Hill Country

This honky-tonk is modeled, to an obsessive degree, after Kreuz Market, a legendary barbecue joint in Lockhart, Texas. The barbecue world is famously pork-centric, but in Texas, the specialty is beef. And the specialty at Kreuz Market is brisket, a notoriously temperamental dish that takes hours to cook and is prone to toughness. At Hill Country the specialty is brisket, too, smoked over cords of post oak trucked up from Lockhart. The grizzled pit master at Kreuz Market, Rick Schmidt, traveled to Hill Country himself and seasoned the big, state-of-the-art smokers with a half-burnt log from his own smokers in Texas. Barbecue can be pricey, so any unlimited option from a decent place is a smart bet; the brisket here is included in this $32 Monday-night special (other included meats are good pork spareribs and a fine barbecue chicken). Also, in a very–not–New York move, kids 12 and under eat free.