Taylor and I just ate a pork chop
November 19th, 2008 @ 17:44
Posted by: John
I suppose that wouldn’t be news except that it was one of these pork chops.
The best smoked chops in the free world. Jim Bell is gonna be jell..us!
Jimmie and Mitch and Cassell and Becky all have a childhood link to Llano, Texas. Cassell honored that when she titled one of her records “Llano”. Jimmie took the boys there a couple of years ago for a weekend of digging around in their roots. We stayed at the Dabbs Hotel (notice all our photos in the search) and were the only guests that weekend so it was like our house. It was one of the best weekends ever. So, what is the six degrees of separation with pork chops? On Jimmie’s list of must do things in Llano was to eat at Cooper’s, the town’s worldwide claim to restaurant fame. And pork chops are their specialty. We went but…. Cooper’s makes their own rules; when they run out of bar-b-que, no matter how early in the day it is, they close. We were there just after lunch and there wasn’t even a bone to pick. Jimmie was tellin’ the guy, “but my sister named her album….” But, we left with our hungry disappointment. However….. and here’s the connection…. two weeks ago they opened their second location in the entire known universe, a replica of the original, about three miles from our house. Now we’re making up for lost time. It’s a portal between New Braunfels and Llano, between past and present, between beef ribs and pork ribs.
being such a short and pleasant motorcycle ride away, it’s hard not to eat at Cooper’s everyday. Warning: you don’t order by the pound, you walk in and the pit is there with all the incredible looking and smelling bar-b-que right in front of you. You walk, hungry, right into the kitchen. These guys are the Bill Gates of meat, you point to a piece and it’s yours and whatever it weighs out to is what you pay. My advice is don’t let your eyes be larger than your wallet – this system encourages you to order yourself $30 worth of ribs and sirloin before you know it. One of these giant pork chops that you just about can’t help but want can be $25. But you don’t know that until you walk into the other room, it hits the scale, they wrap it in butcher paper and they hand it back to you with the price written on it. Can’t turn back then, you’re already 3/4 of the way to the cashier. So please come eat here but order with caution. It’s kind of like the expensive steak house of bar-b-que places. Advice from Jimmie and Taylor….. get the pork loin. All of it. Money is no object. Jimmie has decreed that she is released from vegetarianism in a 300 yard radius of Cooper’s. Extends to three miles in the occurrence of takeout.
TEXAS MONTHLY: “Unlike most Texas Barbecue purveyors, Cooper’s cooks ‘cowboy style’ with hot coals directly under the meat; the dripping juices sizzle like mad, and the smoke flavor is intense.”…”the pork chops huge and gnarly (mini-roast size); the port ribs falling-off-the-bone tender with a peppery crust.”
true… all true.
November 20th, 2008 01:25
O’BOY!
November 20th, 2008 22:25
I always stop by the Cooper’s in Junction on my way back from San Angelo. I looked it up and saw that they’re the cousins of the Llano Cooper’s. I’ve only had the sausage and brisket but they were both great.
November 21st, 2008 21:08
I have to agree – they are mighty tasty.. John is right, it is sooo easy to order way more than you possibly can eat there. I’ve been there twice and each time we got a sampling of different things. I’ve had the pork ribs, brisket, chicken, sausage and also the sirloin steak. My only complaint is because of the size of the meat, the steak was not cooked enough for me. It was more of a Medium rare, where I like mine well done. I’ll stick to the brisket from now on and maybe try one of the pork chops. They sure look good.
November 21st, 2008 21:41
Coopers is like the biggest thing in town now, everybody’s talking about it. Karen, we need to work up an instruction manual.
Maybe we could host tours of Coopers. Coopers tour guides and purchasing agents. For a straight 20%.
The problem with the pork chops is that they won’t cut them, you have buy it whole. I guess they don’t care that eating a two and a half pound $25 pork chop has serious side effects. Most immediately financial.
So… buy the pork loin. They’ll slice off however much you want of that. Isn’t it the best part, like center of the pork chop without the bone? They still won’t do it by the pound, they want to move the knife around while you eyeball the place to make the cut but you can just tell the guy “I want about $5.00 worth” and he’ll get you close. And with the free bread, beans, onions and peppers that’s a major Texas lunch on the cheap.
