I was only about 30 minutes into my drive home from Lufkin to Dallas, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to sample more East Texas barbecue. I found Lindsey's Lazy L Bar-B-Q along the highway near Alto, Texas and decided to give it a try.
This place seems primarily focused on their convenience store and farmers market-style produce selection. The barbecue area is way in the back, mostly comprised of a clientele that was apparently very fond of boots and overalls. I decided that a to-go order might be in order here. For take out, grab your food from there and proceed back up front to pay at the main store register.
I settled on a Hotlink Sandwich. It probably wouldn't have ordinarily been my first choice, but this is East Texas after all, so hotlinks seemed appropriate.
The deep purple color on the hotlinks was very beet-like and was also a little off-putting. I dug in anyway, only to find that the casings had very little snap and the meat was fairly mushy. The sauce was ok, but nothing special. I saw the remnants of jalapenos in the form of large seeds. That being said, there was only a hint of heat, certainly not as much as I was anticipating. There was no smoke whatsoever. Business at the Lazy L wasn't exactly booming, but I think it would be worthwhile to invest in something better and more homemade than Mrs. Baird's hamburger buns from the local grocery store. Needless to say, I didn't bother finishing my sandwich.
When the word "lazy" is right in their name, I guess I shouldn't have expected too much effort from this place. Lindsey's Lazy L Bar-B-Q was a sad representation of East Texas hotlinks.
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Lindsey's Lazy L Bar-B-Q
12157 Hwy 69 S
Alto, TX 75925
(936) 858-4468
A review by a Dallas swish.
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ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that you've hit several Deep East Texas barbecue joints, and I'm equally unsurprised that you found them all pretty atrocious.
ReplyDeleteNone of the barbecue joints in this part of Texas, i.e., Lindsey's Lazy L, or his disgruntled former employ Pablo's joint just outside of Lufkin on 69 North, Bryan's Smoke House (thankfully out of business), the "institution" of Stringer's Lufkin Barbecue, or anything at all in Nacogdoches are particularly good at anything.
They seem more interested in up-charging by about ten times the price-per-pound on their poorly executed product.
It's embarrassing as a Texan what some of these places attempt to pull off and really the only place you're going to find good barbecue around these parts is what you pull of your own smoker in your own backyard.
The ONLY consolation East Texas barbecue can take some solace in is the fact that Neely's Interstate Barbecue in Memphis is worse, by a lot, but keeping things grounded in reality, Whole Hog Cafe in North Little Rock outshines anything in Texas, including everything in Austin and Central Texas.
Hope to see some new reviews from you, tho, looks like it's been a while. Hope this finds you well!