The population of Giddings, halfway between Austin and Houston, is just a touch over 5,000, but it feels even lonelier than that, especially given the ghostlike stretch of 290 where City Meat Market is. Are our small towns on the verge of extinction, losing their young to the urban wastelands?

Inside the market, it’s as dark, smoky, and dirty as a ‘cue joint ought to be. The whole transaction feels a little shady, as if you’re buying drugs—which, in a… [More]

City Market in Luling has a wannabe doppelgänger in Houston called Luling City Market, whose core business seems to be trademark infringement. But any Texan worth his brisket knows that the best ‘cue lurks in tiny towns, not big cities. And Luling, with a population just over 5,000, is home to some of the best smoked meats in America—not to mention brotherhood: you’ll sit at communal tables with toolbelt-sporting, cowboy-hat-wearing men of the land, often with the whole family in… [More]