November 22nd, 2008 21:28
John, maybe you can explain something to me….being relatively new to TX and all the good BBQ here. Back home, BBQ would be served on plates, with sides such as potato salad, beans, cole slaw and perhaps some good sourdough bread or corn muffins.
I can deal with the wax paper plates, and have gotten used to the “pickles and onions”, but why do all the BBQ joints give crummy white sandwich bread? I’ve never seen anything like it until I moved out here.
November 22nd, 2008 22:51
I understand your question. White bread is the standard offering with Texas bar-b-que. I guess it’s an acquired taste. And there’s a cool San Antonio connection to that.
Richter Bakery had the Buttercrust white sandwich bread franchise in San Antonio and it became a San Antonio and Central Texas tradition. For most of the 1900′s it was the #1 bread in Texas. There are many other choices now like Mrs. Baird’s and H.E.B. brands but none says Texas like Buttercrust. Look at what Coopers serves, I guarantee you it will be Buttercrust now and forever because they want to be Texas cowboy authentic.
They marketed themselves as what went good with beans and bar-b-que. They made sure they were served in all the hot spots. They gave screen doors with their little blue denim girl logo to every bar-b-que place that would have one. Most of the people who ever went to school in San Antonio took a tour of the bakery in third grade. Every kid had a Buttercrust bookcover on every book and wrote with a Buttercrust #2 pencil. We would came home from school and spread margarine on a piece, pour a line of sugar, fold it over and eat it without warming it up or anything. That was San Antonio. I drove past the Buttercrust bakery this past Tuesday and the aroma caught me by surprise – I had somewhere really important to be so I only circled back around the block twice. It’s in the blood. These days we don’t eat it at home, we always eat whole grain bread for health reasons….. but not when we go to a bar-b-que place. If you have a chunk of brisket on your plate what else do you have to lose?
So, I’m pretty sure the answer is…. if a Texas bar-b-que restaurant put wheat or rye or whole grain bread out it would lose credibility. Maybe get burned down. Just doesn’t taste the same with beans. I’m not saying that it’s noticed by everyone but if they put out Buttercrust there’s an automatic rise in credibility with anyone who knows Texas history and specially Texas bar-b-que history. Next time you’re there, notice that Cooper’s puts out whole loaves in the plastic wrapper so that you can clearly see that it’s Buttercrust. They take a knife and make a single longways slit in the top for you to reach in – they don’t want to disturb the packaging that says Buttercrust.
It’s old time Texas.
November 23rd, 2008 09:50
The bread is not really there for wrapping around the glorious meat. Oh no, the meat stands on it’s own. The purpose of the bread is to soak up the bean juice. You take a bite of onion, a bite of beans, then dip the bread in the bean juice and chomp it down.
YUM!!
November 23rd, 2008 22:18
THANK GOD I know the Whipples… I would have never, ever in a million years figured all that out. Too funny about the Buttercrust association… I don’t think I really have noticed that brand or was aware of it until now.. I suppose I’ll start to notice it all the time now! LOL!!! And sopping up the bean juice, again, I would never have figured that one out either. I’ve been doing it all wrong. Thanks, I learn so much on this website. It’s become like an owners manual to living in Texas for me.
November 24th, 2008 18:54
yep, saw a ButterKrust truck today while picking Charlotte up.
November 25th, 2008 01:17
it’s so nice to have you on the blog. We’ll make a hill country hayseed out of you if you don’t look out.
Quite a few in the family and friends group met Karen and her family at The Woodzie this past year. She’s from California and worked with Jimmie up until a couple of months ago and they’re very good friends.
November 28th, 2008 18:31
Oh goodness, I sooooo want one!!! You know, we WILLLLL make it through your part of the country one of these days and on THAT DAY, you MUST take us to Cooper’s.
November 28th, 2008 22:57
that’s a promise,
We’ve been missing hearing from y’all. Hope you’re doing O.K.