These are BBQ spots I have eaten at and enjoyed on one level or the other, be it the food or the atmosphere of the place. I usually eat brisket, pork ribs, sometimes sausage and on occasion chicken. My wife always has the chicken so her opinion is the one voiced when speaking of the bird. I prefer sauce on brisket and chicken, so I give high marks for a good sauce. Most of the sauces here are a tomato base style with the exception of an occasional vinegar and red pepper mixture which I prefer for ribs.

John Mueller's BBQ - Austin, Texas. (NOTE: Closed for now, hopefully will open soon!) Great brisket, pork ribs and sausage served on butcher paper. It has become my favorite Austin spot. It hasn't been there long, but it's the real thing! I am becoming a real fan of his sausage, and I pick up a half pound of brisket at least once a week for lunch. The crust on the meat is fantastic. Two types of home made sauce, spicy or sweet; full of chopped onion and meat basting's. It definitely does not come out of a bottle. I prefer the spicy but sometimes I get both and mix them together. If you feel the need for prime rib Mueller's has it.

Southside Market and BBQ - Elgin, Texas. A Central Texas perennial; home of the "Famous Elgin Hot Sausage". I don't care for the sausage myself (I find it sort of bland and way too greasy), however they produce the best pork spare ribs in the area and that is all I ever order. They have two type sauce, the traditional Texas tomato base as well as the East Texas vinegar and red pepper mix. I prefer the vinegar mix for pork ribs. Butcher paper service for meats by the pound, however plate lunches are available with all the sides. The only place around that serves mutton if you are so inclined and if you like crackers with your meat they will give you more than you could ever need.

Luling City Market - Luling, Texas. If you are ever in Luling go there! One of the older BBQ joints around. Brisket, pork ribs and sausage are first rate and served on butcher paper. The sauce is outstanding. The lines can be long, but it may well be the best in Texas.

Coopers Old Time Pit BBQ - Llano, Texas. An icon of great BBQ lives up to it's reputation. The meat is cooked directly over coals in the West Texas pit style. You choose your cut right from the grill and the decide whether or not to have it dipped in a vinegar heavy sauce before taking it inside for purchase with the classic selection of sides. The giant pork chops are not to be missed and the pork ribs were pretty good too.

Mann's Smokehouse BBQ - Austin, Texas. I need a Q joint that is close to work so that I can have my fix when I feel the need - which is at least once a week. This is my lunch standby. A very friendly family run business with some pretty decent fare. I prefer the sliced brisket with black eyed peas and potato salad. The sauce is good and tangy. They have more sides than I have ever seen at a BBQ establishment; including fried green tomatoes. They have a trivia question that will get you a free meal if you are the first one to answer that day. I have won 27 time at this point which lets you know how often I go there. They also carry Dr. Pepper made from "Pure Imperial Cane Sugar", as well as a host of other bottled soda pop from the past.

Artz Rib House - Austin, Texas. Great chicken, baby back ribs and brisket. The beans usually tend to be a little overwrought with black pepper. The sauce is very good and the quality of the food is always consistent. Live bluegrass music every Sunday.

County Line - Austin, Texas. Voted "Best Place To Take Your Parents". Good brisket and pork ribs. The orange flavored pork sauce is an old favorite of mine. I don't go there much these days but I do have fond memories of feasting on pork ribs and brisket with fresh baked bread a few years back. It is a chain restaurant but the food is usually pretty good.

House Park Barbecue - Austin, Texas. For thirty years House Parks has been serving up brisket and their famous pork loin, which is something you won't find at most other Q joints in the area. Dark and dank with smoke stained walls - what it lacks in ambiance it makes up with good food and cheap prices. It is only open for lunch.

Iron Works - Austin, Texas. Downtown BBQ joint with a good reputation, although it is next to Convention Center, so it is a little pricey. Good brisket and pork ribs as well as giant beef ribs if you want to feel like Fred Flintstone. I do enjoy their sauce.The building itself is of interest as it was formally an old ornamental iron shop that made cattle brands for years and they were tested out on the walls inside and outside the building. Look for Bob Hope's nose, Jack Benny, and Lucille Ball's personal brand marks.

Salt Lick - Austin, Texas. Cooking is done over circular brick pits and the place is huge, with multiple buildings. On the weekend they have traffic controllers in the parking lot. It has a long standing reputation as one of the best around, however I found it to be good Q, but nothing to get too excited about. It is located in a dry county, so bring your own beer if you so desire.

