Keese's Cafe & Bar-B-Que

MEDINA: Keese's Cafe & Bar-B-Que
13869 State Highway 16 N
Medina, TX 78055
830-589-7474
Open M-Tues 7-2, W-Sat 7-8, Sun 8-3

After a cigar flavored link of boudain back at the Hog Pen in Leakey, I needed something to get the creosote flavor out of my mouth. We were hustling back to Bandera to make the check-in time at the cabin awaiting us, but the light was still on at Keese's as we rolled through Medina. I walked in to order and was surprised to find they had all the meats available at this late hour. The service was accommodating and genuine, and she suggested a slice of 'Cedar Bark' pie to go with the meal. It's like a pecan pie filling, but with walnuts and coconut replacing the pecans.



A couple of slices of good and moist brisket needed more seasoning. Other than concentrated flavors at the ends of each slice with nice bits of well rendered fat, the meat was a little flat. It must be said that the brisket showed exemplary texture and moisture for beef that was being served right at closing time. A thick spare rib was very enjoyable. The meat came easily from the bone and had a pleasant chew. The flavor from the smoke worked nicely with the thin sweet glaze. A loaded baked potato salad was very good as were the spicy beans. This was a solid plate of barbecue.



The cedar bark pie was extremely rich with a buttery crust. This was just the kind of sweetness we needed to counter balance all of the protein we'd ingested on this long day of barbecue. While we finished dessert, the owner Keith Keese came out to chat along with Missy our gracious server. He had built the pits himself and they were doing everything with direct heat using live oak wood. He's been cooking barbecue for fifty years and his specialty is cabrito. Sadly, the meat is too expensive for him to carry it regularly at the restaurant. The rest of the meats were plenty good to make up for it, but I'm interested to return at the height of the lunch rush instead of minutes before closing.

Rating ***

The Hog Pen

LEAKEY: The Hog Pen
373 US Highway 83
Leakey, TX 78873
830-232-4868
Open Thur-M 10-midnight
www.thehogpenstore.com

The sun was setting was setting as we go tinto Leakey (pronounced Lakey), and we realized there was no hope in getting to Bandera before nightfall. Bar-B-Q was on the sign so I went inside to investigate further. I was fifth in line so I saw the order taker scoping out presauced chopped brisket from a crock-pot whenever a brisket order came up. No thanks. They were out of ribs, but the smoked boudain was still available.


Photo by Nicholas McWhirter

Smoked boudain is on of those things you might find in the piney woods of East Texas, but out here it was rare. Most folks just use the smoker to warm these spiced up pork and rice filled links, but these were black with smoke. I was hopeful until I bit into what tasted like the lit end of a cigar. I think a puff of smoke emerged as the casing snapped. I removed the charred and creosote covered casing to try just the filling. It too was more smoky than I could take. I was literally coughing from the smoke and the spice wasn't tame either. Driving another hour east, I finally found another BBQ joint where I could get this taste out of my mouth.

Rating *

"Thou Shalt Not Steal" Also Applies to the Knights of Columbus

Commandment number eight: Thou shalt not steal. You'd think the Knights of Columbus would be familiar with this one. Alongside "Thou shalt not kill", commandments 6 and 8 are the most succinct of the holy commandments, but when the Knights of Columbus St. Jude Council #6269 designed their 'Carnivore Cookoff" T-Shirt logo, they didn't want to start from scratch, so they just stole mine. It's for a charity event that just wrapped up in Arlington, Texas today, but they forgot to ask for my donation. They just took it. I guess they thought adding a couple more animals and using Corel Draw to cover over some of the text (ironically including "GOSPEL") would do the trick to hide the source, but tell me folks, do they look much different to you?

The "New and Improved" Logo from K of C

My Logo

Big thanks to @PittmanKid for bringing the logo to my attention. The sad thing is that due to their thievery of a prominent Dallas-based blog's logo, an attendee at the Arlington event genuinely thought I had some involvement in the event, which I do not. Without any luck, I sought a comment from Anthony Fontanelli, the event chairperson.

To the Knights of Columbus: I know a great graphic designer. She designed my logo, and I paid her to do it. You could do the same. As for the Ten Commandments, they're hidden in Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament in a book called the Bible, or you can just "Google" it, which is probably where you found my logo.

 - BBQ Snob