California

Sunny San Diego Proves to Be a Bright Spot for Barbecue

While there are a handful of great Texas-style joints in the area, it was the Sonoran style of Papalo that most wowed this barbecue editor.

Texas-Style Brisket Continues Its Worldwide Domination With the Bay Area

Two California joints—Horn Barbecue and Breakwater Barbecue—have been racking up prestigious accolades and welcoming a slew of barbecue tourists.

Wacowabunga! Why California Surfers Are Descending on Central Texas

Some of the best waves in the world are found at the Waco Surf water park, far away from any ocean.

The Bad Boy Tattoo Guru of Wimberley

Inspired by Taylor Sheridan, celebrity tattoo artist Dillon Forte has brought his penchant for sacred geometry and all-black aesthetics to his exclusive ranch in the Hill Country.

Texas-ing Their California: L.A. Gets an Influx of Stellar Barbecue

From the underground to the top of best-of lists, these Los Angeles–area joints have endured a barrage of red tape to serve excellent Texas-style ’cue.

After Tragedy, Two Sons Keep Their Father’s Barbecue Flame Burning

Though navigating overwhelming grief, the Ramirez family of California learned to smoke meat and continue to run Ray’s Texas BBQ.

California Has a Feral Hog Problem. We Have Some Suggestions.

You need a (Sid Miller–type) hero.

The Case for More Californians

They’re self-obsessed and believe themselves exceptional. In other words, they fit right in. Plus, Texas needs ’em.

From California Artists, a Stinging Critique of Texas’s Relationship to Its Land

An ambitious traveling exhibition asks how we became a state of endless fences, dams, and gas flares.

A Wine-Obsessed Austinite Wins the Viral Vineyard Job of a Lifetime

With an Elle Woods–inspired application video, Lindsay Perry bested the competition for a paid position living, learning, and drinking on a California winery.

Homesick Californians, Rejoice: This North Texas Taqueria Has Stellar Cal-Mex

The next time you hear a California transplant claim that there’s no good Mexican food in Texas, send them to Valerie’s Taco Stand.

Californians Could Ruin Texas—But Not the Way You Might Think

Lone Star State leaders have worried about transplants importing West Coast values and politics here. But they’ve largely ignored the more pressing challenges newcomers are bringing with them.

A Few Other Ways Laredo Is Better Than Los Angeles

The Port of Laredo overtook the Port of Los Angeles as the nation’s busiest for trade in March. How else do the second and 80th-largest cities in the U.S. stack up?

The Texanist: Can My California-Born Wife Call Herself a Native Texan?

An Austin man argues that his spouse’s impressive Texas ancestry should count for something.

Texas-Style Brisket and Otherworldly Pulled Pork in … Huntington Park, California

Ray Ramirez fell in love with Texas BBQ and started an underground L.A. barbecue joint before they were cool.

Tri Tip Grill

At the Dallas Cowboys’ Star complex, the barbecue comes from California.

Maple Block Meat Co.

It’s my job to travel this great country—and parts outside Texas—looking for notable barbecue joints. But searching for good brisket in California can feel like waiting for a cool September day in Texas: both exist, but mainly in theory. After making my way through a solid Southern California itinerary

Interview: Lolis Elie

Author: Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue CountryAge: 52In the mid-nineties, Lolis Elie and photographer Frank Stewart travelled around the country eating barbecue for the book Smokestack Lightning. There aren’t many books as influential to my writing about barbecue than

Interview: Kevin Bludso of Bludso’s BBQ

Owner/Pitmaster: Bludso’s BBQ; Opened 2008Age: 50Smoker: Steel offset smoker and gas-fired rotisserie smokerWood: Red oak, pecan, apple, and mesquite charcoalKevin Bludso’s roots are in Compton, but he earned his barbecue chops in Corsicana, Texas. His great aunt, Willie Mae Fields, ran a semi-legal barbecue business at a local gas

Santa Maria BBQ Restaurants

Santa Maria style barbecue is probably the least familiar of any barbecue style in the country, especially for those outside California. That’s likely due to how hyper-regional the menu and the fuel are, but also how limited its representation is outside the Santa Maria area. Even three hours in either direction,

California’s Native Barbecue

California is known for a lot of things—sunshine, wine, earthquakes—but its barbecue scene isn’t one of them. Which isn’t to say they don’t have it at all. There are, of course, the smattering of “Texas-style” and “Louisville-style” and all the other ex-patriate homages to various barbecue iterations. But California has

Totally Smoked in the Golden State

Texas seems to export our barbecue styles as far and wide as our natural gas. Earlier this year I noted how often the aesthetic of meat on butcher paper, a decidedly Texas design is imitated on both coasts (and a few places in between). But as anyone who has

Rick Perry Apparently Wants to Retire in California

Oops?

So Governor Brown Called Governor Perry’s Pitch to Californian Businesses “Barely A Fart”

How likely are Californian businesses to move to Texas?

Watch an Incredible Time-Lapse Video of the Space Shuttle Endeavour

Watch a stunning time-lapse video of the Space Shuttle Endeavour's final voyage through the streets of Los Angeles.

More Jobs Created in California Than Texas

New numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that California added some 142,000 more jobs than Texas in the last twelve months.

Another Earth? Scientists Discover a Habitable Planet

Kepler-22b is situated in the “Goldilocks” zone, which could make it just right for maintaining life. 

Should Texas adopt Proposition 14?

Proposition 14, adopted by California voters on Tuesday of this week, calls for open primaries, similar to a process that was used in Louisiana from 1975 until 2008. In an open primary, all candidates for an office are listed on the ballot, and the top two vote-getters go into a

Where I’m Home

This is our second “Where I’m From” special issue, in which the entire magazine, front to back, is given over to stories about growing up in Texas. Last time, most of the essays were by staff writers. This time we turned to some of our favorite authors, folks like

Bear Market

The historic showdown between Texas and California has been a cold war, a simmering ideological feud between two great powers. And the winner (for now) is . . .

Negative Energy

Famous Fixers

They have done it all: saved New York City and Massachusetts, written economic classics, created new companies, and turned old ones around. Now, at our request, they’re fixing Texas.