We’ve been missing hearing from y’all. Hope you’re doing O.K.

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.

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.

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.

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.