Definitely not this. Amateur suggestion.
This guy has it mostly right http://www.fedmanwalking.com/content/austins-top-10-bbq

He has Ruby's at #6. Clearly a typo and he meant Rudy's. LOL at you.

Not sure if this is a level or not. Rubys is north of UT on Guadalupe. It is decent and def better than rudys

For me the primary benefit is they are easier to handle. You almost have to bind boneless ones to hold them together. Secondary benefits are possibly more flavor from the bone itself and the fact that the bone acts like nature's thermometer. When the bone slides right out you know you're done.

I always find myself watching this (they always seem to be showing marathons) while hungry. Just torture.

Looks like the new season started fairly recently. Last season featured Franklin (from Franklin's BBQ) as a judge along with Myron Mixon (BBQ legend), and Warren Sapp (wtf?)

Yeah, last season sucked. They threw in a weird cooking twist in each episode that had nothing to do with BBQ.

I watched last nights and they had Myron Mixon up against his son. Who'da thunk the son would be a bigger ******* than Myron?

LA BBQ is run by John Lewis, former right hand man of Aaron Franklin who also worked for several months under John Mueller before Mueller got in to his tiff with his family.

If you haven't eaten there, then it is pretty presumptuous to dismiss it.

In general Ruby's is better than Rudy's. but fsoyars is correct that the Rudy's turkey is good and their moist brisket is passable.

Problem with Rudy's is the huge inconsistency across their many locations.

Several months meaning the month where he was brought in as part of the coup?

Prices got jacked up, quality went down (from numerous reviewers), lines dropped from huge to non-existent? Why waste my time when there are better options?

There are equal number of reviews in which the quality of certain items such as the sausage and brisket went up.

the price increase might be due to things such as the brisket now being sourced from Niman Ranch and the sausage made inhouse now.

I certainly thought it was better than live oak or Stiles when I was there and I like both of those places.

Reviews that were clearly shills. From what I have heard, the quality started out as a slight step down and has trailed off considerably since then. Did you try the BBQ sandwich with mushrooms on it?

Just the name should be enough to make you not want to go there.

I think I saw an earlier post about someone not recommending to start a pork butt the night before and finish the next day. Unfortunately, I had to do this the other day and it wasn't bad. I started cooking a 3 lb butt at like 5 pm and thought I could get it down in 5 hours or so but at like 12 AM it was only at 172 so I bailed on it and put it in the fridge and then the next morning flopped it in the oven at 200 to get it up to temp.

It wasn't the best pork butt I have ever had by any means but it was decent. I would say 3/4 of the small butt was good but the parts around the bone was fairly rubbery and not the consistency I wanted. The fatty side of the butt was great though.

As the other poster said you are better off just finishing the pork butt entirely the day before and warming up in crock pot or something for your party.

If you went with this method, would you guys recommend cooking the night before and pulling the night before and warming up or cooking the night before and then just warm it up as a hole the next morning and pull right before service?

I would pull it the night before. I actually like pulled pork better the next day. I finish mine in a pan so I have a ton of drippings that I put in a fat separator and pour back over the pulled pork. Then I douse the pulled pork with a vinegar base sauce (http://amazingribs.com/recipes/BBQ_s...ngton_dip.html). I refrigerate the leftovers and IMHO they are better the next day.

Yeah my guess is you'd definitely want to pull it while hot and then put it in the fridge, which is probably what I'm going to do. I don't have a crock pot so on the day of I'll just have to put the pulled pork in a big baking dish, cover it with foil and heat it up in the oven. Hopefully that won't be a problem, right? Just don't want to lose too much moisture.

Pull it hot, it'll take too long to heat back up as a whole butt. Pull it, chill it, add a little apple juice and vacuum pack it or put it in ziplock bags. If you vacuum pack it you can just put the whole bag in boiling water to reheat.

Add a cup of apple juice.

I thought the brisket at Rudy's was pretty good especially for a national chain attached to a GAS STATION

Not quite national. 38 locations in TX and neighboring states.

I stopped in El Paso on the way back home, wasn't particularly impressed with that location, but still was decent. Beat stopping at McDonald's, plus I needed to get gas too.

I think that was season 2. Season 3 was pretty straightforward bbq competition between 3 teams. (Possibly except the finale, I don't remember how that was done).

Season 2 had 4 teams each show, but then they had a challenge where they had to cook odd things (e.g., they did alligator one episode) that eliminated one of the teams. Season 2 also had Warren Sapp as a judge, I was mistaken when I said he was in season 3.

Season 1, they just followed several teams around as they went to various cook-offs.

Looks like season 4 is the same format as season 3, a straightforward bbq competition between 3 teams.

I've only seen parts of season 3. typical show was between 3 chosen teams. The final was 5 winners of past shows.

It can get pretty basic at times. "Here we've gathered the best Kansas City specialists. We will give them, the two things all Kansas City BBQ specialists should be able to do in their sleep. Let's see what happens."

I'd rather see someone cook what they are best at. These guys aren't going to BBQ contests to work out of their comfort zone.

Agreed. I think punkass was referring to an episode from a few weeks ago which was in KC and they had to make burnt ends and spare ribs. I thought it was a good episode, even though one guy completely burnt his food. There was an episode a few seasons ago where Johnny Trigg had to make a meat he's never made before. What's the fun in seeing a world class bbq chef make something he's made before? I'd rather see how a world-class rib cook make ribs than how a world-class rib cook make something he's never made before.

There are annoyances in the show, of course. I really hate when they show the guys watching the judges judge them. Then the judge says "let's go to #1 for presentation", and they cut to the contestants saying, "that's me." Then they go through 2 and 3 and the contestants do the same thing. Then they go back to #1 for taste, and tehy show the same footage of the guys saying "that's me."

Does anyone but there charcoal and/or wood chunks/chips online? If so, what do you use?