Market

Stick a fork in it…

This is going to about wrap up this volume 9 of the “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” review; I hope you enjoyed the tour of the town and lunch as much as I did. It took longer than expected to get here and I certainly appreciate you all for cutting me some slack on not making it to Southside Market back when I had originally planned, but I think you will agree it was worth the wait.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper

Oh, that cop that watched me, he was at the market when I got there, you could say he was “pigging out”.

All photos are the property of @sultnpapper and may not be used without prior written permission. and you ain't getting it.

Additional Photos of Southside Market & Elgin, Texas for your viewing

Front view of Southside Market & Barbeque

Full plate , looks really tasty.

Clean plate , like usual.

Southside Market cuts of beef chart made from iron plate steel

Depot museum view from the east / west rail line

Methodist Church bell

Historical marker city hall building

Historical marker Methodist Church

One of the old fire hydrants located in the city

City of Elgin Offices and Municipal Court building behind city hall.