Austin area BBQ

We did Terry Blacks in Austin ... then Blacks and Kreuz in Lockhart on a little road trip to San Antonio.  Terry Blacks was the unanimous favorite in all categories across 5 guys.

thanks for posting that link @Eggpharmer I hadn't seen that site before.  this comment on Franklins made me LOL, just about blew tea out of my nose

Intangibles: We share 96 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees. You can have 96 percent of the Franklin experience at any of the places on this list. Is the extra 4 percent worth five hours in line? Your call, monkey man. Evolution might be faster.

YYZegger said:

I am not from Texas, but have been to Austin quite a few times for work, I love the sausages from Iron Works BBQ, right downtown easy to find.  The rest of their bbq is good, but their sausages are outstanding in my opinion.

No one ever mentions Iron Works, but I freaking love them. There beef ribs are by far the best I've ever had.

Wait until the McRib comes out, then hit Mickey D's

Franklins- don't think about it just do it

jimithing said:

Aside from Franklin I'd say John Mueller's first and the La Barbeque.  I think the pitmaster at La Barbeque is going to moving to the East coast soon to start his own place.  Might check that out and see if it's already happened or not.  They say they've got an apprentice ready to take over but who knows.

See some people mentioned Iron Works - that place has been around forever and does good work.  If you're looking for a nice casual place that won't be overly crowded definitely hit them up. 

If you're willing to drive you have to consider the 4 places in Lockhart but also consider Snow's in Lexington.  I really want to go there and see Tootsie in action before she retires or something.

Saltlick is kinda meh IMO.  I understand that they actually cook their meats in a gas smoker in the back and then just finish them on the open pit for show.  It's a cool place to go hang out and shoot the sh!t on their patio but don't expect BBQ heaven.

Esaul has been the head pitmaster at La Barbecue for a few months and the quality has yet to fall off.  It still blows John Mueller away.  

John Lewis flies back and forth and checks the quality and what not, but his new venture (Lewis Barbecue) drops this October/November in Charleston, South Carolina. After that happens, then we will see if the quality drops as he will pretty much live in the restaurant.  He was hoping for a sooner, but he said permits are taking forever. 

One last place I really enjoyed in Austin was Stiles Switch, it was a little bit out of town, not much, but definitely worth the drive I thought.

Don't forget there's a ton of nightlife downtown. If you're into that. Should be off the charts this being the first dry weekend in quite some time.

I was in Austin about a month ago for a convention and got dragged to Iron Works. Wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. Not the best BBQ in the world, but tasty and the brisket was better than I thought it would be. Would I go back? If I was at the convention center and my work was paying for it? Hell yeah. Althought that fried chicken place around the other corner was damn good, too.

agree with all but I will say the original Salt Lick in driftwood is a really cool place. Not the best Q but the best place to hang out and have fun by far. BYOB, 2000 of your closest friends under the live oaks listening to live music out in the hill country. It's a very cool TX experience and if your expectations are right, the food is pretty good most of the time. I always take people from out of town to Salt Lick first. They don't know any better about the Q and the experience can't be beat. I've never had anyone from out of town that didn't rave about it. I kind of snicker because I know it's not the best but it's such a cool place people just love it. I took Henapple to the Round Rock location and it sucked but I've been to driftwood twice since and was pleasantly surprised both times.

If you want great Q, for me it starts and ends at Franklin. LABBQ is good too but I think you can get that other places when they are not at their best. When they are, they are tough to beat. it's been 50/50 for me. Think I'll head down there tomorrow and hope they are on the money....been a while. I'll see if I can dig Cazzy's nose of of their asses while I'm there  

@mickey, did the Vespa ride mess your hair up?

Franklin #1, john mueller #2. salt lick is way overrated except for the experience. still yet to try micklethwait, freedmen's, or la barbeque

Another place with Q available at night is Stiles Switch Cue & Brew.  The Pitmaster has ties to Louie Mueller Barbecue as Lance Kirkpatrick worked under Bobby Mueller.  After John left to Austin, he stepped in and worked under Bobby up until he passed away.

@FlyingTivo Nice Bike!  Glad you liked Iron Works Sausages, I really like them myself!  The rest is good also, but I never tried Franklins yet, always a huge lineup....