A towering oil derrick announced our arrival in Oil City, along with signs advertising Luling as the Proud Home of the 1999 Boys Cross Country State Champs and the 2000 Girls Track & Field State Champs. Those are certainly big accomplishments for such a small town. Still, central Texans know the best reason to visit Luling: City Market.
The legendary barbecue parlor has anchored “downtown” Luling since 1958. Up the road in Lockhart, you’ll find mammoth barbecue barns selling many more meats and sides, but none can match the simple perfection of City Market.
City Market’s wood-lined interior is decorated with a plush-toy claw game and a cooler full of cold drinks. Order in back.
In the overflow dining room, this mural depicts a central Texas farm scene, complete with a cow, AKA future barbecue. Burned into the wall are numerous cattle brands from local ranches.
The menu couldn’t be simpler: beef brisket, pork ribs, and hot sausage links. If you’re a local, grab a box of 50 cold sausages to go, to heat later. Otherwise, sit and begin gorging.
The pit man pulled back the lid to reveal a smoker full of City Market’s perfect house-made sausage links.
The expert City Market pit men carve ribs and brisket on the wood block.
Here’s a stack of wood, fuel for the smoker, next to bins of fresh-cooked pork ribs and a vat of house barbecue sauce, which is painted onto the ribs while they cook in the big black box.
It would be a mistake not to order pork ribs, brisket and sausage links, the holy trinity of central Texas barbecue. Ribs and links get no better, and the brisket, with its nice outer char, certainly held its own. The ribs had an unbeatable caramelized crust, which locked in the essential juices of the pork. The link featured a coarse texture and an unrivaled peppery kick.
An old hot sauce bottle housed a sensational burnt-orange barbecue sauce that nearly matched the zing of its previous tenant.
For sides, we split a cup of potato salad and a half-pint of pinto beans. They were fine, but we didn’t fly to Texas and drive to Luling to eat potatoes and beans.
Every six years, Texas Monthly publishes a definitive list of the Top 50 barbecue parlors in the state. In 1997, City Market made the top three. In 2003, they scored in the top five. Given our latest experience, there’s little doubt that City Market is well on its way to the winner’s circle yet again in 2009.
Hours:
Monday-Saturday: 7 AM – 6 PM
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