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More photos from the Return to Austin BBQ Tour

Tending the late-night pits at Freedmen's Bar, Austin. (Photo ©Tom Fox) One of the great rewards after a Texas BBQ tour is looking back on our trip through the eyes of Posse member Tom Fox. We've written about Tom's amazing work before, he's a staff photographer at The Dallas Morning News and a 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for his work on the Morning News photo team coverage of Hurricane Katrina. We consider Tom to be one of the top visual storytellers documenting the Texas BBQ trail. Along with our friend Wyatt McSpadden, the godfather of Texas BBQ photography, Tom brings the unique beauty…

Joints - 02/02/2016

On an eating pilgrimage to Austin, a Californian meets Aaron Franklin and the Posse, and tastes 'the love' of Texas BBQ

Steven Hecht visits with La Barbecue pitmaster Dylan Taylor, 21, who was trained by the legendary John Lewis. (Photo ©Tom Fox) Posse Note: During our barbecue tour of Central Texas last weekend, we met Steven Hecht, born in Texas who now lives in California. He said that he's a regular reader of this blog and he used it to plan his Texas BBQ tour. Of course, after learning that, we asked him to write about his experience. Here is his story: I just returned from my first BBQ Pilgrimage to Austin, Texas and it was a life-changing experience. My name…

People - 01/30/2016

An authentic BBQ experience at Billy's Oak Acres in Fort Worth

Lunch is served at Biily's Oak Acres BBQ: Sausage, bologna, brisket, pulled pork, hot links and pork ribs. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobis.com) On an almost perfect autumn Saturday, there were so many possibilities for fun in North Texas. -The State Fair. -Big-time college football with UT at TCU and Baylor against Texas Tech in Arlington. -The Rangers' pursuit of the American League West title. -Smoked Dallas, the barbecue and live music event. The Posse, of course, chose barbecue. But not the Dallas affair, which offered VIP tickets for $90 apiece. For us, the terms "VIP" and "BBQ" just don't go together.…

Joints - 10/05/2015

Check out the map of the Texas BBQ Posse's favorite joints

Since 2009, the Texas BBQ Posse has logged over 7,000 miles visiting joints around the state. In early 2010, group member Gary Barber set up an interactive Google map to chart our favorite BBQ joints around the state. Dozens of BBQ tours have followed since then. This map shows the places we'd visit again, an unofficial Texas BBQ Posse "stamp of approval." You can click here to access our Google map of Texas BBQ Posse stops. Enjoy the blue highways of Texas BBQ and follow the smoke!

Joints - 08/24/2015

How to plan the perfect Texas BBQ tour

Pecan Lodge in Dallas is a don't miss stop on any DFW BBQ tour. The Posse is approaching its eighth anniversary of driving the cities, towns and backroads of Texas in search of great barbecue. Inspired by Texas Monthly magazine's 2008 list of the Best BBQ joints in Texas, our original group of six hit the road in early November 2009. Seven-plus years later, we've made dozens of trips around the state, sharing our stories on this blog and in The Dallas Morning News. Here are a few things we've learned along the way. 1. Do your research: There's no substitute…

Roadtrips - 06/20/2015

Cattleack Barbecue's Todd David reveals his secrets for great pastrami -- some of his secrets anyway

Cattleack BBQ pitmaster/owner Todd David works the cutting board. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) After eating at Cattleack Barbecue last Saturday, the Posse declared the Dallas joint the equal of any in town. We especially loved the pastrami. Salty with a hint of sweet, the taste pleasantly lingered long after swallowing. During an email exchange this week, I asked pit master Todd David for more details about how he prepared his pastrami. Here, in edited form, are his comments: "I have made pastrami a few times in the past in all my experimenting but never for the public. While my…

