I'm going to admit something here despite some hesitation. Part of the reason I declared this week barbecue week is because I'm experimenting with a low-carb diet.
My logic is as follows: if I eat barbecue I can get plenty of meat and vegetables and just leave out the bread. Easy enough. That logic was confirmed at the Jasper's counter today.
I don't know why I announced my experiment. I'm not one for diets or telling people about my diet. But it was probably because I was turning down bread and felt I should give an explanation. At any rate, Jasper's owner Rodney Ludwig, who was chopping meat nearby, confirmed that this was the place to be for such a diet.
Indeed.
My good friend and WacoFork videographer Jon Davis and I feasted on ribs, brisket, sausage, cole slaw, beans and pecan pie. Very good lunch with very few carbs. Okay, a few in the crust of the pecan pie, sure. But how am I going to pass up pecan pie?
Oh and the gravy. Such goodness, mysterious though it may be. Jon and I asked Rodney about it, but he declined revealing the secret. The gravy as well as the rub recipes are classified information.
Someone in the neighborhood must know, though. Jasper's and Tony DeMaria's sit less than four blocks from each other making this Waco's finest barbecue district. And I'll go so far as to say that Waco Elm Street barbecue should be classified as a special subset of Texas barbecue.
I'm guessing Jasper's pulls barbecue lovers mostly from the downtown, north Waco and Bellmead areas, which is to say I doubt if many people from China Spring, Robinson, Woodway or Hewitt happen across it very often.
They should, though.
A person could search from Amarillo to Brownsville, El Paso to Beaumont and not find better Texas barbecue than on Elm Street in Waco.
One more bite: Jasper of Jasper's was actually Jasper DeMaria and a cousin of Tony DeMaria. In fact, an old, fading sign high on the exterior wall of Jasper's reads "DeMaria and Sons." According to their respective websites, Jasper's opened in 1915, then Tony DeMaria's came along in 1946.
