The Pit Parade
The fifty best barbecue joints in Texas.
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LUBBOCK Tom and Bingo’s Hickory Pit Barbeque A paragon of consistency and simplicity, this luncheonette-cum-hickory pit has featured the same menu of sliced (or chopped) beef and sliced-ham sandwiches (regular and extra-extra lean) in the same location since 1952. Second-generation pitmaster Dwayne Clanton (son of Tom) has run the place for the past 24 years, the last 9 with the help of his wife, Liz, a former Miss Lubbock. Their experience and teamwork show in the snappy service, in the perfection of grilled buns with a slight patina of grease on top, and most of all, in Dwayne’s lean and juicy, crispy-edged brisket, slow-cooked and smoked for eighteen to twenty hours. The rich homemade sauce is smoky-sweet but with a punch. Regular sandwiches $2.55, extra lean $3.15. Rating: 4. 3006 Thirty-fourth, 806-799-1514. Checks accepted, no credit cards. Closed Sundays. JNP
LULING City Market Shiny knotty-pine walls, clean-as-a-whistle tile floors, Formica-topped tables. Not to worry, the post-oak-smoked food has character: pork ribs so deep in flavor they’re practically philosophical, addictive all-beef sausage. Alas, the brisket’s a little leathery. Orange mustard-based sauce is odd but engaging. Good homemade beans. Brisket plate about $3.45. Beer. Rating: 5. 633 E. Davis, 210-875-9019. Checks accepted, no credit cards. Closed Sundays. JS
NAVASOTA Ruthie’s Pit Bar-B-Q Piles of superannuated magazines (including well-thumbed Victoria’s Secret catalogs) entertain visitors who stop by Ruthie’s small, quintessentially ramshackle roadhouse to inhale billows of oak, pecan, and mesquite smoke and some pretty good barbecue to boot. Your affable pitmaster is Louis Charles Henley (son of founders James and Ruthie), who provides brisket, fatty but flavorful ribs, Elgin beef sausage, and the usual sides. Definitely on the short list for Most Soul in Texas. Brisket plate $4.20. BYOB. Rating: 4. 903 W. Washington (Texas Highway 105), 409-825-2700. Checks accepted, no credit cards. Closed Sunday through Tuesday. PS
ROBSTOWN Joe Cotten’s Barbecue Tex-Mex influence is apparent in the green olives atop the potato salad and in the mild, salsalike sauce (made with fresh ground tomatoes and laced with meat drippings and strips of tomato and onion). Meats are state-of-the-art mesquite-smoked brisket, sliced pork, pork ribs, and pork sausage (no preservatives), served on butcher paper. Fifty years old this year, the sprawling roadhouse seats 365. Brisket plate $7 at lunch, $8.05 at dinner. Beer. Rating: 5. Texas Highway 77 South, 512-767-9973. Cash only. Closed Sundays. JM
SAN ANGELO Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que From the outside, this cedar-sided building squeezed between a KFC and a burger stand on a busy commercial strip is easily mistaken for a fast-food franchise. Walk inside, though, and it’s everything a barbecue restaurant should be, a spin-off of the legendary Cooper’s in Llano. Five steps past the entrance is the pit, a fragrant furnace where the cook waits for diners to choose among mesquite-smoked brisket (cut and served as a chunk), beef ribs, pork ribs, turkey, chicken, and the house specialty, pork chops, which typically run out before noon, all cooked Llano-style, over direct heat. A crisp and crunchy slaw, corn on the cob, average beans, acceptable potato salad, and warm peach cobbler are spooned out in a cafeteria line, and long communal picnic tables are stocked with rolls of paper towels, loaves of white bread, squirt bottles of a tangy, almost addictive sauce, and giant jars of pickled jalapeños. Rolls of foil are conveniently placed at the door for taking home leftovers. Brisket plate $4.99. Beer. Rating: 5. 1805 S. Bryant, 915-655-2771. DS, MC, V, checks accepted. Open daily. JNP