Cooking - 06/19/2015

'Nobody better' in Dallas than Cattleack Barbecue

Lunch sampling of brisket, pulled pork, beer bacon beef sausage & brisket pastrami at CattleAck BBQ. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) There may be some prophets of smoked meat, but too bad there aren't more poets. The Posse could have used one last Saturday because the smoked pastrami that Todd David served at CattleAck Barbecue deserved an ode, if not a sonnet. "That's the barbecue gauntlet right there," Posse member Bryan Gooding said of the pastrami. "Everybody else is going to have to figure out how to do it." Sliced from the lean end, the meat glistened on the tray.…

Joints - 06/15/2015

A very tasty Texas BBQ day: Breakfast at Snow's, lunch at Louie Mueller and dinner at Miller's Smokehouse

Legendary Snow's BBQ pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com) The Posse took it's long overdue 5th anniversary barbecue tour Saturday. Dubbed the Central Texas Legends Tour by Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins, it came 5 years and 5 months after our very first trip in November 2009. It was a one-day roundtrip dash from Dallas, covering 390 miles in about 13 hours. We ate at 3 joints and stopped at a fourth to pay homage to one of the state's cooking legends. A lot has changed since the Posse first started touring. And some things haven't. One of those is the…

Joints - 04/15/2015

The Posse tells you how Texas barbecue is different from the rest

A father & son wait on their order at Gonzales Food Market. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) (Note: This item was written as a guest post for the blog at FoodyDirect, a Posse advertiser, and is being republished here.) As the popularity of Texas-style smoked meat spreads across the country, one of the great philosophical questions of our time is emerging. What makes Texas barbecue different from other barbecue? The answers are many and can lead to intense debates: Beef vs. pork. Dry rubs vs. sauce. Wood vs. charcoal. Indirect heat vs. direct. Austin vs. Memphis or Kansas City or…

Cooking - 02/11/2015

In a Hyden brothers barbecue showdown, Kirby wins with his brisket

Randy Hyden (top) of Hyden Family Barbeque in Teague and brother Kirby Hyden of Kirby's Barbeque in Mexia.(Photos ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) You could call them The BBQ Brothers. In fact, we will. Kirby and Randy Hyden, once business partners with a long family tradition of barbecue, now operate separate joints about 15 miles apart. Kirby runs Kirby's Barbeque in Mexia and Randy has Hyden Family Barbeque in Teague. The Posse first ate at Kirby's in the summer of 2013 during a tour of Central Texas places that didn't include Randy's. Ever since, we've wanted to return and rectify that…

Joints - 02/09/2015

More evidence that Lockhart has lost its barbecue magic

Smitty's Market oak wood pile & the Caldwell County courthouse. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) On our way back to Dallas from our recent Houston-area barbecue tour, all 6 Posse members on the trip listed their top 5 joints in the state, in no particular order. Specific criteria probably varied from person to person, but these would be places we'd drive across the state to eat at or recommend to good friends that they do the same. Since then, we've been asked to run each person's top 5. Those lists are below. Three joints mentioned by each of us: Killen's…

Joints - 02/01/2015

Greater Houston, we have barbecue redemption

The four meat plate with a link of boudin brought a smile to Posse faces at Ray's Real Pit BBQ Shack in Houston. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) In a previous post, careful readers might wonder about the heading over the itinerary of our weekend trip: "Houston Redemption BBQ Tour" What's that all about? Flash back to the Posse's first Gulf Coast tour two years ago. It was disappointing. The only good barbecue we found was in Galveston, 50 miles away. "Houston, we have a barbecue problem" was the headline on that chapter of our BBQ Chronicles. Some of our…

Joints - 09/29/2014

Behold the Fried Rib from Pecan Lodge -- You need to try one

The fried rib from Pecan Lodge in Dallas. (Photo by Jim Rossman/Texas BBQ Posse) It’s not often that I’m surprised by the menu at a BBQ joint. I’ve been to more than a few dozen places and didn’t think there was much else you could do to a pork rib, but I was wrong. One day last month I was eating at Pecan Lodge in Dallas when I spied a new entry on their menu board. It was a fried pork rib and I had to have one. The rib was a very large and meaty. It was lightly battered…

