Unlike its predecessors, Percy Street lays claim to a new cut on the ball - Texas-style smoked meat. Bea Bea's harked back to a shredded, vinegary, Carolina pulled-pork tradition, brought north (to Lawnside, N.J.) by runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad.
Texas-style is its own critter, growing out of the beef culture in the Hill Country, generally beyond Austin, and along the so-called Barbecue Trail stretching from Taylor to Lockhart to Luling.
So it's not Carolina-style. And it ain't sweet-sauced Memphis ribs. Or those blackened slabs - more grilled than smoked - you'll find under the tarps on Ridge Avenue on occasion.
Texas-style is five-hour-smoked brisket and coarse-ground sausage ("hot guts," in the down-home vernacular of the Hill Country), chicken ("in season"), and pork ribs, typically served by the quarter, half, or whole pound on a sheet of butcher paper, silverware optional, but discouraged.
It's still exotica in these parts. Like a Philly cheesesteak in Dallas. So I double-checked my own impressions with more Texas-conversant eaters: The pinto bean side? Good eating. A displaced Austinite awarded a B+, though she'd like them simmered longer and less baked-beany. The pecan pie? Nice nuts. But that same over-sweet filling (and too much of it) that plagues the pecan pie genre. Split one slice for two.
The brisket is served properly on those sheets of butcher paper in three speeds - crusty "burnt ends," which tend to run out; leaner, finer-textured cuts; or loose, decadent, moist slices from the fattier part of the cut.
Heck, I could just inhale those "moist" slices. Fatty as they are, at least they aren't the pork belly that does a pretty good rendition of pig blubber.
