Snow's BBQ

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Tootsie’s barbecue pork steak warms the heart of a Carolina pig cooker

Phillip Townsend shows off his tray of smoked meats at Franklin Barbecue in Austin, one of the highlights of his four-day Texas BBQ trip. (Photo ©Trish Townsend) By Phillip TownsendSpecial to the Texas BBQ Posse The North Carolina barbecue tradition runs in my veins. Doctors say that might account for my triglycerides, but that’s another story for another day. As a kid, I grew up helping my dad raise, butcher, and cook hogs on our small farm. Through my teen and college years, I eagerly embraced every opportunity to sample good barbecue — the Eastern N.C. style of my youth…

Roadtrips - 12/05/2019

Reflections after a decade on the BBQ Trail

Snow's BBQ pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz works the smokers during the Posse's 10th anniversary trip. (Photo ©Tom Fox/Texas BBQ Posse) Anniversaries are often times of reflection. So it was for the Posse on Saturday when we visited Snow’s BBQ and Louie Mueller Barbecue 10 years after our very first trip to these Central Texas meccas of smoked meat. In many ways nothing has changed. The food was still terrific. Snow’s brisket remains among the best around and my first bite of the beef rib at Louie Mueller’s was the best mouthful of barbecue I’ve eaten in a long, long time. Posse…

Popular / Roadtrips - 11/17/2019

The Texas BBQ Posse's Favorite 41

Customers stand in line at the world-famous Franklin Barbecue in Austin. (Photo ©Tom Fox) Others may have their Top 50 or Top 40 lists. Not the Texas BBQ Posse. After years of eating and months of debate, we’re listing our Favorite 41 joints in the state, including a ranking of the Top 10. 2M Smokehouse in San Antonio is No. 1. Of course, there wasn’t universal agreement among Posse members so we’ve included Top 5 lists from others elsewhere in this package. Austin/San Antonio region Brotherton's Black Iron BBQ, Pflugerville: Traditional Texas barbecue and creative sandwiches including brisket grilled cheese,…

Joints / Popular / Posse's Favorite 41 - 07/09/2019

Posse members share their Favorite 5 BBQ lists

Pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz works the smokers early on a Saturday morning at Snow's BBQ, the favorite stop of Bruce Tomaso. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) Full and frank discussions about our favorite food. That's what the Texas BBQ Posse has been all about in the decade or so we've been on the barbecue trail. Sometimes we all agree. Often we don't. So it is with the Posse's Favorite 41. After getting opinions from everyone, co-founders Chris Wilkins and Gary Jacobson made the final selections. Here's how other Posse members rate their Top 5. Bruce Tomaso Snow's BBQ, Lexington: The brisket is…

Joints / Posse's Favorite 41 - 11/07/2018

$Valentinas-Tex-Mex-BBQ$

Recreating Valentina’s breakfast tacos with barbecue leftovers

The gold standard of all breakfast tacos in Texas, from Valentina's Tex Mex BBQ in Austin. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) What to do with barbecue leftovers? Always an important question. The best advice the Posse ever received on that front came years ago during a visit to Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Tx. Reheat slowly in the oven with lots of butter, owner Kerry Bexley told us. Still solid advice. After a recent Saturday Posse feast at 2M Smokehouse in San Antonio, we found ourselves with lots of barbecue leftovers on a Sunday morning at our place in Austin. There…

Cooking - 09/26/2018

Ode to the chopped brisket sandwich

A pound of chopped brisket, white bread, pickles & onions at Pat Gee's Barbecue in Tyler. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) Over the past year, I've found myself becoming more sentimental when it comes to barbecue. My earliest memories of eating Q are centered around East Texas and always involved ordering a chopped brisket sandwich, often served on simple wax paper. As I'm exposed to more & more BBQ, I'm coming full circle and ending up where it all began. A great chopped brisket sandwich is one of the simple pleasures in life. You can eat one East Texas style, the…

Joints - 03/06/2018

An “a-ha” moment for the Austin Posse — Driving to Snow’s BBQ is faster than waiting at Franklin

