My wife and I were enroute between Las Vegas and Austin TX
to take a car to our son. Having not been in Carlsbad NM
for a long time, we decided to take the side trip from I-10,
spend the night, and see the beautiful caverns. Years ago,
I had corresponded briefly with Danny regarding some
genealogy after spotting his name in a couple barbecue
groups I visited back in those days. I also remembered
seeing a recommendation for his place. For any of you who
might be making the trip along I-10 in either direction, I
sure recommend that you stop by Danny's.

I-10 swoops southeast as it nears El Paso, which helps to
explain that we really added few miles to our trip between
Las Vegas and Austin with the side trip. 180, out of El
Paso, starts out as an urban nightmare, but soon becomes a
beautifully maintained road with some really great scenery.
As I recall, the speed limit on 180 was about 75 mph, so
little time was lost.

Our reservations were at the Day's Inn in Carlsbad, which
turned out to be one of the newest and nicest places in
town. The return to I-10 was via 285, which was similar to
180 and took us through the old town of Pecos- site of the
first rodeo.

Danny Gaulden's place is situated near the urban center of
Carlsbad and is a large, remodeled, Dairy Queen. The place
is quite easy to locate and parking is fine. One of the
most impressive things, beyond the great food, is that it is
clean. When I say clean, I mean CLEAN. It was also very
busy. We got there about 1:30p on a weekday afternoon and
barely found a place to sit. When we left, it was still
full. It isn't a "tourist" place, so the crowds of people
were simply local folks who know good food when it's around.
Like most local-type places, you sit yourself down and
grab a menu.

Our waitress was one of the sweetest young ladies you could
ask to meet. She was from Maryland and took time to visit
with us. The food service was very prompt, portions were
generous and the prices were a LOT less than you'd expect to
pay in Las Vegas, Kansas City or Raleigh for similar
portions of high quality.

I won't even go into the food itself other than to say it
was fine. Heck, it was even better than fine. One surprise
on my pulled pork sandwich was that they only had a KC-type
of barbecue sauce and no spicy vinegar like we get for
Eastern NC sandwiches. Danny's sauce is a bit heavy on
mustard and not as sweet as the typical KC sauces, but was
very good. I'd like to say it was more of the Lexington
style, but that might be doing it a disservice. The potato
salad and beans were also great.

None of the Gauldens were there that day, so I didn't get to
shake any hands. I did leave a card, though. To give you
an idea about what nice folks they have there, as I was
leaving the waitress asked me if I'd like to take my iced
tea along in a styrofoam cup. That doesn't happen very often.

My most sincere recommendation for anyone driving along I-10
or I-20 is to stop by Danny's place, get a little 'Q to eat
and see the Caverns. It's time well spent.

Nonnymus