Travel Channel to film Barbecue Challenge

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

The national spotlight has not faded on Lockhart’s claim to fame. In fact, a production company has been in contact with two of the city’s barbecue restaurants and intends to film a new television show for the Travel Channel in late January.

The show, which is being produced by the company responsible for breakout h

it “Man Vs. Food,” will be filming in Lockhart from Wednesday, Jan. 20 – Friday, Jan. 22, culminating in a Barbecue Challenge in downtown Lockhart on Friday afternoon.

Sources close to the production say that filming will begin on Wednesday at Kreuz Market. The crew will spend all day in the community’s “oldest-newest” (oldest establishment, but in the newest building) barbecue joint, and General Manager Keith Schmidt has invited the community to visit the restaurant during the lunch hour on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the crew will move to Smitty’s Market where they will spend the day getting to know the crowds, particularly the lunchtime element in Lockhart’s “newest-oldest” (newest restaurant in the oldest building) fare.

Finally on Friday, Jan. 22, the production company will host a challenge where the two restaurants will show down on the Courthouse Square.

Although information is sparse from within the production company, it is interesting to note that, of the wide variety of availability in the Barbecue Capital of Texas, the production focuses specifically on a Kreuz versus Smitty’s battle. Now more than a decade away from the “family feud” that gained national attention when Kreuz owner Rick Schmidt chose to move his restaurant from its longtime location on Commerce Street, leaving the building’s owner (and Schmidt’s younger sister) Nina Sells with the notion of opening a restaurant of her own.

Ten years later, the businesses are successfully managed by cousins Keith Schmidt (Kreuz) and John Fullilove (Smitty’s). Any public sense of rivalry between the two restaurants seems long left behind.

However, the Travel Channel could change all that, as the two compete for bragging rights during the Challenge this week.

Check next week’s Post-Register, or visit us online at www.post-register.com for additional details about the production schedule as new details develop.