Customers stand in line at 8am on a Saturday at Snow's BBQ In Lexington. (Photo ©Gary Jacobson/Texas BBQ Posse) Eureka experiences are not uncommon in barbecue. Usually they have something to do with the food. My most recent BBQ “a-ha,” though, had nothing to do with great brisket or ribs and everything to do with time. Waiting time. Living in Austin, I just discovered, it's actually faster to eat at Snow's BBQ in Lexington than Franklin Barbecue in Austin, even though it involves a 100-mile roundtrip drive. My home is about three miles from Franklin and 50 miles from Snow’s,…

Joints - 02/07/2018

The making of Texas Monthly’s Top 50 BBQ list

Without a doubt, it’s the most anticipated and influential list of its kind in Texas and beyond: Texas Monthly’s Top 50 BBQ joints. It boosts business for those places that make it, and generates endless discussion among barbecue fans everywhere. If you have any doubt about the appeal of the list, just Google Texas Monthly’s Top 50 BBQ, or check your Facebook and Twitter feeds over the past couple weeks. Or, view all the coverage the Posse has devoted to the list over the same span. Or, look at the longer lines at many of the top-ranked joints. A new…

Joints - 06/04/2017

Snow’s BBQ, well deserved No. 1 for Texas Monthly

Early Saturday morning light hits the smoker area as pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz works at Snow's BBQ in Lexington. So we missed — widely — when we predicted last month that Killen’s Barbecue in suburban Houston would be No. 1 on Texas Monthly’s list of the Top 50 joints in Texas. But we applaud — loudly — the magazine’s decision this week to put Snow’s BBQ on top. In all the years the Posse has been touring, breakfast at the Lexington place on a Saturday morning remains our favorite trip. “It's the ultimate Texas BBQ experience: great food, great people and the…

Joints - 05/22/2017

The birth of the Posse during a lightning tour of Central Texas' best BBQ joints

Snow's BBQ on a foggy Saturday morning in Nov. 2009, this was the Posse's first of many trips to the BBQ mecca. Editors note: We thought it would be fun to republish the story from our first BBQ pilgrimage to Central Texas in November 2009. What began as a simple roadtrip for six friends became a life-changing experience for us all, giving birth to the Texas BBQ Posse. Once we tasted that Snow's brisket for the first time, nothing related to BBQ would ever be the same. Here's our story... By Gary Jacobson In thick fog on a Saturday morning, we…

Roadtrips - 05/07/2017

Killen’s will be #1 on Texas Monthly’s Top 50 BBQ list, the Posse predicts

Diners wait for Killen's BBQ to open on a Saturday morning in Pearland, a suburb of Houston. Be bold. That advice from an old boss recently ran through my head here at Posse HQ as we contemplated stepping off the barbecue cliff. We took the step. Yes, we are predicting that Killen’s Barbecue in suburban Houston will be No. 1 on Texas Monthly’s highly anticipated list of the Top 50 BBQ joints in Texas, displacing the legendary Franklin Barbecue in Austin. It shouldn’t take long to know whether that call is indeed bold or just plain boneheaded. The list will…

Joints - 04/19/2017

And everywhere the BBQ Posse looked there were other posses

Member of the Bandera County Young Life BBQ group pose for a photo with legendary Snow's pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz. (Photo ©Chris WIlkins/Texas BBQ Posse) My memory isn't what it used to be, but I was pretty sure we ran into a first -- for us anyway -- during the Posse's trip to Snow's BBQ in Lexington last weekend. We met two groups of fellow barbecue lovers, each wearing special shirts championing their meat-loving pursuits. One group of a half-dozen guys from North Texas wore very nice black and red bowling shirts with the words "BBQ Burnt Ends" above…

People - 10/26/2016

Is Snow's the Machu Picchu of Texas BBQ?

Ray Shepard & David Messersmith during their first visit to Snow's BBQ in Lexington. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) Among the wonders of the world, it probably doesn't rank with Machu Picchu or the Great Pyramid of Giza. But in the world of Texas barbecue, nothing compares to a trip to Snow's on a Saturday, the only day the joint is open. It's a rite of passage for lovers of smoked meat. Soon after Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins posted a Facebook photo from our recent visit to Lexington, a commenter wrote: "Can't wait to get out there for the first…

