Barbecue in Austin
73 places
Austin barbecue from the famous lines to the neighborhood pits and the Hill Country day trips. We note who sells out, who takes preorders and who is worth the drive to Lockhart or Taylor.
Franklin Barbecue
Line up before 9am with a lawn chair and a cooler of beer; by the time you reach the counter, the fatty brisket has earned its cult status.
la Barbecue
The Mueller family's East Cesar Chavez smokehouse earned a Michelin star for peppery brisket and beef ribs, served counter-style with free beer while you wait.
Terry Black's Barbecue
The Lockhart barbecue dynasty's Austin outpost slices brisket and giant beef ribs by the pound at a cafeteria line that moves fast even on weekends.
LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue
Evan LeRoy's trailer-turned-restaurant treats barbecue like a chef's kitchen, with beef cheeks, whole-hog and Kimchi-topped sides that earned a Michelin star.
Iron Works BBQ
Set in a historic ornamental ironworks beside the convention center, this family-run joint has been slicing beef ribs on the creek since 1978.
Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que
Pick your meat straight off the pit, Llano-style, then eat it on butcher paper at long tables just a block off Congress Avenue.
Black's Barbecue
The Lockhart original's campus-side outpost brings Texas's oldest family-run barbecue lineage to the Drag, with giant beef ribs and homemade sausage.
Stubb's Bar-B-Q
Barbecue and beer inside, a legendary outdoor amphitheater out back, and a Sunday gospel brunch that has been a Red River tradition for decades.
Rudy's Country Store & Bar-B-Q (Research Blvd)
Gas-station barbecue that outgrew the gas station: moist brisket sold by the half pound on butcher paper, creamed corn by the pint, and picnic tables under the awning.
Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew
Post oak brisket, beef ribs and jalapeño-cheddar sausage in the old Violet Crown shopping center where Dazed and Confused was filmed, with a proper craft beer list.
Interstellar BBQ
John Bates' strip-mall smokehouse holds a Michelin star two years running for peach tea-glazed pork belly, scalloped-potato brisket and a jalapeño popper sausage with a following.
County Line on the Lake
Big beef ribs, family-style platters and homemade bread on a deck over Bull Creek where turtles and ducks paddle up for scraps while you wait for a table.
Rudy's Country Store & Bar-B-Q (360)
The Westlake Rudy's sits on a Hill Country hillside off 360, with breakfast tacos at dawn, moist brisket by the pound and picnic tables that catch the evening breeze.
The Salt Lick BBQ
The open pit greets you at the door, the family-style platters are all-you-can-eat, and the BYOB cooler rule makes it the classic Hill Country pilgrimage since 1967.
Southside Market & Barbeque (Bastrop)
The Elgin sausage institution's Bastrop location smokes the same garlicky Original beef 'hot guts' it has made since 1882, plus brisket and mutton ribs for the traditionalists.
Kreuz Market
No sauce, no forks, and meat served on butcher paper straight from the brick pits: Kreuz has been doing it this way since 1900 in the Barbecue Capital of Texas.
Smitty's Market
You walk past open fires burning on the floor to reach the pit room in the original Kreuz building, where shoulder clod and sausage are sliced by the pound onto paper.
Chisholm Trail Bar-B-Q
The locals' Lockhart pick: cheaper than the big three, with a hot sides buffet, tender brisket and a cafeteria line where the mayor might be behind you.
Louie Mueller Barbecue
Smoke-blackened walls, a James Beard America's Classic award and peppery beef ribs the size of your forearm, in a Taylor grocery-turned-pit room run by the third generation.
Opie's Barbecue
You pick your meat straight out of the pit as you walk in, then load up on free butter beans and spicy corn; the sweet-and-spicy baby back ribs are the move.
Salt Lick BBQ (Round Rock)
Round Rock outpost of the famous Hill Country pit, serving family-style plates of open-pit brisket, ribs and sausage.
Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse
Historic sausage-making family's smokehouse in Elgin, the self-proclaimed Sausage Capital of Texas, smoking links and brisket since 1949.
Louie's Craft BBQ
A Buda barbecue joint slicing brisket and sausage on Main Street, a smaller scale alternative to the big name pits back in the city.
Shugabees BBQ
A no frills barbecue counter on FM 1626 in Buda, smoking brisket and ribs for a mostly takeout crowd heading further south.
Rollin' Smoke Bar-B-Que
Family-run barbecue trailer turned restaurant out toward Oak Hill, smoking brisket and sausage the old-fashioned way.
Rudy's Country Store & Bar-B-Q (RR 620)
Gas-station BBQ chain outpost near Four Points piling brisket, sausage, and creamed corn onto butcher paper by the pound.
Bill Miller Bar-B-Q
The San Antonio barbecue chain Austin families lean on for cheap family orders: a 10-piece fried chicken box under $25 and a taco box of a dozen for $24.
KG BBQ
A Manor Road smoke trailer turning out Egyptian-spiced brisket and sausage from pitmaster Kareem El-Ghayesh.
Space Kat BBQ
An East Austin smoke trailer turning out craft barbecue plates with a sci-fi-tinged name and a growing following.
Hank's
A Mueller neighborhood restaurant serving smoked meats and Southern comfort plates in a casual, family-friendly room.
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