We got up at 6 in the morning to head out to Lexington and get in
line for the place that Texas Monthly, the New Yorker, and others
characterize as the best BBQ in Texas (and therefore the world).
It's an hour pretty much straight east, so it's just as well we
were traveling before dawn. When we got there, the street was 
pretty parked up, and we had to trudge back from a block away to
get in line - we were #33 and 34, and by opening time there were
well over the 40 that the articles say. People in line spent the
time comparing barbecue notes, lots of fun.

There's no booze license, so they have a cooler full of Lone Star
to amuse the crowd, freewill offering. Lone Star is terrible beer.
I had two, one before and one after while waiting for Lilli to 
negotiate the massive ladies' room line.

Prices are competitive. We got a whole bunch pf brisket (moist)
plus tastes of sausage and pork shoulder and a rib. Take it from me,
stick with the beef, which had a beautiful texture and was beefy and
well fatted, smoked to the limit of deliciousness, but way salty, the
better to give away more beer. The sausage was of a good standard,
the rib likewise but very salty, and the shoulder, well, I prefer
Dale's. The sauce is your tomato stuff, a little thinner and tangier
than commercial, with a distinct A-1 aroma. We sat with a couple 
students from A&M who had driven from College Station just for this. 
They got like 4 lb of food for a medium-size guy and a medium-small 
girl, eating half and taking half back. Oh, yes, pretty good but very 
salty chili beans, all you can eat, free.

While Lilli was waiting for the ladies' room after breakfast, I sat 
with a mother and daughter, the mother Kelly working for Foodways, 
the daughter Lilli having looked at UT to go to next semester. They 
were pleasant and entertaining.

Back to the hotel, where they were just closing up breakfast when we
arrived. Darn.

--

Micklethwait Craft Meats is a trailer between the airport and downtown 
that serves as a secondary mecca or overflow for disappointed would-be 
Franklin customers, We actually went past Franklin and saw it was 1. still 
open and 2. without a massive line but decided to stick with our original
plan, and I've been to Franklin a couple times and find it excellent but
not worth waiting in line in the sun for. At the trailer, there was a
smallish relaxed crowd, and there was still brisket. We'd brought the
remains of a bottle of Rodney Merlot, but Lilli had forgotten to steal a
glass from the hotel, and at the window the girl said there might be some 
by the water cooler (there weren't), so Lilli emptied a bottle of water 
and used that; I doubted that that was classier than just swilling from 
the original bottle, I still had a Ziegenbock from my six-pack. To go 
with, I got a half pound each of moist and ribs. The ribs were salty 
and peppery, very tender, not sweet at all, a little on the lean side, 
sort of B+. The brisket was odd - one end was a bit too trimmed and so 
a little hard, but the other end, which I tasted first, was exceedingly 
luscions and probably the best couple bites of the trip - average, 
maybe an A-. The credit card machine has three choices for tip - 20%, 
25%, 30%. I left a custom tip of somewhat less.
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