Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 12/01/17> “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” … Vol.01 UPDATE on Lost Pines BBQ

The first edition of what has been appropriately named “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” had an anticlimactic finish because the place was closed the last time I went through Giddings, Texas. It’s hard to do a food, especially BBQ, review without the “goods”.

So, Thursday I was faced with a very tough decision, eat Mexican food for lunch in San Antonio or drive two hours, and a little out of my way, for good BBQ at Lost Pines. Seeing that I owed you folks the proper finish to the first edition, of this to be monthly feature, two hours won. So while I was hungry when I left San Antonio, I was very, very hungry when I reached Giddings, shortly after 2:00PM.

I had faith that my ladies of BBQ would be there, and my faith was vindicated as I pulled up to the place, the open sign was flashing. Greeting me as I walked in the door was Ms. Mary K., she works the cash register and takes the orders. Over at the other end of the front counter was Ms. Christine, wanting to know if I wanted the lean brisket or the marbled. I am a marble man, not the Marlboro man, just marbled with no pickles or onions.

After Christine had carved up my BBQ brisket sandwich she fixed me the smoked baked potato, no sour cream by way. Throw everything else at it, but hold the sour cream, and since I am a believer in trying to eat healthy, just a glass of water will be fine .

Here is where you will learn a secret on taste, adding pickles onions, and other stuff causes taste bud confusion. Never, ever and I mean never put those things on a BBQ, you can taste those anytime, BBQ is meant to taste like BBQ, not pickles or onions. Also while I am sharing secrets, never have BBQ sauce put on your BBQ, if you have a suspicion that it might need sauce, have them put the sauce in a container on the side. Why ruin what could be an excellent BBQ flavor with sauce, you can always add it if it needs it, but taking sauce off a sandwich it is pretty much impossible. Your taste buds will greatly appreciate you taking their important work seriously by not trying to confuse them.

The Lost Pines BBQ smokes their offering with a mixture of oak and hickory cooking wood. Like most places they won’t tell you the ratio of oak to hickory, but I can tell you that Lost Pines mixture is heavier on the oak. That knowledge comes from years of tasting experience, and the stack sizes of the wood out back.
They say the proof is the pudding, and seeing how every bite of the sandwich was devoured by me as well as most of the baker, I had no room for pudding. They do have it, but I didn’t have room in the belly.

Speaking of room, I just about had the place to myself since it was well past the lunch crowd when I got there. I was sharing the dining room with two ranchers and a rancher in training. To give you an idea of how small town country this town is, they came right from cutting hay, on their John Deere tractors. Garret, his son Jeff, and his son Junior, they raise cattle and hay plus do some land clearing for a living.)

Lost Pines BBQ has been in business for nine years at this location, before they had a mobile BBQ rig, and did that for four years. The sandwich had a good amount of brisket, when I asked what the weight is on a sandwich, Christine told me that, ‘when it looks good enough for me to eat, I add another slice and call it good.” I like that method. The reason I asked is because the State has been raising a stink with a BBQ joint in Austin about customers not being able to see the scale when they weigh the meat. Evidently there is a law that says the scale must be visible to the customer if you sell by weight. So here at Lost Pines your buying a sandwich, plain and simple, weight has nothing to do with. They have a scale, if you’re buying meat by the pound, but a sandwich is a sandwich.

The price is more than fair, the sandwich and potato was less than ten bucks. The people are always friendly and the place is really kept clean. You can’t ask for any more than that, in my opinion. They are closed on Mondays so keep that in mind if you are passing through Giddings, Texas.

I’m not giving a rating number on my reviews, it either pass or fail, this place passes my criteria with flying colors.

Until next time we eat,
@sultnpapper

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