The Salt Lick, Driftwood, Texas

We were northbound, heading towards Dallas and Fort Worth for the rodeo.  But first, a compulsory stop-off in the sparsely populated and unassuming area of Driftwood, Texas.  Why?  Well, we've been pretty slack on our tour of the ridiculous "Man Vs Food" style eateries all in all, but this was the location of one we were definitely not going to miss - "The Salt Lick".

This place is basically the ultimate BBQ restaurant.  Their main offerings are slow-cooked beef brisket, huge smoked jalapeno sausages, ribs and chicken / turkey.  They cook everything over a massive fire pit, fed by live oak wood and pecan hulls for optimum heat and flavour.

We had to queue for a while when we first walked in (it was only a mid-week lunchtime but seemed like half the town was there!), so we got to stand near the pit and see the chefs do their thing.  Hyponotised from the second we got in there, I had a vague sensation of my head swinging like a pendulum as my dilated pupils followed the movement of the giant "mop" being used to continually baste the meat on the grill.

When the waitress finally came to lead us to our seats, I think Sharon was expecting to have to click her fingers in front of my face to get me back in the room!

Sharon went for the combo plate of brisket and ribs and I plumped (pun intended!) for the all-you-can-eat option.  You have three options with the brisket:  "Lean", "moist" (little bit of fat) and "burnt ends" (the seared crust plus some of the tender inner meat).  We both went for the burnt ends and definitely made the right choice - phenomenal!

Sharon polished hers off fairly quickly and I was pretty satisfied after two plates of brisket, ribs, sausage, potato, bread, coleslaw and beans (well it was only lunchtime and I had a three hour drive ahead of me!).

A couple of potential home DIY projects have come to mind during this trip.  For a while I've been thinking of building a hot tub in the garden, having enjoyed relaxing in several of them at RV resorts across the USA.  Now I'm thinking if I'm going to dig a hole in the garden, it's going to be a fire pit.  Should make summer BBQs round ours quite interesting!