Finger-Licking Good

If you drive far out to Driftwood, Texas, there's this great place for barbecue. Ansley gave me the heads up about Salt Lick BBQ and when our first BBQ experience was crap, well, we just happened to be a stone's throw from Driftwood.

Salt Lick is far down the beaten path and besides a few residential areas nearby, there's not much around.

You know the place has to be good, though because when we drove up, the place was packed. On a Monday afternoon. In the middle of nowhere. And they have all these rules: cash only, your time is limited to 1.5 hours, no separate checks, gratuity is added, bring your own beer. All of these rules and the place is still packed.

The atmosphere is incomparable. Check out the pit - have you ever seen anything so beautiful? Even if you didn't like barbecue, you'd get a little crush on it just from looking at that thing.

Ordering is pretty simple. I got a trio of meats, ribs, brisket and sausage with potato salad, coleslaw and beans. This time around, the rib meat fell off the bones easily - no slipping out of my hands this time! The sausage was deliciously peppery and the brisket was absolutely divine. The potato salad was more like mashed potatoes, but cold and with a splash of vinegar - it was tangy and absorbed a little heat from the sauce. The beans were dense and deep with flavor. The coleslaw I think had fennel seeds in it and it was so crunchy and fresh - almost Asian in taste with the dressing.

Amie ordered the chicken, which when she got the plate, you could tell had been freshly carved. This here was fresh food.

We ate our fill and left full. Isn't that the point?