Why can't anyone around here make Texas-class barbecue brisket?

The Triangle area is full of restaurants that cook great barbecue--as long as you define barbecue as being pulled pork. Now, don't get me wrong: I love pulled pork barbecue. Sometimes, though, I want barbecue brisket. When I do, I have to wait to go to Texas, because so far I have not found a single restaurant in the Triangle area that serves barbecue brisket that is as good as the worst brisket I've had in Austin.

Why is that?

The technology involved isn't hard: rub the brisket with salt and pepper, cook the brisket over smoke low and slow, and you'll get something good.

Instead, all the brisket I've had in the Triangle is cooked until it's dry and usually fat-free; great brisket needs some fat.

I've tried every place that someone has told me made great brisket. If you have a favorite barbecue brisket place in the area, please write and let me know. In the meantime, I'll look forward to my next trip to Austin (which, as happy coincidence would have it, is Monday).