BBQ Dynasties of Texas - An Austin Chronicle article on the BBQ families of Central Texas.

BBQ of Lockhart, Texas - A lot of folks think Lockhart is the king of BBQ. Home of Kruez, which consistently wins top rating in a number of publications, as well as at least three other good spots, Lockhart is a must stop on a journey to the heart of BBQ. This is a Lockhart Chamber of Commerce link. Personally I feel these spots are a bit overrated, however no Central Texas Q list would be complete without them.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Dale Baker's BBQ - Austin, Texas, 3303 Lake Austin Blvd. across from the golf course. It has been gone since 1975, but in it's time it was my all time favorite. I still have dreams of their sauce. I have been trying to replicate it for years with minimal success. It had a touch of mustard, plenty of meat drippings and the memory may be fonder that the reality but I sure do miss it.

Dale Baker opened in 1952. In 1928 he learned to cook BBQ from Elmo Underwood, the patriarch of Underwood BBQ, which was a BBQ chain scattered throughout Texas. During the 1960's Dale Baker was the caterer for many of Lyndon Johnson's barbecue's at the LBJ Ranch. Dale had two pits. One was 18' x 6' and the other was 40' x 6' with fire pits at each end and a capacity to cook 250 briskets at once! When I first started going there in 1969 one of the features I remember was sawdust on the floor. However the City of Austin, using their questionable wisdom, made them stop using it for "health code" reasons. Dale Baker Sr. died in 1970. A series of unfortunate events took place in the following years that eventually led to the family being swindled out of their birthright by an unscrupulous realtor. The restaurant closed it's doors on October 31, 1975.

Dale's youngest son, Billy Baker, has recently contacted me and announced that he will soon be selling BBQ in Comanche, Texas using 1970's prices (about $4.50 per pound) and serving that famous sauce. I will be heading that way, you may be assured!

Jerry Jacob's BBQ - Austin, Texas, 1400 Barton Springs Rd. Jerry and Robbie Jacobs operated the joint for about 35 years. I ate there many times in the 1970's for lunch. Tender brisket wrapped in white bread with a thin sauce served by jolly old Jerry himself. Somebody once robbed a bank in Austin and then stopped by Jerry's for some beef and sausage where he was apprehended while chowing down. Sometimes you just got to have some Q!

Shady Grove BBQ - Austin, Texas, 1624 Barton Springs Rd. It was sort of a creepy, dark place run by an elderly couple when I started going there in 1970. The thing I remember most about it was when they handed you the change they would not place it in your hand. They placed it on the counter and no matter how hard you would try to catch it they would maneuver it so it ended up on the counter and not in your palm. The brisket was pretty darn good though. It closed in 1982 after operating for 25 years.

The Pit #3 - Austin, Texas, 501 E. 5th St. I worked across the street from this place for two years and gained my taste for BBQ pork spare ribs as a result. I did not know it at the time but it turned out the smoking room behind the serving line was actually an old house that had been the residence of Susanna Dickinson, the Anglo mother who survived the battle of the Alamo . The restaurant had been built around the house at some point in it's history and when it was torn down in the late 1990's the history came out and the old house was saved and moved to be reconditioned at some time in the future.

Rosewood BBQ - Austin, Texas. Rosewood and E. 11th. I attended ACC East Campus in the mid 1970's and would stop in there for lunch. A very friendly older couple ran the place and served up some mighty fine brisket and pork ribs. It was my first experience with vinegar based sauce and I would probably appreciate it more now than I did then.

Cap'n Tom's North Carolina Style BBQ - Austin, Texas, 11800 North Lamar Rd. The pig was king in this very un-Texas BBQ joint. It was the only place in town that had "pulled pork". It was not there for long but I had a few very memorable meals in this restaurant that was decorated with every kind of pig memento you could think of. One of his specialties was fried corn on the cob and the walls were filled with pictures of his seafaring past.

Bragger's BBQ - Austin, Texas. W. Anderson Ln. by the RR tracks. It was one of my weekly lunch stops throughout the 1990's. A good consistent brisket plate with an adequate sauce and plain yet tasty pinto beans kept me happy for years. The nice lady who owned it sold it in 1999 and then died a week later. I sure do miss her and her good chow as the joint did not survive long after her passing.

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