SAN ANTONIO Bob’s Smokehouse The original of a three-outlet local chain, Bob’s mesquite-smokes a little of everything (including lamb ribs), but specializes in hulking beef ribs and beef sausage so well cooked that it crumbles out of its casing. The thickish sauce has a slight afterburn. Utilitarian, no decor. Brisket plate about $4. BYOB. Rating: 4. 3306 Roland, 210-333-9338. Cash only. Open daily. JM
SMITHVILLE Charles’ Bar-B-Que Everything about “Charlie’s” is weird, from the Dr. Seussian red-with-yellow-trim exterior to the tilted, dime-store art, concrete floors, and American flag sagging in the corner inside. Sometimes, though, weird is great. Such is the case with the odd homemade garlic-sage beef-and-pork sausage and the wonderful, tug-at-the-teeth post-oak-smoked pork ribs. Good pork butt, mutton, ham, chicken, and homemade beef “hot guts” sausage; so-so brisket. Standard sides, homemade but unexceptional. The thick, red sweet sauce with onion isn’t weird, but it isn’t great either. Brisket plate $4. BYOB. Rating: 4. 110 Main, 512-237-3317. Checks accepted, no credit cards. Closed Sundays. JS
SWINNEY SWITCH Brown’s Country Store Robert Brown does only one thing—beef sandwiches, chopped ($2) or sliced ($2.25)—but he does it perfectly, his judiciously mesquite-smoked brisket merging smoothly with his sweet, mild sauce. Mostly takeout (though the store has one table), served during lunch hours only. Brisket also sold by the pound ($5); drinks (including beer), chips, and such from store. Rating: 5. Take Exit 47 off I-37 to intersection of FM 534 and FM 3024, 512-547-3481. Cash only. Open daily. JM
TAYLOR Louie Mueller’s Barbeque (see "Where There’s Smoke").
THRALL Jackson’s Bar-B-Q Three’s a crowd in this tiny semi-dilapidated place on the highway where the Jackson family (including current owner Betty) has been selling grand oak-smoked beef (flavorful if a little dry); big, meaty, salty ribs; and fine bacony-tasting beef sausage for more than two decades. The potato salad is the classic mashed, puckery variety that’s native to Central Texas. Come on Saturday for chicken. Brisket plate $4.50. BYOB. Rating: 3.5. Texas Highway 79, 512-898-2210. Checks accepted, no credit cards. Closed Sundays and Mondays. PS
UVALDE Haby’s Bar-B-Que Its motto is “Best of the West,” and it’s no idle boast: fourteen-hour mesquite-smoked fall-apart brisket, pork ribs slightly crisp on the outside and limp on the inside, delicious chicken. The pork-and-beef sausage tastes commercial, but that’s forgivable, given the quality of the other meats. Thinnish, tangy sauce is an old family secret. Standard sides, all homemade. Brisket plate $5.25. BYOB. Rating: 5. 529 E. Main, 210-278-5746. MC, V. Closed Sundays. JS
VICTORIA Brother’s Bar-B-Que Greg Garza, who opened this east-side joint last December after his porta-pit was closed for lack of refrigeration, credits “divine guidance from above” for his cooked-to-the-max mesquite-and-oak-smoked brisket (soft as butter), pork ribs (falling off the bone), and pork-and-beef sausage (extra-succulent). The beans are delicate, the potato salad is virtually mashed. Brisket plate $5. Rating: 4. 2106 Port Lavaca Drive, 512-575-9091. Cash only. Closed Sundays. JM
