Terry Black's Barbecue

Do not confuse this place with Black's Barbecue in Lockhart. Brothers Mark and Mike Black were going to use the name Black's Barbecue Austin, but Uncle Kent was not having any part of it. Kent Black, who manages the one in Lockhart, did not want to create any confusion for customers. To make things even more confusing/interesting, the owners of Black's are opening a location in Austin on Guadalupe. The brothers ended up naming the place after their father in his honor. Now that I got the family drama out of the way, let's talk about Terry Black's Barbecue. They have been open for over two weeks. I have been anxious to try them out, but I fought off the urges. I gave them a little bit of time to work out any kinks.

Terry Black's does have a great location. They are located downtown which makes them a great lunch spot to meet up. Traffic getting there was a nightmare for me, but that is Austin for you on a Friday. When I arrived there to meet some friends for lunch, the parking lot was full. I wanted to meet after one in the afternoon to hopefully avoid the lunch crowd. Inside, the lines were relatively short. There were three chopping blocks so the line moved at a good pace. Everything on the menu was competitively priced. I order two slices of moist brisket, one pork rib, and a ring of the regular sausage.

The Certified Angus Beef brisket was good. It was cooked perfectly. It was tender with a nice bark, and the fat was rendered well. Although it was good, I felt like it was missing something. More smoke and more flavor? The pork rib was tasty. It came off the bone without any effort and had a sweet glaze on it. The rib was cooked a little too long which made it a slightly dry for my preference. Terry Black's makes two types of sausage in-house. Regular and jalapeño. The grit was coarse just the way it should be, and the fat content was ideal. It tasted fine, but the casing was hard and crunchy. Some of the meat was sticking to the casing. It was like the sausage had a candy shell coating. It was either cooked too long or too high or both? I tried both barbecue sauces they had. I liked both of them, but I prefer the mustard-based spicy sauce more.

I am excited about Terry Black's Barbecue. Sure I was not blown away from the barbecue, but they are still relatively new. It is possible that their huge smokers are not well-seasoned yet. Though the barbecue is good, but they do show a lot of promise of being even better. They serve quality barbecue right in the heart of the city inside an air-conditioned building. I know I do not enjoy eating barbecue outside when it is 100 degrees in the blazing sun. This is the ideal place for me to take out of town guests too. Central, indoors, good Texas barbecue, short wait, and parking. Grade: B

Until next time, happy smoking...

Address: 1003 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78704
Phone: (512) 394-5899
Website: http://terryblacksbbq.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Terry-Blacks-Barbecue
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerryBlacksBBQ