Two Bros. BBQ Market
12656 West Ave.
San Antonio, TX
Smoking brisket is like taking the plunge into marriage.
The choices you make upfront can lead to results that are very good.
Or…
…Very, very bad.
Without the right commitment to quality meat, a good rub, ideal wood, a top-notch smoker, and lots and lots of patience and time, you’re in for a final product devoid of spice, flavor, and tenderness.
It will be nothing but an expensive exercise in wasted effort.
You’ll be looking to sign divorce papers as soon as you bite into bad brisket that tastes like a dry, tasteless hunk of unchewable beef.
But I’m happy to report that the bros at Two Bros BBQ Market on the north side of San Antonio know exactly how to do brisket right.
Any doubt is dispelled the moment you pull into the parking lot and see the smoke billowing from the smoker out back.
You’ll know you made the right choice as soon as you open the front door and are greeted with sweet aroma of cow fat slowly being melted by the embers of Texas post oak.
Two Bros is nothing like the scary and dilapidated smoke shacks down around Lockhart like Smitty’s and Black’s.
This place has been around for only fifteen years, still an infantile newcomer to the centuries-old art of smoking brisket in the Lone Star State.
Rustically located under some old live oak trees — a few of which grow right up through the middle of the place — it’s still hard to camouflage the new construction feel of Two Bros BBQ Market.
But what it lacks in old-school credentials, Two Bros more than makes up for with its real-deal authentic Texas barbeque.
I watched the pit master slice off a couple thick slabs of brisket and throw a smoked sausage onto my butcher paper.
Unlike in Lockhart, plastic utensils are available at Two Bros, but you won’t need them.
The hunks of beef fall apart at the mere touch of your fingers.
The dark, crunchy bark on the edge of each slice ignites a combustion of salty flavor in every bite.
The soft tender inside offers a smoky, succulent contrast to the bark.
Each bite of decadent fatty beef almost melts in your mouth like bovine butter.
Absolutely extraordinary!
Still, I couldn’t resist the urge to dip a few hunks of brisket into Two Bros homemade BBQ sauce.
The sauce is completely unnecessary, the brisket is that good on its own — yet completely delicious with a nice balance of spicy tang and sweetness.
The sausage reached heights of perfection as well.
Dense and smoky, each bite offered a nice mouthful of greasy, meaty flavor.
Well done, bros, well done.
And even their sides were top notch.
The mac and cheese was thick and cheesy just the way your grandma makes it.
The pinto beans were a kaleidoscope of flavor, balancing the savory goodness of bacon with the sweetness of Texas peaches.
You won’t find anything like this in the canned goods aisle of your local grocery, that’s for sure.
Since it was the middle of a workday for me, an ice cold Shiner Bock to wash all this Texas barbeque down with just wasn’t an option.
So I went with the ‘Plan B’ Texas BBQ beverage — a can of Big Red — the syrupy sweet red soda that leaves your tongue stained red for 24 hours.
Big Red is so bad it’s never managed to spread much beyond the borders of the Lone Star State.
But as Texas songwriter Robert Earl Keen explained in his song “Barbeque,” “a cold Big Red” is considered obligatory when dining on Texas brisket and sausage.
Like marriage, picking the right place in Texas for brisket takes a leap of faith.
Sure, I did my homework and read about Two Bros being awarded as one of the top BBQ shacks in Texas, but until you commit and take that first bite of beef, you can never be totally sure what you’re gonna to get.
That’s where I come in.
Consider me your brisket marriage counselor.
So if you’re in San Antonio — heck, if you’re within 100 miles of San Antonio — do yourself a favor.
Make the commitment. Tie the knot. Take the plunge at Two Bros BBQ Market.
You’ll live happily ever after.
