Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 08/15/18> “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” Texas BBQ Review Vol. 10 Mustang Creek BBQ , Louise, Texas.

Who is hungry...

Oh yes, it is the 15th and you know what that means, I will have gotten to eat some good old fashioned slow smoked Texas BBQ and then tell you all about and where you can find it for yourself. This is one heck of a good deal for somebody, just not sure yet who that somebody is, but let’s get going and we will figure out that other part later.

Ticks bigger than this...

This month the BBQ review takes us to the little Texas town of Louise, and when I say little, I do mean little as in tiny. I have seen ticks on bloodhounds that would rival this town in size but don’t let worry you because where we are eating today isn’t even in the town. Louise just happens to be the town closest to it so that is where their mail gets delivered from.

Proof of nothing...

Just to prove how little the town of Louise is I did make my way into town and snapped a couple photos for you, this way you will never have to actually go there to see that there is nothing there for yourself. I can’t tell just how many folks live in Louise; the town sign isn’t like most the towns that have the population number under the town name, just the name on the Louise sign. My guess would be less than a hundred but maybe as much as two hundred. There aren’t a whole bunch of houses in the town itself but there are a lot of farms and ranches in the area, so the town does support a few little businesses.

Snow cones or stamps...

The post office isn’t much bigger than most snow cones stands in Texas, in case you’re wondering what snow cones are some places now use the fancy name of “shaved ice”, to me they are still snow comes though. In the picture of the post of you can see the building to the rear and left, that is the volunteer fire department. A couple blocks down and on the same side of the street is the local hardware store, it has been there a while but I didn’t snap a shot of it.

Rail lines for grain trains...

There are some rail lines that run north and south right along the old main road and there is a siding there for the grain storage silos. I’m not sure if the silos are still in use any longer but I am sure the rail line is in use.

One other thing of note about the rail line, most of the other little towns I have shared with you all had a rail road depot, I didn’t see one here in Louise. I am not sure if they ever had one or if it might have been torn down. It could be that the town just never was a stop for passenger trains. Not having a depot might explain a little about why the town never grew, I know I damn sure wouldn’t jump from a moving train just to check out a little dinky old town and guess others wouldn’t as well.

The old bank building...

The town does have a little antique store, it was closed the day I was in town, but I do know that the building it is housed in was the original bank building in town. I had an opportunity to go in there years ago when that building housed the offices of the water department. I actually got to look inside the old bank vault and they were still using it at the time. My guess is that the vault is still in there so I imagine the current business that is in there also has the use of it, which might come in handy if they have some small expensive items that they might want to lock up. The vault wasn’t much bigger than a walk in closet in average size house.

A few places...

There is a library in the town, not very big as you might guess; it was also closed that day. The tallest thing in town is the water tower. The Justice of the Peace does have an office there and there is a bank, both located next to each other. I don’t know which order they were built in but I guess that any bank robbers might want to think twice about sticking up the bank.

Let's go already...

Speaking of hold ups, at this point all I am doing is holding up lunch so let’s head over to the main highway, Hwy 59, and grab some lunch at Mustang Creek BBQ.

How did this happen...

I have been travelling this section of Hwy 59 pretty regularly for over the last ten years but it was only recently I stopped in here at Mustang Creek BBQ for the first time. Normally I won’t give a BBQ joint a review after just one visit, and this is no exception, I loved it so much the first time a couple weeks ago that I stopped again last week just to make sure I was impressed as much the second go round as I was the first, and I was.

Oh, well that explains...

The reason I never paid any attention to the place was I thought it was just an old vacant gas station and convenience store. There is just one little sign on the bottom of the big old gas station sign post out by the road at the bottom of the posts. Every time I would go by there was never any signs of activity, but I normally traveled by it on Monday or Tuesday and those happen to be the days they are closed.

A couple weeks ago I had to make an unscheduled trip in that direction on a Wednesday and there were signs of life and I was hungry, it was close to 3:00 in the afternoon and all I had that day was coffee and a couple donuts in the morning so I had a pretty good appetite. When I can hear my stomach growling over the road noise from the truck it is a pretty good sign that it is time to get some grub.

