We arrived in downtown Lockhart and stumbled out of the car for an afternoon snack, meat drunk but ready for more BBQ. This was our third stop on the Central Texas BBQ Tour. We entered the screen door with a sign proclaiming "BARBEQUE" over it and walked down the long corridor into something out of the1890's.

Smitty's Market was established in 1999 by Nina Schmidt Sells in the building that housed her father's Kreuz Market for more than 50 years. The market sits in the same location where barbecue has been sold in Lockhart since the turn of the last century. Rumor has it that a family squabble led to Kreuz Market moving to a new location north of downtown.

The pit fires were burning on the floors of the building, feeding into the brick smokers that cooked every kind of meat imaginable. The walls were coated with 100 years of smoke. We were reeling from the meat intake at that point, but sampled fatty and lean brisket, aka shoulder clod, and pork ribs, washing them down with Big Red. For desert some Blue Bell ice cream, one dollar a cone, to coat our stomachs for the final round at Kreuz market.

Smitty's Market, 208 South Commerce St. Lockhart, Texas. Open Mon. - Fri. 7 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 7 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

(Photos by David Guzman)