City Market - Luling, TX

Posted By Michael Stern on January 15, 2009 5:27 PM

Luling has two great claims to culinary fame: the annual watermelon thump, a festival presided over by that year’s Watermelon Queen, and the City Market, which is one of the defining barbecue parlors of the Southwest. The meats to eat are succulent pork ribs, beef brisket, and beef sausage rings with chewy skin and coarse-chopped filling.

Unlike many of the great, rough-around-the-edges barbecue restaurants in this region, the City Market is actually comfortable, including nice tables, clean tile floors, and a super air-conditioning system that keeps the dining room cool.

Despite such amenities, you still fetch your meat the old-fashioned way of the traditional Texas pit. At the back of the dining room a swinging door leads into a shadowy, cave-like chamber illuminated by the glow of burning logs in pits underneath the iron ovens where the meat imbibes the flavor of wood smoke. This is the pit, and here, in heat that feels something like a fireplace gone amok, the pit men take your order, cut and section the amount of meat you want, and assemble everything on a big sheet of pink butcher paper. They gather the edges of the paper together so it becomes a boat-like container that serves as both carrying device and eating surface. Once you get your paper-wrapped order of meat, you leave the pit and carry it back into the comfy pine-paneled dining room.

Eat your meat plain or sauced. While sauce is generally not part of the equation of great barbecue in Texas, City Market does make significant barbecue sauce – a spice-speckled, dark orange emulsion that is so coveted by customers that signs on the wall above every booth implore “Please Leave Sauce Bottles on Tables.” One-serving Styrofoam sauce containers are available to go for forty cents apiece; if you need more, the management finds a clean empty jar, fills it, and charges you accordingly.

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Posted By ALBERT ALLBRITTON on October 9, 2011 5:53 PM

Are you people kidding? I have eaten at a lot of barbecue joints in Texas and this was the biggest disappointment.

While the ribs and brisket were somewhat moist, they were absolutely without taste. There was no evidence of any rub, nor was there the slightest smoke taste or smell. They tasted like they had been cooked in a propane grill without any woods chips added.

Also, not a very good value. Everything, including a slice of bread, costs extra. We had to beg for a bottle of barbecue sauce to add a little flavor to the meat. Cooper's is still the best. City Market isn't even on the list. Some of you raters need to find out what real barbecue is!

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brisket

ribs

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Posted By Bill on August 21, 2011 3:51 PM

I little story about CM. My daughter came home the other day and said a friend had left some sausage from Lufkin (an east Texas town). So I unwrapped it and, lo and behold, there was a sausage ring. I thought to myself, where in Lufkin is this place.

I proceeded to heat it quickly in the microwave and it was love at first bite. Dang, this sure tasted familiar. After consuming the 16 ounces or so I called my buddy to thank him, and to find out just where this BBQ came from. He said City Market in Luling. I knew it, even though it had been a year or so since I had been there; I could not forget that taste. This is truly a million dollar sausage, with great snap to the casing but not chewy or hard, perfectly spiced, oozing with fat which carries the flavor to the back of the taste buds. What a treat!

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sausage

brisket

ribs

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Posted By Rex R. Wright on December 22, 2007 11:56 PM

My friends and I all ride touring motorcycles, and we live in and around San Antonio. Several times each month we'll call each other up to arrange a lunchtime barbecue ride. More often than not we'll agree to meet at someone's house and ride over to City Market in Luling. The reason is simple: it really is the best. It's the best because it's consistently good. We've all had great Central Texas barbecue in Belmont, Lockhart, Gonzales, and Elgin, but we've also had some meats that just didn't live up to the reputation of those great barbecue destinations.

Also, not all establishments make their own sausage, which is one of the highlights at City Market. There is no sausage more tasty or juicy anwhere. Also, the beef brisket is always tender and flavorful, with a good thick smoke ring. Combine that with a frosty Big Red soda and you're in Texas BBQ heaven!

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Posted By Steve L. on July 30, 2003 12:28 AM

City Market in Luling is one of the top three BBQ joints in Texas. Their only competition for the top spots comes from up the road in Lockhart at Smitty's Market or Black's BBQ. CM serves great beef brisket, sausage and pork ribs, period. The place has serious "joint" atmosphere with thick smoke pouring from the pit room where you get the meats. It's all served piled high on butcher paper with crackers or bread. No need for side here, but the beans are pretty good and a couple slices of onions and a few pickles work well. Plan on taking a few sausage rings home, because you won't get any like them anyplace other than a few of the best BBQ joints in Central Texas. NOTE: Do not confuse the "Luling City Market" in Houston with this place. The Houston folks blatantly ripped off the name and are in no way connected to the REAL City Market in Luling.

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