Austin BBQ

Borepatch blegs for Austin BBQ recommendations.

Despite the fact that I grew up in CA, I claim to be an Austin native, having lived there for 6 years recently, and believing that it's the best culture of CA + the best culture from TX all in one town. Also, I'm a hardcore foodie. Further, it's an indisputable fact that the small towns around Austin have the best barbeque in the world.

Austin mainstay for BBQ: Rudy's, the chain. Baby Back ribs FTW, but you can't go wrong with most of what they have. I prefer stuff with sauce though like the chopped (brisket in sauce), as I find their sliced brisket only decent. Even better than the bbq here are the breakfast tacos.

Austin BBQ sauce: Smokey Mo's, north Austin (Cedar Park or Round Rock) has, IMO, the best BBQ sauce anywhere. Their ribs (baby back, natch) are good, but I order sausage and chopped and make my own sausage/chopped sandwiches.

I think that the two other famous spots in Austin: The Salt Lick, and The County Line are highly over rated.

Sausage: While Texas BBQ is known for brisket...It's worth a trip 20 minutes to the Southeast to hit Elgin's Southside Market for some of the best sausage you're ever going to have. Again...I eat my sausage with chopped, on a slice of bread.

Godly Brisket: If you are anywhere between Austin and San Antonio and you don't drive the 30 minutes to Lockhart for brisket, you commit a mortal sin against the culinary gods. And that's if you're a vegetarian. The best...and I mean best with no competitors...brisket I've ever eaten in my life is at Smitty's in Lockhart. The snobs are so convinced their Brisket is godly, they don't serve sauce. And they're right. Its just that good. Their sausage is as good as Elgin sausage as well. Alternatively, you might visit one of the other spots in Lockhart that are nearly as good, and all descended from one family's German BBQ 100 years ago. I think Kreuz gets good marks as well. Here's Tyler Cowen on Lockhart. I am a Smitty's devotee. Really, it's a sin not to go. It's that good.

You might also check out this Texas Monthly article (free reg required) on the top 50 BBQ in Texas...basically, it says: small towns near Austin are insanely good. Not just Lockhart, but Lexington, Luling, Taylor as well make up the top 5 locations. I haven't tested the others.

ALSO...if you're in Austin, you must eat Tex-Mex at least once. And there's only 1 place to do that: Chuy's. Ignore the other pretenders.