Joints - 09/18/2014

Smoked meatloaf is a hit at Texas Smoke BBQ Co. in Sanger

The Posse samples various smoked meats at Texas Smoke BBQ Co. in Sanger. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) In the 5 years the Posse has been on the hunt for the best smoked meats in Texas, we've met lots of people chasing their barbecue restaurant dreams, including a preacher, a city councilman, and former corporate consultants. Jay Coin, the owner and pit master at Texas Smoke BBQ Co. in Sanger, is our first former undertaker. Texas Smoke was the second stop of our recent Denton County tour. We traveled 120 miles in 6 hours and ate at 4 places. Coin's place,…

Joints - 09/10/2014

Barbecue photography the old-fashioned way

Posse member Bruce Tomaso lends a hand with a reflector as photojournalist Guy Reynolds focuses in on Big Daddy's Ribs & BBQ owner Blake Merrell in Little Elm. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) If you follow this blog, you know it regularly features great barbecue photography. Several Posse members are photographers and they bring their equipment -- all kinds of equipment -- when we go on tours. Our recent Denton County tour, though, saw the most unusual piece of equipment yet. Guy Reynolds used a tripod mounted Graflex to shoot portraits of some of the pitmasters we visited. On other tours,…

People - 09/03/2014

Bet the House BBQ in Denton gets high marks from the Posse and football guru Rick Gosselin

The Posse digs into a platter of smoked meats at Bet the House BBQ in Denton. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) Rick Gosselin is one of the foremost football experts in the country. When he says the Dallas Cowboys offense is not yet ready for the regular season, as he did this past weekend, fans -- and the Cowboys -- should take serious notice. The Dallas Morning News columnist also knows barbecue. A couple weeks ago, he emailed us about a new place in Denton, Bet The House BBQ, where he had just eaten. "Brisket was awesome," he wrote, encouraging…

Joints - 08/24/2014

Smoked cheese a highlight at Big Daddy's Ribs & BBQ in Little Elm

A waitress delivers our first course, a four-meat platter at Big Daddy's Ribs & BBQ. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) We called it our Denton County BBQ Tour, but it could have just as easily been named the Lake Country Tour. As we traveled 120 miles in 6 hours to eat at 4 joints on a recent Saturday, we crossed 3 different bridges over Lake Lewisville and drove atop the Ray Roberts Lake Dam. Seeing the water, the boats, the parks, and the nice shoreside homes was a pleasant respite from the heat, which approached 100 degrees. And then we…

Joints - 08/23/2014

Ten 50 BBQ in Richardson shows promise in first week, but Franklin, it's not...

Large pallets of wood wait their turn in the smoker (Photos by Jim Rossman) After an extensive remodel of a K&G Men's Wear on north Central Expressway in Richardson, Ten 50 BBQ, owned by Chili's founder Larry Lavine, finally opened this week to long lines and daily sellouts around 2:30p.m. each day. I watched a few accounts of Monday's opening day, including a good writeup by Kellie Reynolds in the Dallas Observer. It was a quote in her story that caught my attention. "Franklin's in Austin is the gold standard and we think we've matched that," Levine told Reynolds. "We've…

Joints - 08/21/2014

Strong reviews for CorkScrew BBQ in Spring...but

Brisket, ribs & sausage at CorkScrew BBQ in Sprint. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) The food is excellent at CorkScrew BBQ, a trailer joint located behind a shopping center in Spring: "This could be a Top 10 joint," said friend of the Posse Bryan Norton, who joined us on this stop in our 35-hour, 610-mile barbecue tour of the Houston area. "I can't stop eating," said Posse member Phil Lamb as he picked from a selection of fatty brisket, pork ribs, turkey, sausage, pulled pork and chopped brisket. Later he said he would have liked more smoke flavor on the brisket and…

