Junction: Cooper's BBQ

On our wading trip on the head of the Llano river, we headed over to Junction (about eighteen minutes away) to try Cooper's BBQ. We were hungry from wading the river in warm sun and wind.

Interestingly enough we unsure what the JR's Restaurant sign above the green roof building is about unless it is left over from the restaurant before Coopers. The building is a nice limestone rocked building consistent with the Texas Hill Country style. The wood burning pits are at the back where it appeared to be mesquite and maybe liveoak but we did not stop to inspect the wood this time. But it was wood and the meat is smoked and cook by fire!

When you enter Coopers you are served cafeteria style with plenty to choose from meat. Brisket, sausage, chicken, cabrito (kid goat), and ribs. They serve by the pound, plate, or sandwich. The plate comes with two meats and two sides. The sides where beans, tater salad, or cole slaw.

We order one plate with sausage and brisket along with beans and tater salad. And a half pound of goat which was mostly bone but plenty of meat to pull of for our needs. We had enough food for the three of us with our main intent on reviewing the BBQ. None of the meats needed sauce so we cannot rate the sauce....this is a good thing.

The brisket was moist and tender and had a nice rubbed flavor on the outside but the inside did not have a lot of flavor. It was a nice brisket but nothing to get carried away with around here.

The sausage was definitely not store bought and had a nice flavor. Definitely a meat we would return for seconds. But M.E. and D.B. both think Rudy's sausage is better.

The goat was excellent. Moist, tender, and had a nice flavor inside and out. All three of us (M.E., ALB, and D.B.) really enjoyed the goat and rate it the best of the three meats we tried.

The sides were good. The beans were pinto beans with a bit of black pepper in them. All of us like the beans and would get them again. Very nice. The tater salad was good for what it is. It was more of a mayonnaise tater salad with a hint of mustard. But even so it was a nice tater salad that would be ordered again. Gwen would enjoy the salad a lot.

We did not try the ice-tea since they had Big Red and RC at the fountains.

Overall we would eat here again and found the BBQ to be good. The atmosphere was definitely Texas Hill Country style with plenty of mounted wild animals indicative of a hunters economy. There was a small but nice kids playground outside.

We all enjoyed the food. :)

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Rating:
Goat (cabrito) 4.5 (The best of the best. Tender, moist, sweet.)
Brisket 3.5 (tender, moist, with a nice rubbed flavor on outside with mild to no flavor on inside.)
Sausage 3.5, 4.0 ( okay but definitely not store bought with a nice flavor)
Tater salad 4.0 (More a mayonnaise but very good for what it is)
Beans 4.25 (Larger helpings would be nice)

Would definitley stop there again. Good Texas-style BBQ.

The Back Forty BBQ: San Ramon

Well finally after waiting a couple of years I got up to one of The Back Forty's in California. It is based on Texas-style BBQ. There are two close to Oakland and two up by Sacramento. Since the San Ramon Valley location was ten miles closer to our Santa Clara hotel than the original up in Pleasant Hill then we stop there. It did take a GPS to help us (Steve, Joann, and DB) locate the place.

The San Ramon is located in a shopping center off of I680 up on a hill. The place is not real big and it is all sit down service. The folks were real nice and the atmosphere was contrived but yet western. How is that for a mouthful.

I was really stoked since I had read they served fried sweet taters. Not bad. Cut a tad thick but still nice fries. I really should learn to fry my own sometime. They were yum.

It helps to order by the plate or combo. I ordered Brisket (juicy not lean), Sausage ("Hot Links), and Beef ribs along with sides of tater-salad and fried sweet taters. The second bite, after the taters, was the tater salad. It was a mustard tater salad, chilled, that was very good...it may have been the highlight of the night for me. I recommend as a must.

The brisket was moist and tender but lack much flavor. I am unsure what was missing...a rub or the right wood to smoke it. But the BBQ sauce served with it help make up for that. The sauce was the second highlight. It was very nice and good on just about anything. Not spicy sauce but delicious.

Next came the beef ribs. Since I am not much of a ribs fan then I may not be a fair judge. My ribs were moist and tender but just lacked much flavor. I hate to say it given my motto about meat that needs sauce but if they had basted the ribs with that BBQ sauce they may have been mighty tasty.

Well when I saw the sausage was called "hot links"I was not holding my breath for anything good. As far as sausage goes they looked like a bratwurst but had a better flavor. Not a hot link flavor but a sausage flavor. Not what I am used to or like but it was ok. Better than all the meats I had on my plate.

The ice tea was good but not sweetened. The cornbread was good...it was a bit sweet which is ok with me. It went well with the beans. The beans, though meant to be like camp-style, were actually pretty good. I put some onions and cornbread into the bowl Steve gave me. Again this side may have rounded out the sides as being the best part of the meal.

Next was a sample of Steve's pork ribs. Turns out they were pretty good. They had basted them with something...most likely the sauce. I would have to say that the sausage and ribs are for me next time.

Joann ordered some banana bread (or nanner bread) which turned out to be pretty good. A nice option to have along with other breads. Joann order the BBQ chicken which she says was nice. I will take her word for it since BBQ and chicken just seems wrong to me. But to each their own. Joann seemed to like the chicken so that is a strong vote of confidence for that meat.

All in all we enjoyed the visit and the food. We may have to stop in there again while in the area.
We left full and content...well at least I did.

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Rating:
Brisket 2.5 (tender, moist, not much flavor...sauce saved it)
Sausage 3.5 ( not store bought but more like a bratwurst..good for what it is and so the rating)
Beef Ribs 2.0 (tender, moist, but not much flavor, sauce could save it if basted)
Pork Ribs 4.0 (top of the meats, nice flavor and moist)
Tater salad 4.0 (just plain good. Would be nicer warm)
Beans 4.0 (nice)
Cornbread 4.0 (nice with a bit of sweet)
Nanner bread 4.0 (not bad at all)
Tea 3.5
Sauce 4.5 (good)

A Texas Love Story: Texas BBQ Stops

I gather that a film called Barbecue: A Texas Love Story has been made that looks very interesting.

Even better they list off many of the Texas BBQ stops they made.