Joints - 02/05/2016

The Posse returns to Central Texas and not a bad bite of barbecue was had

The Texas BBQ Posse returns to Snow's BBQ in Lexington. (L-R) Mark Vamos, Jim Rossman, Bruce Tomaso, Chris Wilkins, Michael Ainsworth, Gary Jacobson, Daniel Goncalves & Tom Fox. (Photo ©Tom Fox) We weren't on the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston. And it wasn't snowing. Still, James Taylor would have liked the scene. In the early morning sun, a white frosting covered the fields along the highway from Austin to Lexington, Texas. Ice crystals glistened, almost as if they made their own light. It was a nice way to begin a barbecue tour, especially since we were headed to Snow's BBQ,…

Joints - 02/04/2016

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

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

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

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

Future Posse member has his first-ever taste of brisket at Pat Gee's BBQ in Tyler

My daughter Ashley Montgomery and grandson James at Pat Gee's Barbecue. (Photo ©Chris WIlkins/Texas BBQ Posse) For every Texas barbecue fanatic, there are smoked meat moments that will always be remembered. I was lucky enough to have another of those great memories on Saturday at Pat Gee's Barbecue outside of Tyler. I remember the first time eating brisket for breakfast with friends at Snow's BBQ on a foggy Saturday morning in November 2009. That experience forever changed our view of what barbecue could be and led to the birth of Texas BBQ Posse. Every Central Texas BBQ tour we've had…

People - 03/30/2014

Soft on gassers? Not so says Posse member Bruce Tomaso.....

Snow's BBQ pit boss Tootsie Tomanetz tends the pits as the sun rises over Lexington. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) By Bruce Tomaso/Texas BBQ Posse Gary Jacobson is a friend of mine. He’s a gifted writer, an extraordinary journalist with a sharp wit and a sharper mind. And he knows his barbecue. He’s been riding with the Posse longer than just about any of us. So it pains me to say this: On the subject of gas-fired smokers, Gary Jacobson is full of gas. A few days ago, he wrote on this blog that “perhaps we have mellowed a bit”…

Cooking - 03/01/2014

Posse winner talks about growing up with Aaron Franklin and the future of barbecue in Texas

Aaron Franklin, right, and his bandmates in Those Peabodys. (Photo courtesy of Post-Parlo Records) Please pardon our tardiness, we're a bit late with this post. Neil Gallagher of Bryan won last month's Texas barbecue giveaway offered by FoodyDirect in partnership with the Posse. FoodyDirect, an online food marketplace, randomly selected his name from among more than 200 entries. When I contacted Gallagher, 35, to congratulate him, the conversation ranged widely, from his win to even pondering the future of barbecue in Texas. He said he grew up in Bryan with Aaron Franklin, now the reigning barbecue baron of the state.…

Joints - 06/18/2013

Even in Atlanta, they love Texas barbecue and follow the Posse

Snow's BBQ pit boss Tootsie Tomanetz tends the pits as the sun rises over Lexington. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins) A recent item posted on Eat It, Atlanta involves a tour of Texas barbecue joints inspired by the Posse, according to its author, who goes by the moniker The Legend. A group of four barbecue fans -- two hailing from Atlanta, one from Boston and one from Texas -- visited nine joints in 48 hours and scored the brisket and sausage at each, just as we did on our recent Best of Texas tour. The group's verdict: Snow's BBQ in…

People - 04/25/2013

Hipster pitmasters? Young guns of BBQ? Resurgence of Texas tradition? There's a BBQ revolution happening and we don't know what to call it

Pecan Lodge pitmaster Justin Fourton and his infamous "Slim Pickins" sign. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves) As Posse member Jim Rossman and I ate at Pecan Lunch Thursday, we talked about how to characterize what's happening now in Texas barbecue. Something big is going on and it needs a name. We had just heard BBQ Snob and new Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn call it a "resurgence." He referred to young pitmasters, like Justin Fourton at Pecan Lodge, adopting the old school ways and using only wood to cook for a new generation of barbecue fans. (Note: To hold our place,…

People - 04/08/2013

The 10 top posts of all-time on the Texas BBQ Posse blog

Posse members toast at Loco Coyote Grill in Glen Rose during our Brazos & Beyond BBQ Tour. (Photo©R.J. Hinkle) We missed a couple of important Posse milestones recently. So, forgive us a few moments of backslapping as we catch up. The very first item on this blog was posted March 7, 2010, just over three years ago. It likely will never be a trivia question, like "what was the first video played on MTV?" (Answer: Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles.) But, still, it's kinda sentimental to us. The item was about our first trip to the Central…

Joints / People - 03/22/2013

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