Photo Credit to DiAichner3
My husband and I unexpectedly found ourselves in Berkeley this weekend. As I strolled down the city’s “Gourmet Ghetto” on Shattuck, I was amazed at how many fresh food markets, vegan eateries and organic, sustainable, high-quality ingredients I saw on the restaurant menus. This included, of course, the famous Chez Panisse owned by Alice Waters, the founder of the California slow-food movement.
Places like this are what make dining in California such a treat. However, for some reason, in the midst of all this beautiful produce, I just kept craving a big ‘ole plate of fatty, greasy, who-knows-where-the-cow-came-from, plate of meat. I’m talkin’ about Texas BBQ.
Maybe it was a case of ‘wanting what I couldn’t have’ but I really wanted to be outside in the Austin summer heat, sitting under an Oak tree with a cold beer and waiting for a table at the Salt Lick BBQ.
Let me give you a sensory image of this place- whirring ceiling fans, old creaky wooden benches, screened porch that lets in the smell of smoked meat and dry summer grass, large pitchers of cold iced tea and platters and platters of BBQ.
Photo Credit to Mccun934
You can bring your own cooler of beer and order ‘family-style’. This means they bring you potato salad, crisp coleslaw, peppery beans, soft bread, tasty ribs, tender brisket, smoked chicken, juicy sausage and pitchers full of their tangy signature BBQ sauce until the whirring fans and your full belly put you into a happy coma. If you are seriously trying to gain weight, you can order pecan pie or peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream to top it all off.
The Salt Lick is a ‘must’ for any visitor to Austin. It is about a 20 minute drive out of town on a winding country road. You can smell the smoking BBQ pits from miles away (ok, maybe not THAT far, but far). Eating here is about great atmosphere as much as it is about great BBQ. It’s Texas at its best. And I’ll admit, I don’t think about where the meat comes from or whether the cabbage for the coleslaw was grown on site with all natural fertilizers.
In Berkeley, I ended up eating organically prepared and quite tasty Ethiopian food…but, all the while I was dreaming of Texas BBQ!
Photo credits to Mccun934 and DiAichner3
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3 Responses
Now you have ME craving the Salt Lick BBQ. It is a definitely most for anyone visiting Austin, I agree!!
As a non-BBQ eater living in the BBQ south, I wish we had the yummy healthy/local foods of Berkeley!! As you say, it is a bit of a case of ‘wanting what you can’t have’. If you have not had the opportunity to eat at Chez Panisse, I highly recommend it. My brother arranged a special lunch there (in the more casual upstairs dining area) during our last trip to CA, and it is one of the top highlights of our trip. Unbelievable food and a beautiful atmosphere.
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