Central Texan BBQ

THIS PLACE IS GONE!

“One of the very best things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”

---Luciano Pavarotti

CENTRAL TEXAN BBQ

10500 Merritt Street

Castroville, CA 95012

831-633-2285

11:00 AM to 9:00 PM          Monday through Sunday

No Web Site

The last time we were in the area we were taking California 183 from US 101 to California 1 and passed through Castroville, the Artichoke Capital of the World.  Just as we were almost through the town, a couple of minutes even at thirty miles per hour, (As in most small towns, don’t speed.), we spotted the Central Texan BBQ.  Now we would have stopped to try it on the way back, but we had already decided to try a barbeque restaurant down the coast, but we decided to come back the next chance we got.  This last weekend was our chance.

This time we deliberately intended to try Central Texan.  The plan was to check into our mote, in Watsonville, then casually drive to Castroville, about 12 miles away, to meet some family at the restaurant.  Instead, we ran into some construction delays (Do not drive North on 101 from LA to Santa Barbara until they have all this @#&% construction finished!) and weather, (All wheel drive gives you a lot of confidence at highway speeds in heavy rain…probably more than it should.)  And what should have been a five hour trip took seven and a half hours.  We were only a half hour late and everyone we were meeting was over twenty-one so they sat and drank beer while they waited for us to show up.

Central Texan BBQ is right on Merritt Street, Castroville’s, main drag, and has its own parking lot, but you have to drive around on the side street to get into the lot.  It’s in a wooden building that could be in rural “Anytown USA” and looks a bit worn.  Looking around inside, someone politely remarked, “Well, it’s interesting.”  The owner, Don, is a genuine Southwestern character, who looks like he had been ridden hard and put away wet.  You really have to pay attention to what he is saying and take some of it with a very large grain of salt.  I wouldn’t say the atmosphere is casual, but if you call the restaurant he answers the phone, “This is Don.”

You take a tray and silverware from the table by the drink dispensers, read the menu that on the wall behind them, and order, cafeteria style, at the meat counter.  Don cuts the meat and puts it on your plate along with a singularly tasty slice of bread and a generous slice of sweet onion.  You take the tongs and pull your two dill pickle spears that come with the meal from the big jar and get your bowl of beans from the person at the register.  Then you go to the salad bar to get your green salad.  You pay extra for a bowl of coleslaw or potato salad because Don found that too many people were leaving coleslaw and potato salad on the tables and he doesn’t like to waste food.  They can run out of meat and if Don doesn’t like the look of what’s in the market some days he won’t buy some cuts, so you have to ask if all the items on the menu are available when you order.

Sharon and I both ordered two meat combo plates, hers with Pork Ribs, Turkey, (they were out of chicken), and mine was with Ham and Pork Shoulder.  If they had sausage that day I would have gotten a three meat combo.  My daughter ordered a Brisket plate so I mooched some off of her.  Sharon just had the Pinto Beans, but I ordered Potato Salad and Coleslaw just to sample them.  We both skipped the “salad” bar.  You would expect a lovely array of fresh, locally grown vegetable items on the salad bar, but alas it wasn’t to be.  I have yet to figure out why salad bars in rural areas that grow the vegetables we all purchase and enjoy for our home tables, is usually sadly lacking in the fresh, crisp, farm-to-table salad items and instead are heavy on the ambrosia/potato salad/jello mold genre.  But I digress.  Meat here is served up dry but there were squeeze bottles of barbeque sauce on the tables, one regular, and one called Louisiana Spicy.

Pork Shoulder

Even though it has been in the smoker for far longer than at most places this pork is still wonderfully tender and juicy.  The smoke ring is visible and their outside bark is extremely flavorful.  Pull it apart, put it on a sandwich with some good slaw, (see below first), and you have a great pulled pork sandwich.

Ham

If you think you have had a smoked ham you have never had one like this.  It was probably in the smoker for about thirty hours and you get it hot right out of the smoker, and it is still juicy, not dry.  If you have any recipes that call for ham it might be worth buying some of this by the pound and using it in the recipes to see how different it can be.

Turkey

They were out of chicken so we tried the turkey breast.  Now I know from turkey, since I smoke a whole turkey every Thanksgiving to rave reviews from family and friends.  (My secret is using white oak from used whisky barrels.)  This turkey was great.  When you try turkey at many barbeque places you get the feeling that they chased the turkey through the smoker.  Not here, the turkey here is properly smoked while still remaining moist. 

Pork Ribs

These were a little disappointing.  The flavor was good, definitely smoked, but they were a little dry.  I have the feeling that they were in the smoker a little too long.

Beef Brisket

This is done the way they do it in Texas.  When Don pulled the brisket out of the smoker and threw it on the cutting board the meat lay there and quivered.  It was absolutely melt in your mouth tender, fully beef flavored and juicy.  From the outside “bark” right through the middle it was perfection. 

Pinto Beans

These beans are not the kind to make a meal of but are a competent side order.  They are not too sweet, a common problem with side order beans, in fact they are not sweet at all, but have a better than average, somewhat piquant flavor. 

Coleslaw

This is a conventional chopped slaw, with a cream style dressing.  It is not too sweet nor is it served too wet.  I prefer a shredded slaw and find this one rather pedestrian.  If you don’t have a cabbage craving it’s not worth the extra cost.

Potato Salad

It was a basic, competent potato salad, not too wet, and not over mixed with the potatoes in distinct cubes.  OK, it’s an ordinary, not mushy potato salad, but doesn’t have much else to recommend it.  Again, it’s not worth the extra cost.

Is this destination barbeque?  Well, the meat maybe.  I drove 325 miles to get there this time.  That may be pushing it a bit, but given the que and the company of family it was certainly worth it.  If you anywhere near the area you have no excuse not to try it.  The meat, with the exception of the Pork Ribs that day, is great.  The que can only go so far.  If you live in the area you might be more likely to buy the meat by the pound to go.  The experience is authentic and kind of fun, so it’s a bit hard to be critical, but considering that there are lots of barbeque places that are fun and have authentic que, that don’t look like they are standing because the termites are holding hands, we are.  Taken as a whole, the experience doesn’t rate over seven and a half.