Beauty is overrated...

This place isn’t the most attractive restaurant you will ever set eyes on I can assure you of that, in fact it might scare some folks away just by the appearance of the exterior. When you step inside things get a lot better, the aroma of slow smoked meat fills the place up. As you can see from the pictures it isn’t a 5 star dining by any means but it works just fine for what they have going on here.

Buffet, oh yes...

Cecil Sanchez is the owner of Mustang Creek BBQ Buffet, oh I hadn’t mentioned the buffet part, I wasn’t sure about the buffet part either but it was on the sign. The pretty little young lady rang me up one buffet at the register and handed me a plate, “$13.92 sir.” she said and smiled. That was a fair price and I knew I was going to get my money’s worth since I was pretty much starving at that point.

Sauce not needed...

Cecil sits right behind the big cutting table slicing up the meat and placing it in the warmer tray, I took a little bit of each meat then moved on to get some potatoes. Having never eaten here before I did grab a ladle of BBQ for the plate in case I needed it, the sauce went to waste. That price included the drink and bread so one price, eat all you can I felt right at home.

Round two...

It didn’t take me very long and I was back for a second plate, the first plate I got ribs, brisket, chicken and some sausage but the second plate I just went for the ribs and brisket. I enjoyed it all but the rub Cecil uses on the ribs and brisket gave those a prefect taste. No potatoes this go round either, they were good too but I was in carnivore mode now.

One more, just to be sure..

I was in the same mode for my third plate as well and when I finished with that one I was done. They have a pretty good selection of the other side dishes on the buffet, but I am not a side dish guy, especially when I can have all the meat I can eat.

Working men eat here...

It wasn’t hard to tell that some of the people there were regulars; the girls working in there and Cecil seemed to know the customers on first name basis. Most of the people were either truck drivers or oil field workers the first day I was there and same goes for last week. I didn’t take any photos the second time, no need to, nothing had changed so why waste the effort.

Thirty years of smoking...

I talked with the owner for a brief amount of time. He told me he has been in the BBQ business for thirty years and I have no reason to doubt him one bit, and he damn sure knows how to smoke some meat. They even sell their own brand of rub that you can take with you for the do it yourself folks at home.

Just a little to close to the name sake...

In my conversation with Cecil I found out that they have been at this location for seven years, their original location was down the road a little closer to the actual Mustang Creek which crosses Hwy 59, but being so close to the creek meant being flooded out several times and finally this location became available so he moved a few miles north of the creek but kept the name the same.

Award winning to boot...

Mustang Creek BBQ has won several awards for their BBQ, they were voted best BBQ in the county numerous years and won several other competitions as evidenced by the big first place trophy that sets up near the cash register counter. The place is definitely Texas country charm decorated with some photos and knick knack type stuff. It is nothing fancy, but then, you don’t need fancy trappings when you serve great food, and I would say it was great.

The place to stop...

My suggestion to you would be if you find yourself on Hwy 59 about half way between Houston and Victory and you have a case of hunger this would be the place to stop. Even though the sign says closed on Tuesdays they were open last week on a Tuesday, and that is why I got my second visit in. I suspect I will be stopping here quite a bit more in the future and I might just kind of arrange my passing through that stretch of road on days I know they are open. It really is great food at a great value especially if you can eat a lot of meat like I do.

It'll be your own fault...

The place is clean as a whistle and the people are friendly, if you go away from there anything other than full it is your fault for sure. Most BBQ places don’t go the buffet route but Cecil has found a way to make it work for him and his customers and I suspect he will be there for quite a while to come.

So, what the town didn’t have to offer; Mustang Creek BBQ did, put this place on the approved list and skip the tour of the town. Thanks for dining with me today, we will do it again next month on the 15th. This has been the "Will Eat BBQ 4 U" Texas BBQ Review for August, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did bringing to you.

Until next time,
@sultnpapper

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