TMBBQ Fest 2017



Snow's BBQ Crew

In case you have been living in a cave for the last six months, Texas Monthly released a new Top 50 list. Armed with a new list, Texas Monthly made this year's TMBBQ Fest the biggest one yet. They hosted 30 BBQ joints from all over Texas! There were a lot of places making their first appearance at The Long Center. I have been to all but three of the restaurants. That will change hopefully in the next six months. It is definitely one of my favorite days of the year. I arrived there a couple of hours early and chatted with a majority of the pitmasters and crew. I had no idea what my eating plans for the festival this year, but once I started, I knew I had to eat at every tent. I am posting the journey in chronological order. In the later shots, I will list what the participating barbecue joint brought, but by the time I arrived to the respective tent, they were out of certain items. Here we go:

Franklin Barbecue (Austin) - Brisket, pulled pork, and sausage



Aaron Franklin slicing brisket



2M Smokehouse (San Antonio) - Brisket, pork Serrano Oaxaca cheese sausage, and barbacoa taco



Truth Barbeque (Brenham) - Brisket and jalapeño cheddar sausage


Pitmaster Leonard Botello IV slicing up brisket




CorkScrew BBQ (Spring) - Brisket, pork rib, and jalapeño sausage



Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ (Austin) - Brisket, pork rib, jalapeño cheese sausage, and barbacoa taco




Cattleack Barbeque (Dallas) - Pastrami, bologna, and jalapeño cheese sausage



Tejas Chocolate Craftory (Tomball) - Brisket, pastrami, Danish rib, chocolate panna cotta shooter, and carrot soufflé



Pitmaster/Chef Scott Moore


Bodacious Bar-B-Q (Longview) - Brisket, pastrami burnt end boudin, and beef bacon toffee bar


Chef/pitmaster Bryan Bingham and Scott Turner




Pinkerton’s Barbecue (Houston) - Brisket and jalapeño cheese sausage



La Barbecue (Austin) - Brisket, pulled pork, and hot guts



Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew (Austin) - Brisket and sausage (beef, Nashville Hot Chicken with brisket fat hot sauce, and smoked orange duck & pork with smoked foie gras aioli)



Pitmaster Bill Dumas on the block



Heim Barbecue (Fort Worth) - Brisket and bacon burnt ends




Roegels Barbecue Co. (Houston) - Brisket, sausage, and pastrami





Micklethwait Craft Meats (Austin) - Brisket, pork rib, lamb and Andouille sausage




Pody’s BBQ (Pecos) - Brisket



Stanley’s Famous Pit BBQ (Tyler) - Brisket, baby back ribs, and jalapeño and cheese sausage



Tyler’s Barbeque (Amarillo) - Brisket, pork ribs, and green chile mac & cheese


The ladies of Tyler’s


BBQ on the Brazos (Cresson) - Brisket, sausage, and slaw




Stillwater Barbeque (Abilene) - Brisket



Terry Black’s Barbecue (Austin) - Brisket, bacon, and Michelada sausage with pineapple, lime & Tajin



Snow’s BBQ (Lexington) - Brisket, pork rib, and sausage


Kerry Bexley and Tootsie Tomanetz


The Granary ’Cue & Brew (San Antonio) - Pork belly, pulled pork, brisket, and pastrami




Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que (Llano) - Brisket, pork chop, and sausage



Hays Co. Bar-B-Que (San Marcos) - Brisket, pork chop, and jalapeño cheese sausage



Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor) - Brisket, beef rib, and sausage



Miller’s Smokehouse (Belton) - Brisket, pork rib, and cornbread




Hutchins BBQ (McKinney) - Brisket, pork rib, and jalapeño cheese sausage



Evie Mae’s Pit Barbecue (Wolfforth) - Brisket, pork rib, sausage (German, green chile & green chile cheese), green chile cheesy grits, and Mississippi mud pie sheet cake





Smolik’s Smokehouse (Mathis) - Brisket, pork rib, and sausage



Lockhart Smokehouse (Dallas) - Prime rib and jalapeño cheese sausage



I made it! I hit all 30! I probably will not do that again. Hitting all of them is a lot. I had to make a few water/lemonade/tea pit stops along the way. It took about 3.5 hour to get to every tent. I lost track and almost missed out on a couple of tents. I wish I had a wheelbarrow so someone could have rolled me out of there. I was stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey. I would not recommend trying to eat it all. Although you get to experience what every participation offers, various meats will start to run out. You might not be able to get the meat that specific restaurant is known for. All in all, it was a fun day. The lines were overall pretty manageable, and the event was not crowded. Everyone brought their game, and there were so many delicious bites to be had. It is like a BBQ reunion for me every year. It was great seeing familiar faces and "meating" new people. The festival brings one giant barbecue family together, and everyone is having a blast. Because I was busy eating, I missed out on some prime picture taking time. I might have to change my approach next year.




One giant BBQ family - folks from Tyler's, La Barbecue, Truth, and Stiles Switch

Until next time, happy smoking...

Comments

Popular Posts