12:15 pm Sunday: Cooper’s Old Time Pit BBQ, Llano, TX -- A # 1 Title Proves Too Heavy a Burden

Day three: the pilgrimage continues. No one is really in the mood for more BBQ, except Steve, of course, but we signed onto this mission and we commit to seeing it through.

Today’s first stop is supposed to be the best in the state: Cooper’s Old Time Pit BBQ in Llano, TX, approximately 1.5 hours from the lake condo.

1:00 pm: We pull up and it looks promising. It’s an indoor/outdoor joint. There are a series of enormous outdoor smokers under a metal roof, a line of people snaking around the building waiting to place their meat order at the pit and then an indoor dining room that resembles the many community/bingo rooms we’ve encountered thus far.

Ordering was a little stressful because there were a lot more meat options than usual, and it was so loud we couldn’t hear the pit master. Everyone else seemed to already understand the system, but Steve, being a little deaf, suddenly had visions of a “Soup-Nazi” –like experience, with the pitmaster shouting “No BBQ for you!”, as he felt the crowd getting restless behind him and the pit master’s mounting impatience. But with a little help from his fellow travelers--in the form of shouts of “hurry up stupid,” and “hey what’s wrong with you?”--he made it through.

We end up with our regular order – two links of sausage (regular and jalapeno), beef ribs and brisket. But then things take a detour when we get inside. We end up with potato salad, cole slaw and two orders of cobbler. Clearly we have crossed completely to the dark side and have forsaken the “moderation” approach to each stop.

We are also concerned to see that not only is there silverware, but it’s real, not plastic. We’ve gotten used to making do with our plastic knives and no forks, or better yet, nothing at all. But balancing that out is the fact that the tables have large jars of jalapenos and unlimited loaves of white bread already on them.

Once the eating begins, the group quickly decides that this is good, but not the best in the state. The brisket is too wet, and while tasty, is closer to a pot roast than brisket. It exhibits no sign of mopping whatsoever. The potato salad is ok, but nothing amazing. The cole slaw is over-processed and unimpressive. The ribs (beef), are quite good, and are actually the short rib variation once again.

Then the group arrives at its first split decision: the sausage. Kim and Arnie strongly argue that Cooper’s sausage cannot compete with City Market and Smitty’s. The taste is ok and is properly greasy (but not with the rapturous spillout of oil) but the texture is more like Kielbasa. Jen and Steve argue that this kielbasa-style sausage is a completely different product, and the new animal has to be evaluated as such.

In this light, they rate this is as the second best sausage so far having good flavor, good fat to meat ratio, and lacking the off-putting granular mouthfeel of Kreuz and Smitty’s sausages. Arnie and Kim vehemently disagree. Arnie and Kim leave feeling very superior and muttering something about pressed meat that you can buy at the store, while Steve and Jen implore them to broaden their encased-meat horizons.

The rating: Cooper’s Pit BBQ is another fine place to stop if you happen to be in the area, but not worth a large detour.