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...
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