WACO The Hickory Stick Our meat was pulled from the pit, not off the kitchen line, at this spotless steak and ’cue restaurant where the decor is fifties Western, complete with stuffed Texas critters. Heavily pepper-rubbed, hickory-and-pecan-smoked Certified Angus beef ribs were tip-top; turkey breast, pork ribs, and pork tenderloin above average. Serviceable pork-and-beef sausage, potato salad, slaw, and pintos. The scratch sauce is thick, sweet, and hot, and desserts include a proper buttermilk pie. Brisket plate $5.95. Beer. Rating: 4.5. 2300 N. Eighteenth, 817-754-5270. AE, DS, MC, V. Open daily. RZ
WHARTON Hinze’s Bar-B-Que A barnlike building that has expanded to surround two huge pecan trees dishes out some of the best pecan-smoked barbecue in the region: fabulous brisket (thick cut, firm yet tender); fatty, moist pork butt; big-boned, slightly dryish pork ribs. The meat’s so good it doesn’t matter that the carrot-and-raisin salad has (gag) pineapple or that the dirty rice tastes packaged. Sauce ketchupy, mild, very sweet. Brisket plate $6.25. Beer. Rating: 4. 3940 U.S. 59 Loop, 409-532-2710 (also in Sealy at 2101 Texas Highway 36 South at I-10, 409-885-7808). AE, MC, V, checks accepted. Open daily. PS
Wichita Falls Bar-L Drive Inn Timing is everything at the Bar-L. Order too early (we arrived at eleven), and you get yesterday’s brisket (mediocre to start with) and warmed-over pork ribs. An hour later, we gnawed at big, meaty ribs fresh from the pit, bursting with natural juices and a slightly sweet, oak-smoked flavor. There was no fresh brisket, but the peppery “Polish” pork sausage was an acceptable substitute. Eschew humdrum slaw, potato salad, and beans in favor of fresh-cut fries. Scratch sauce is orange, thick, vinegary, spicy. Dark, fifties beer-bar ambience; booths have CD jukeboxes. Curb service. Brisket plate $7.35. Beer. Rating: 3.5 (fresh ribs are a 5). 908 Thirteenth, 817-766-0003. Cash only. Open daily. RZ
WILLOW CITY Harry’s on the Loop Old house nestled among folds of the Hill Country. Folks play dominoes under a lethargic ceiling fan. In a side room, a stand-up piano. Walls thick with signatures, including Eric Clapton’s. Picnic tables out back. Mesquite-smoked brisket: sensational. Pork ribs: meaty and delicious. Custom-made finely ground pork-and-beef sausage: spicy and good. Sharp red sauce. Homemade sides: beans with sausage, beans with brisket bits. Brisket plate $5.20. Beer. Rating: 4.5. From Fredericksburg, take Texas Highway 16 north for thirteen miles, then FM 1323 east for three miles, 210-685-3553. Checks accepted, no credit cards. Closed Tuesdays. JS
WINGATE The Shed Situated in the middle of nowhere, 37 miles southwest of Abilene and 60 miles northwest of San Angelo to be exact, the Shed is barbecue with a sense of place. Half the fun is making the drive through what’s known as the Big Country, a mythic expanse of sky and vistas that go on forever. The reward at the end of the road is sublime mesquite-smoked brisket so tender it could be cut with a fork, with a crust of smoked seasoning that is ideal. (Ask to have the fat trimmed in the serving line; owner Hollis Dean is reluctant to cut away too much before cooking, given how it flavors the meat.) The peppery pork ribs are superior as well, accompanied by an original sauce that bites back. Dean’s wife, Betty, is responsible for the homemade sides of pickle-tinged potato salad (in creamy and chunky versions) and sweet, tangy coleslaw, mini-loaves of sourdough bread, and crunchy apple crisp. Grilled chicken, smoked ribeye steaks, and Hillshire Farms pork-and-beef sausage, and Texas toothpicks (strips of onion and jalapeño, breaded and fried) too. Paper towel racks on the wall. Brisket plate $5.75. BYOB. Rating: 5. 2.5 miles northwest of town on County Road 226, 915-743-2175. AE, DS, MC, V, checks accepted. Closed Monday through Wednesday. JNP
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