Joints - 07/21/2014

The Complete Idiot's Guide To Wine Tasting

Brisket and wine were on the menu for the Posse at Pecan Lodge. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com) By Bruce Tomaso/Texas BBQ Posse On Tuesday, the BBQ Posse was invited to join the Dallas Morning News Wine Panel for a tasting at Pecan Lodge. The mission: Find the red wines that pair best with Texas barbecue. (Look for the story in the July 30 Arts & Life section of The News.) Diane and Justin Fourton served up platters of Justin’s other-worldly smoked brisket. Cathy Barber, the paper’s food editor, and Tina Danze, a Dallas freelance writer, served up 26 bottles of wine.…

Cooking - 07/17/2014

High on smoke and creamed corn, BBQ eureka at Killen's BBQ

Pork ribs, brisket, potato salad & creamed corn at Killen's BBQ in Pearland. (Photo by Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com) Just a week after the Posse's barbecue tour of Houston-area joints, Posse member Daniel Goncalves and his wife, Magda, made a return visit, including a trip to Killen's Barbecue in Pearland, which might just be the best barbecue joint in the state. Daniel says he had a couple of new barbecue revelations while high on smoke and creamed corn. Here is his report: My wife and I decided at the last minute to spend the 4th of July weekend in Houston. The previous…

Joints - 07/14/2014

Robust flavors make Brooks' Place in Cypress a BBQ winner

Our meal of Brisket, deer sausage & pork ribs at Brook's Place in Cypress. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) In the Spring of 2013, Trent Brooks said, he was struggling to sell 3 or 4 briskets a day from his barbecue trailer located in an Ace Hardware parking lot in Cypress, outside Houston. "Then one Wednesday," he recalled, "I opened and all of a sudden my Twitter account exploded. In an hour, I was done." Sold out. The next day, he said, there were about 50 people in line when he opened. What happened? Brooks' Place made Texas Monthly's list…

Joints - 07/10/2014

From the NFL to Ray's BBQ Shack in Houston, meet Herb Taylor, pit master in training

Herb Taylor, co-owner of Ray's Real BBQ Shack in Houston. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com) At TCU in Fort Worth, offensive tackle Herb Taylor started every game during his four-year college football career. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2007 and spent time with four other NFL teams over six years. Herb Taylor as a Kansas City Chief. Now out of football, Taylor is a co-owner and self described "pit master in training" at Ray's Real Pit BBQ Shack in Houston. The other co-owners are Ray Busch and Maxine Davis, Taylor's mother, who were't there when we stopped. Taylor…

Joints - 07/07/2014

Take a number -- A different approach to BBQ lines

Posse members Jim Rossman & Gary Jacobson head up the line at Killen's BBQ. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/fotobia.com) In our recent travels to Houston, part of the scheduling involved knowing that two joints – Killen’s and CorkScrew – were places that would require a wait in a pretty lengthy line. We hit CorkScrew BBQ in Friday for lunch and did the same Saturday at Killen’s. Each place opens at 11am. I volunteered to be the line sitter each morning, arriving at 8:30 a.m. each day to secure the first spot in line. Note to our fellow line-waiters – I was alone…

Joints - 07/01/2014

Killen's in Pearland might just be the best BBQ joint in Texas

Customers wait for the 11am opening of Killen's BBQ in Pearland on Saturday morning. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) Even before we had finished eating at Killen's Barbecue in Pearland on Saturday, the great debate began. "When you factor everything in, this is the best barbecue place in Texas," declared Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins. We ate brisket, pork ribs, pork belly, beef ribs, turkey and sausage. Everything was excellent -- moist, flavorful and nicely cooked. On a scouting mission in May, Posse member Jim Rossman called the food at Killen's, which opened in a permanent location early this year, "spectacular."…

Joints - 06/29/2014

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