Lockhart is known as the Barbecue Capital of Texas. Fittingly, the cathedral-like building you encounter driving into town is not a church, but a barbecue joint. Everything about Kreuz Market — physically, spiritually, historically — is big.
In 1948, the Kreuz family sold the business to one of the market’s butchers, Edgar Schmidt. In 1984, Edgar’s sons Rick and Don bought the business from their dad. When Edgar died in 1990, he left the building to his daughter, Nina Sells. In 1998, Rick Schmidt, who still owned the rights to the restaurant, could not come to terms with his sister Sells, his landlord, who owned the building.
So, Schmidt took the name and the business and moved a half-mile north and built the current cathedral-like structure that bears the Kreuz name. Nina Sells still owns the original building, now renamed Smitty’s Market and also one of theThe new Kreuz location opened with a flourish in 1999. Back then the old brick pits were lit continuously — the fire never went out.
If there is an altar to Texas barbecue, it is the order counter and round chopping block in the pit room at Kreuz Market. Pitmaster Perez still holds court the smoky pit room, priest-like in his cowboy hat, white apron and mutton-chop sideburns. Big Texas barbecue calls for big Texas personalities, and Perez is one of the biggest in the state.
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