I'd like to confirm the posting about "Merlene's". As a result of reading the post, I suggested to my wife that we try it since we are both BBQ fans (we prefer Sonny Bryan's, <before> pitmaster Charlie Riddle died, to Dickey's in Dallas and we have made a number of trips to Lockhart for Kruetz (sp?) Market beef clod and pork chops). Since "Merlene's" is convenient to us also, we were hopeful that it would be good. We are relatively new to the Austin area so we've only tried a few of the local BBQ places so far, but we'd have to rank the brisket at "Merlene's" with the best we've had here. The slices were rimmed in pink, as expected, and they were very lean and very tender, with a nice smoky flavor. The sauce was not too sweet but nicely seasoned. The pinto beans were cooked with bacon and had a little bite to them, and, as my wife said: "she must have learned to make potato salad from her mother". The prices were reasonable, under ten dollars for half a pound of brisket, a pint each of potato salad and beans, a half pint of sauce, onions and pickles and a half dozen slices of white bread. The bread will go to feed our local birds since we find eating white bread like eating cotton. Next time we'll ask her to omit it. We plan to return, probably at least once a week... -- Tom Spillman [email removed] wrote in article ... > One of the disadvantages of living in the boonies is a long drive to a > restaurant. And the decent ones are further. While some good ones exist > (Reale's, PooThai are "only" 20-30 minutes away), there really hasn't been > any decent BBQ up here at all. > > So when a BBQ place opened up 5 minutes from my house, I was quite > interested. It's called "Merlene's", on Lohman Ford road in Lago Vista. > It appears to be a tiny little "Texas quaint" place, run by 3 cute young > ladies. I think there's only 1 indoor table, and a nice meadow with some > picnic tables behind the place. > > I tried a brisket sandwich, and was suprised to find that the brisket was > very good. Since I thought I might be cutting them slack due to > proximity, I went back twice more over the past week, and can report that > overall it's better than most BBQ I've had in the Austin area. The owners > are big fans of Mueller's in Taylor, and they cook the brisket in the same > way, and use Taylor sausage (my favorite). The potato salad and beans > were very good, and they have a homemade desert that changes daily, I had > banana pudding, and it was the best I ever tasted. > > The only other meat they have is pork ribs, and I haven't tried it yet. I > hope that they can keep up the quality, because it seems very promising so > far. > > regards, > --Pete >
Austin, TX