Josh Ozersky announced the line-up for Meatopia Texas today at a press conference in San Antonio. That it was held at the Pearl Brewery made it no secret that the Granary, which is located at the Pearl, would be featured. Well, that and the fact that Ozersky has featured them in three articles in three different publications since April (here, here and here). Let’s just say he likes the Granary, and so does Texas Monthly. We think they’re one of the fifty best barbecue joints in the state. Ozersky says they’re the “future of barbecue.” If you’ve tasted their smoked butter spread onto beef tallow-fried bread, you might agree.
Ozersky has a well documented disenchantment towards traditional barbecue. Despite his apathy he invited Aaron Franklin to last year’s Meatopia held in New York (and again to Meatopia London which will be held in a few weeks), and it was Franklin’s simply smoked brisket that was named best in show. Franklin won’t be defending his smoky crown at Meatopia Texas this year because of a scheduling conflict. He’ll be in Austin with twenty-one other masters of traditional barbecue at the Texas Monthly Barbecue Festival, held the same weekend. As an avid eater, I’ll probably find a way to go to both.
Tickets for Meatopia Texas are available here. It will be held at the Pearl Brewery on November 2nd and 3rd. The schedule includes a Saturday evening Beefsteak where, from the website, “Tim Byers [sic] from Smoke in Dallas, The Granary’s Tim Rattray and Mike Toscano from Perla in New York City will collaborate to grill some of the rarest, most celebrated ultra-prime beef in the world…” On Sunday, Byres, Rattray and Toscano will be joined by 29 other chefs including Jason Dady, Paul Qui, Adam Perry Lang and John Tesar. Here’s the full line-up:
Jesse Perez – Arcade/San Antonio, TX
Paul Qui – Qui/Austin, TX
Adam Perry Lang – Daisy May’s /New York, NY
Andrew Weissman – Il Sogno Osteria & The Sandbar Fish House/San Antonio, TX
Tim Byres – Smoke/Dallas, TX
Chris Shepherd – Underbelly/Houston, TX
Ford Fry – No. 246 /Decatur, GA
Justin Smillie – Il Buco Alimentari/New York, NY
Johnny Hernandez – La Gloria/San Antonio, TX
Jason Dady – Jason Dady Restaurant Group/San Antonio, TX
Mike Toscano – Perla/New York, NY
Tim Rattray – The Granary/San Antonio, TX
John Tesar – Spoon/Dallas, TX
Rene Ortiz – Rene Ortiz/Austin, TX
Laura Sawicki – Laura Sawicki/Austin, TX
Ned Elliott – Foreign & Domestic/Austin, TX
Jesse Griffiths – Dai Due/Austin, TX
Geronimo Lopez – NAO/San Antonio, TX
Jeff White – Boiler House/San Antonio, TX
Steven McHugh – Cured/San Antonio, TX
John Fink – The Whole Beast/Oakland, CA
Anthony Goncalves – 42/White Plains, NY
Joey Campanaro – The Little Owl/New York, NY
Chad Carey – The Monterey/San Antonio, TX
Jeff Balfour – Citrus/San Antonio, TX
Jennifer Dobbertin – Hot Mess Food/San Antonio, TX
Nelson Millan – San Antonio Country Club/San Antonio, TX
Bruce Auden – Biga/San Antonio, TX
Josh Watkins – The Carillon/Austin, TX
Ben Runkle & Bryan Butler – Salt & Time/Austin, TX
Jordan Mackey – Las Ramblas/ San Antonio, TX
Jeff Foresman – Zocca / San Antonio, TX
The Beefsteak is a sure bet on Saturday, but we’ll be at the Texas Monthly Barbecue Festival on Sunday.
