My daughter calls me a sucker, and I agree wholeheartedly. How else can I explain that I stood in the heat at an obscure and unappealing strip mall in the shadow of the I-310 bridge waiting for barbecue? If it wasn’t National Barbecue Day Friday I would have bailed quickly and figured out how to order online. But I did want to have the “other” experience, because maybe I haven’t forgotten the 4 hour wait at Franklin Barbecue in Austin years ago?
Different place, different crowd, and I would definitely only do this a short time. As usual, I didn’t prepare, thinking they opened at 11am, so after standing for 30 minutes I realized it would be at least another half hour. But had I waited I would have been even farther back in the line.The smarter people came and went with the bags of barbecue they ordered online-.
The 9-month-old ahead of me in line finally realized she doesn’t care about barbecue and she’s hot, so she started to complain to her mom. I was relieved to see one of the owners come out and offer mom and baby a cooler seat inside. I have been second hand vaping for at least 20 min, which is what I get for not figuring out how to order online. But like I said, I wanted to know what the Luling experience was. Order online, just trust me. I remember after the 4 hour wait at Franklin that it took just minutes to pass through the line. By that time we knew everyone in it. Everyone in that line at Franklin Barbecue was from different backgrounds with only one thing in common: we were all IG suckers. At least I can give myself credit for not subjecting Tom to this crazy idea. Out of the question from the get go, even for pickup.
But Gonzo Smokehouse has built a serious reputation in the last ten or so years. I remember the first time I had their food. It was at the Po-Boy Fest in 2018 or 2019 when Tom and I judged the best poor boy. We voted for Gonzo, and so did most everyone else because they won. I made a note to myself back then that I had to find them and have some real barbecue. It has taken me this long to have the Gonzo experience. The place inside is cute, spartan, and clean, It looked the part of a barbecue joint.
My daughter went when Tom was alive to get us some barbecue on a day off. She had been wanting to go as well. But the heat hadn’t set in then like it had for me. Gonzo keeps unusual hours, which I suspect is what they consider manageable. But for the customer it is restrictive. They are open on Thursdays only for smashburgers and on Fridays for barbecue. When they sell out it's over. That’s it.
Fortunately there was food when I got to the head of the line. There are plenty of meat choices and a few sides, with some other things mixed in. The meats are different. Hog jowls, for example, and pastrami beef bones. I stuck with the basics, though I would like to have tried the beef bone, but it was large.
I had the brisket, pulled pork, pork spareribs, and brisket boudin. When the guy in front of me mentioned pork belly burnt ends I remembered I wanted those as well. And I had the Gouda grits, dirty rice, and mac’n’cheese. I almost aborted my plan to have the mac’n’cheese as she dished it out, but I’m glad I stuck with it even though it looked very ordinary as it was served.
When the brisket was being cut, I asked that it be crunched up like I watched them do for sandwiches. I’m glad I got it that way. It was in chunks and strings but not chopped. And it was as superb as I remembered it. It was smoky but not too much, and really tender.
The pulled pork was a little dry, but I think I’m just not a fan of pulled pork. The ribs were glazed with a sweet but not too sweet sauce,. I usually don’t want sauced meat. This was pretty great. The outer edges of the ribs came across to me at first as dry, but underneath was a sensational tenderness and great smoke look and taste.These were meatier than I thought on sight.
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Chunks of brisket and shreds studded the boudin, with a smoky and crispy skin that snapped when bitten. There are plenty of meat choices and a few sides, with some other things mixed in. Despite the unusual meat choices like hog jowls, for example, and pastrami beef bones, I stuck with the basics. I would like to have tried the beef bone, but it was large. Too much food. I suspected that maybe the brisket boudin and the dirty rice were the same mixture, which isn’t a bad thing, but I just moved on to other things.
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Like the burnt ends pork belly. My first bite of these and they came off as dry, but I took another two bites, and it was then that I noticed the thin fat layers, which made everything better. The meat was moist there and there was just enough fat to be pleasing, I will definitely go back for more of these.
The mac’n’ceese was a sleeper. Rotini pasta loaded with cream and cheese, this was a good version of mac’n’cheese if you prefer the creamy style. The grits were in a league all their own, and the picture does not do them justice. I can’t recall ever having grits this fluffy. It was as though each individual grain exploded with moisture, making them light and airy, made richer with a lot of butter, and corn kernels studding the grits throughout.
I wonderd why I went so far just to get barbecue. But this isn’t “just barbecue.” and driving that far and going through the trouble was worth it. I realized that after just a few bites.
