While this year has been devastating for restaurants, American barbecue remains as resilient and exciting as ever. We’re celebrating the people and places that are hanging on, spectacularly…
TEXAS
With every thing, place, and person you will ever fall in love with, there is the honeymoon phase, and then there is the aftermath, where things get real, and you learn, very quickly sometimes, whether or not this is a relationship built to last. I remember the time the smoke first cleared for me in Texas, I didn’t even blink. There I was, at one of the most celebrated addresses in the entire state, staring down a pound of brisket I could barely bring myself to touch. It was dry as a bone, and some of the least impressive I’d tried on a cross-country road trip. But that’s not nearly what I’ll remember most about that chilly morning, rising before dawn and driving for two hours out into the fog, lining up, waiting forever, watching one of the country’s most decorated pit geniuses at work, finally making it to the front of the line. So I ordered it all, and I do mean all, and most of it was very good. By the time I tried the brisket, I didn’t even mind. This was one of the best mornings of my life. I’d go back and do it all over again, any time. Next time, I’d just skip the brisket.
Perfection is an elusive thing anywhere, and even if it’s slightly less elusive here, what makes Texas truly special, nearly peerless, is the quality of the experiences that you will have, over and over and over again until you are spoiled rotten. Brisket has good days and it has bad days, even in Austin. But you’re here, you’re soaking it all in, and making memories that will last so much longer than you can imagine. Don’t be the sad sack who can’t see the forest for the trees—the forest is just that beautiful…
…Not to be overly romantic about old stuff. I’m still recovering from one of the best meals of late 2018, an entire Akaushi beef rib from the relatively new Cattleack BBQ in suburban Dallas. It was well marbled and well rendered as to resemble the texture of a custard. I ate this thing over a period of four days and mourned its passing once it was done.
