I YUM New York

It’s been a couple of weeks since my trip down to visit my brother in Texas.  I’m splitting them into two posts since we did San Antonio one day and Fort Hood and Austin the other.  As per the title, we’ll be exploring a San Antonio in this one, along with Salt Lick BBQ.  I had never been to Texas before and knew it would be hot, but I think that was an understatement.  I landed in Austin and as soon as I got off the plane (mind you, at 11pm), I experienced this huge whiff of hot air.  It reached a high of 108 degrees the whole weekend and only went down to about 95-98 degrees at night.  We stayed in Killeen, right down the road from where my brother lives, which is also near the fort.  Not much going on around that area except for a lot of fast food.  Having lived in the northeast all my life, it was definitely amazing to see how expansive this state is.  Things are so spread out.  It took us about 2.5 hours to get to San Antonio.  Never in my life did I ever think I would make it down to the Lone Star state.  Us being history buffs (and trying not to have such a long road trip), we decided to go check out the Alamo.  We got there early enough so that we didn’t have to wait outside too long in the heat. We parked a little bit away from the site, so the first few photos are of buildings we walked by.

The start of the old wall around the Alamo.

Voila! The Alamo.

The history of the Alamo is really interesting. The building was actually very far back into the “fort” area. It had an outer wall that was way in front of it. Now across the way is the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum. Kind of crazy when you think about it. Everyone fighting at the Alamo died, including the famous Davy Crockett. Only a few women and children were the sole survivors of the battle because they were inside the Alamo in a room that was blocked off. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside, but I can tell you from being an eye-witness…there is no basement! (I think I’ve overkilled this one).

With not too much on the inside, we went out the back and walked around the grounds.

Yeah, I can vouch he wasn’t drinking when I took this. Also, I’m sure he was hot in this historical get-up.

It’s pretty funny that my mom and brother are making the same face.

Since it was so hot out, some ices were in order.

But one caught my eye:

Pickle flavor! Yeah, we stuck with cherry. The bees also enjoyed their sweet treat.

We couldn’t walk around too much since it was so hot out. After a long day in the heat, some authentic Texas BBQ was in order. My brother decided to put his trust into a Man vs. Food episode where he went to the Salt Lick. Now, as you’ll remember, Dr. Awesome and I put our faith into Mr. Richman before for some North Carolina BBQ and we ended up very disappointed. Well, this one was spot on. I had never seen a real pit BBQ before and boy, it was a sight to behold. Dr. Awesome was very jealous.

This was sort of in the middle of nowhere, but the parking lot was packed!

Fresh squeezed lemonade.

Uh, hello!

One of the dining rooms.

We ended up getting the 3 meat combo of sausage, brisket and pork ribs, which came with a side of coleslaw, potato salad and beans.

We were just a little happy.

Try not to lick the screen.

Now, being a pro at watching cooking shows and having watched enough BBQ programs, I knew to ask for something that wasn’t on the menu: burnt ends. This is the part of the brisket where all the flavor goes to. The waitress gave me a smile when I asked if they sold them and she brought us out this place of awesomeness:

My brother and I gave each other a nod once the order was put in. My parents didn’t even know about this cut of meat and lets just say, they won’t forget about asking for it the next time they get BBQ. You are welcome.

The meal also came with some great white bread and pickles with onions.

And don’t forget about the homemade hot sauce.

Dessert was a mix of a blackberry and peach cobbler. We had to try both. Could you have said no?

And a couple of photos of the kitchen at work:

There was just one guy chopping up ribs the whole night. Next time, we’re getting the unlimited platter of meat to get our hands on more of those ribs.  This place totally satiated my BBQ appetite…finally!

Well, that was our day in San Antonio.  I wish we were able to go around more, but the heat really made it impossible. We had some good family time and got to experience one of the great historic places in the U.S.  Can’t complain too much 🙂

~ by Iyumnewyork on August 21, 2011.

Posted in Family, Travel
Tags: Alamo, Pit BBQ, Salt Lick BBQ, San Antonio, Texas