Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Inman's Kitchen Pit Bar-B-Q (Llano)


LLANO: Inman's Kitchen Pit Bar-B-Q
809 W Young
Llano, TX 78643
325-247-5257
Open Tues-Thur 8-6, F 8-8, Sat 8-6


It's funny what happens when an owner finds out you'll be writing about their joint. I'd visited Cooper's and Laird's multiple times on previous trips to Llano, but this was my first trip to Inman's. My hesitation was mainly due to the few kind words I'd hear about this Inman's location, but I found a few items good enough to keep me coming back.



My first bite was from the long, thin pork spare rib. The generous black pepper in the rub gave it a good bite, but still allowed the salt and smoke to work together for a good bark. The meat was moist and perfectly tender, and their nice level of smokiness made for the best pork rib in Llano. A unique turkey sausage was juicy with lots of smoke and salt. I've had much leaner versions of this link which were very dry, but this was a good link. The brisket was sliced thick with a great crust and smokering. It looked like it would be a winner until I tried to pull the slice apart for a bite. I couldn't tug on it hard enough to tear it apart and had to resort to a knife. It was just as tough to chew.



Another specialty sausage was Inman's answer to the jalapeno-cheddar beef links around the state. The jalapeno-swiss turkey link is stuffed into a synthetic casing. It's about the circumference of a hard salami, but the meat is juicy with some good heat. Unfortunately, the link had an odd texture and an overprocessed flavor that didn't match the regular turkey link.

When the meal was about over, owner Horace Oestreich came over to check on us and I told him about the tough brisket. He quickly had another order of brisket brought out which was, you guessed it, much more tender, and down right good. It's too bad they don't bother serving the good stuff on every brisket order. You can at least be assured of a good crunchy cole slaw, excellent pork ribs and a great link of turkey sausage.

Rating ***

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

6th generation Hill Country Texan, huge BBQ fan...sorry, but Inman's is the worst I've ever had in the state.

DISCLAIMER:

Each joint is judged on the essence of Texas 'cue...sliced brisket and pork ribs. Sausage is only considered if house made. Sauce is good, but good meat needs no adornment to satisfy. Each review can only be based on specific cuts of meat on that particular day. Finally, if the place fries up catfish or serves a caesar salad, then chances are they aren't paying enough attention to the pits, so we mostly steered clear.

-THE PROPHETS OF SMOKED MEAT