Texas A&M: Aggies host Missouri

If you follow the schedule closely, I had originally planned for a trip to Wisconsin this past weekend to watch the Ohio State matchup. Regrettably, flight prices a few weeks ago had risen prohibitively high, and I had to pass yet again. This proved to be a rather unfortunate miss as it turned out to be the ESPN Gameday game, and had I attended it would have been the second week in a row of watching a #1 team get upset. Fortunately, a quick glance at the schedule revealed Texas A&M was in town, and I don’t need much convincing to head down to College Station for a game.

If you followed the blog at all last year, you know that I’ve been quite enamored with my trips to Aggieland, to the point that I would consider Texas A&M my adopted Texas team. There are few places in the country that can match the College Football atmosphere you will find in College Station, and I relish any trip down there. Irritatingly, however, the game was scheduled for an 11AM start in a stroke of scheduling ineptitude. Early start times completely deflate gameday atmosphere in my opinion. Fans have barely had a chance to roll out of bed by this time, and pre game tailgating is all but non existent. It makes for a flat, sluggish crowd, and College Station on Saturday was not up to its usual grandeur compared to some of the other trips I have taken there.

On the docket today was Missouri with their perfect 5-0 start to the season on the line. Given the Tigers dubious level of competition thus far, however, this figured to be a coin flip between Texas A&M and Missouri.

Unfortunately, the game was an absolute mess for the Aggies, who struggled to do anything all afternoon. The touted Tiger defense stifled the Farmers on offense, almost completely shutting them down until a late touchdown in garbage time. Not even the 12^th man could rouse them out of their funk. This Aggie team has been a perplexing team to watch and especially frustrating for long time fans, as they came into the season with rather lofty expectations. Unfortunately, the year has been mired in wildly streaky play that leaves the Aggies on a performance rollercoaster. Prior to the year, I had picked them as an outside shot to win the Big 12 South given their abundance of returning playmakers, but they can’t seem to put it all together. Missouri walked away an unblemished 6-0, and ready for an epic tilt next week in Columbia against the unbeaten Sooners.

We’ll be returning to College Station again in a few weeks for a more “official” visit, and hopefully they can show up to play next time around.

Thanks to my friends Pat and Christine for coming down, as well as finally meeting Pat’s brother Ryan. I was long overdue to catch up with them for a game and get them some proper brisket commensurate with Pat’s discerning taste buds.

It was also great to meet up with my old roommate, and former Aggie, Federico. We were able to snap a photo with the 12^th Man statue, proof that I was able to get him back for a game in College Station. Hopefully he manages to remember what real college football is like from his perch in New York City…not so long until the next visit my friend.

Martins Place BBQ

Martin’s Place had been on my list for quite some time now, and after knocking out the famous burger joints in College Station last year, I thought it was high time to sample some cue’ in Aggieland. Martin’s place is an institution in Bryan, with continuous family ownership dating back to 1925. The original location was sold after surviving the Great Depression, and the family upgraded to the present brick location which dates back to 1939 and has since been registered a historical landmark. It’s a rare find to step into a building with this kind lineage and history oozes from the smoke tarnished walls. Countertops worn through from decades of diners plates scraping against the linoleum dot the horseshoe shaped bar, and I hurriedly straddled a stool like generations of hungry Texas before me.

After ordering up my usual three meat pile, I was crestfallen when my order arrived slathered in unsolicited sauce. The most heartbreaking aspect of this saucing was that I could tell this was extremely well prepared and lovingly smoked BBQ. The ribs were exceptional, cooked perfectly with a deep pinkish ring, and I managed to save one from the depths of red sauce. Brisket wasn’t so lucky, however. While I could tell it was smoked quite well from the texture, I just couldn’t get past the tangy sauce to get a full tasting. My last few morsels of brisket had quite literally been drown in sauce, and were beyond rescue.

Regardless of the sauce-tastrophe, I’d certainly like to hit Martin’s again and give it another shot with a dry order of meat. This is a place that does it right, as an inspection of the deeply charred smoke room quickly revealed. Pitmaster Steve warmly offered me a tour of these ancient brick pits, which have been chugging through post oak (with a touch of hickory) for over 71 years. Smoke and meat folks, there’s no big secret with proper BBQ, and I’ll be back for more.

If you’re looking for a touch of history and some fine smoked meat after your next Aggie game in College State, sidle on into Martin’s Place and plop down in a stool. Just ask them to hold the sauce….

Snow's BBQ - Where there's smoke...

After my BBQ disaster at Maurice’s the week before, I needed some proper smoked meat to get the rancid taste out of my mouth. A trip to Texas A&M meant one sure thing, an early morning feast at Snow’s BBQ. As the best BBQ place in Texas, I knew Snow’s could rectify last weeks aberration. Of course, any trip down to Lexington requires a rather early morning wake up call, so beating back the drowsiness of a Ranger playoff game the night before, I settled into the captains chair of the Jetta at 5:00 am sharp for an 8AM arrival.

There are few more peaceful rides than a sunrise drive through expansive Texas plains as the amber dawn floods over the horizon.

I don’t need to rehash a full review of Snow’s on here, you can read about the prior two posts on Snow’s to get an in depth analysis.

http://pigskinpursuit.blogspot.com/2009/09/snows-bbq.html

http://www.pigskinpursuit.com/2009/12/snows-bbq-going-back-for-seconds.html

And if you still don’t believe me, take a look at the line at 8AM.

But to reiterate, this is the BEST brisket in Texas, and therefore the galaxy. If you’ve ever wondered what a picture perfect brisket looks like, please refer to the picture at the bottom.