During the month of May 1997, Texas Monthly editors Joe Nick Patoski, Patricia Sharpe, and John Morthland, along with freelance writers Jim Shahin and Richard Zelade (all barbecue devotees in their own right), sampled the wares at 245 places across the state, rated them on a score from 1-5, and wrote about their favorites. 
Cooper's in Llano was rated among the Top Three.

***"You can tell from the roadside that Cooper's is serious," Texas Monthly observed. "At one end of the parking lot is a small mountain of enormous mesquite logs. Next to it is a barbecue fanatic's dream landscape: five old rectangular, closed steel pits, lined up in a row. At the pit closest to the door, customers choose their meat, and a pitman pulls it off and slices it up for them on the spot. 

"The barbecue here is cooked cowboy style, that is, directly over smoldering hardwood coals. The logs are burned down to embers in a big enclosed fireplace, then transferred to the pits by pitmen using shovels with twelve-foot handles. The brisket takes six to eight hours, and it fairly explodes with the robust flavor of meat and smoke. Everything else is fabulous too: the huge pork chops, the sirloin, the pork sausage, the chicken, the pork ribs, the goat, and on Tuesdays and Fridays, the beef ribs."

For the whole story in Texas Monthly,
May 1997 click here:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/toc/may97toc.html

To view the article on Cooper's Bar-B-Que click HERE

Other Reviews

50 Things Every Texan Should Do: 3. Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-b-que

“Pick your own piece of meat from the giant pit at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano. ... This regionally renowned meatery is a longtime favorite of such tall Texans as President George W. Bush. Follow the smell of wood smoke and the parade of pick-ups downtown to 604 W. Young(Texas Highway 29). The line forms outside, and filing past the pit gives you ample time to admire the sizzling piles of sausage links, half chickens, and big ol' briskets and make up your meat-eatin' mind. We prefer to pig out on the “big chop,” which might well be the perfect slab of pork -- moist, salty, seductive. Wash it down with a Big Red and chase it down with jalapenos to sample the Texas equivalent of sweet-and-sour sauce.”

Texas Monthly, March 2001

“Mr. Bush's favorite [barbecue], Cooper's, stands along Highway 29 in Llano, a small town in the Hill Country… five big, well used steel cookers with hinged tops each as big as a coffin, fill the air outside with smoke, … On your way into the big, spare dining room, you stop … to inspect what's cooking and to tell the pit master what you'd like.”

He carves off chunks of brisket of beef, sirloin steak, chicken, ribs, beef, and pork sausage, cabrito(goat) or pork chops, dips them into a kettle of thin, vinegary sauce - peppery, but not Tabasco-hot - and hands the meat to you … Inside you hand it to a youngster behind a counter, who uses an electric knife to saw it into manageable pieces… and take your choice among [the sides dishes] …

The brisket is well-nigh perfect, lean with a ribbon of fat along one side and a thin pink layer under the char on the outside. This shows that is has been cooked very slowly for a very long time - about eight hours … Each bite explodes with the sweet, haunting flavor of mesquite smoke ...”

The New York Times, March 21, 2001

“Travelers passing through the Hill County town know its name. When people enter Llano, they can smell the hickory and mesquite smoke, leading to the place known as the home of the 'Big Chop.'”

'When someone mentions Llano, the first thing they often think of is us.'”

The San Angelo Standard-Times, Sunday, March 31, 2002

“A guided tour of [President] Bush's Austin:

Favorite barbecue joint:
Cooper's Old time Pit Bar-B-Q, 60 miles northwest of Austin in Llano. Nothing fancy, but the meat is cooked on mesquite logs in old-fashioned pits. Line up for meat, tangy vinegar sauce and homemade slaw and corn on the cob. Bush's order: 'Ribs'”

USA Today, June 5, 2000

Madeleine Stowe's Austin Essentials:
Cooper's Old Time Pit BBQ, in Llano

Cowboys & Indians, September 2001

“…chatting legislative strategy over mesquite-smoked brisket, President-elect Bush played host to 19 Republican governors at his Texas ranch … The food - 25 pounds of brisket, chicken, sausage, pork ribs, potato salad, cole slaw, beans, vanilla ice cream and peach cobbler - was driven two hours from Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano, Tex.” view note from staff

Washington Post, Sunday, January, 7 2001

“The president's favorite restaurants, according to Bush representatives, are … Cooper's Barbeque in Llano.”

Houston Chronicle, Wednesday, January, 24, 2001

“… if there were a position for Secretary of Barbecue the choice would be obvious [for President Bush] - Terry Wootan of Cooper's Barbeque.”

… At a brief press conference Bush touted Cooper's to be about the best barbecue in the state and told his colleagues, 'You're in for a real treat.'”

Llano News

“It's called "cowboy style": meat is cooked fast directly over smoldering mesquite embers. Briskets take five hours. Ribs an hour and a half. And if this is how the cowboys did it, I'm ready to go out on the range. The juicy, robust brisket and the meaty, tender ribs (rubbed with a dry mix prior to going onto the pit) are state of the art. The thin, vinegar-and-ketchup-based sauce sits in the pit absorbing the smoke created from meat juices dripping on the coals. Wander up to the pit, choose your meat, and they'll slice it up for you then and there. Yee-ha.”

American Way May 15, 1996

Texas Highways, January 2001, Best Restaurant for Barbeque:
1. Coopers Bar-B-Que, Llano

“The billowing clouds of burning mesquite make Cooper's easy to pick out from just about anywhere along Highway 29. Pull over and park by the immense pile of stacked mesquite wood. The serving pit sits right by the front door; four more sit right behind it, cooking up brisket, sirloin, pork ribs, juicy chicken, cabrito (goat), and Cooper's signature "the big chop," a Texas-sized piece of pork best shared.”

Cowboys & Indians, September, 2000

“At the northern edge of the Hill Country in Llano is a grand barbecue shrine, Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que, where five big old pits are lined up in a row, sending clouds of beefy aroma in the air like smoke signal appetizers. Choose your meat - brisket sausage, pork ribs, pork chops, or goat - and the pit master hoists it from the grate and carves it to order. The brisket just may be the best in the state: dripping-moist, redolent with beefy flavor and so tender that it literally falls to pieces when you lift it toward your mouth. With sides of coleslaw and jalapeno-spiked pinto beans, is an only-in-Texas feast.”

Sky Magazine

“At Cooper's, you buy meat by the pound; you can even pick out the piece you want. It's then plucked straight off the pit and served on butcher paper. The atmosphere here is "concrete rustic." There are picnic tables and pits outside. Inside, more picnic tables on concrete floors allow plenty of room for folks to visit.”

Southern Living, August, 1993