Best BBQ Show

For those of you going on a BBQ tour in Austin, The Brewer's Table is a great stop. They have cooked on Franklin and Leroy & Lewis pits and have lots of smoke on their menu. Their restaurant offers complex flavors and a ton of beer to go with it.

Most of the breweries around the country do the same thing, some ales, an IPA, the usual. At The Brewer's Table they have custom fermenters, cool ships and other amazing beer apparatus that you've never heard of. What this means is their beer is delicious and refreshing any day of the week.

Jake and Drew are mad scientists in their own right. They play with flavors, meats, vegetables and smoke to make an amazing menu. They have ribs that BBQ enthusiasts from all over the state have been lining up to try. They roast chickens, rabbit and even serve a tartare. It's not the classic BBQ but they do have a hearth in their kitchen built by Aaron Franklin. So I'd say it's barbecue at a new and interesting level.

Enjoy this episode with Jake and Drew at The Brewer's Table.

Thank you for listening and if you liked the show please leave a 5 star rating on apple podcasts. It helps the show grow and get discovered. If you didn’t like the show you can write me at [email protected]. Tag us in all of your meat posts and if you see people getting a little too friendly with their bbq, remind them #dontsqueezeyourmeat!

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There's a danger to cooking with fire. Recently, B's Cracklin in Atlanta had a fire that consumed their entire restaurant. Within days of the news Leo Botello IV, owner of Truth BBQ in Houston, put together a fundraiser. Not for the restaurant, insurance will eventually cover that, but for the employees of B's Cracklin. For the hard working people in the barbecue industry who have temporarily lost their jobs.

Watching people come together in a shared goal is truly beautiful. In this episode I get to talk to a ton of great people in BBQ. Elliot Moss of Buxton Hall, Mauro "Max" Chiefari formerly of Franklin, Matt Horn, The Mighty Joe Yim, Burt Bakman, Wayne Mueller and Clay Cowgill. I even get a quick chat with Reed, Chris and Cole who are part of the hard working team at Truth BBQ. If you haven't been to Truth, the food is exceptional and the staff is unreal. Their attention to hospitality and service is a beautiful thing to watch.

Like many of these event episodes, I'm chasing down the story and catching these guys as they're working. I started at 6am and was on my feet with the Pitmasters till service at 8pm. A long day of fun and watching the masters work.

I'm grateful for all the access and information I'm allowed by professionals in BBQ. It is an honor to be allowed to get in the way as much as I do. I feel like an embedded journalist chasing the fire, smoke and sweat that goes into the delicious food we all love. I hope you enjoy this episode and feel free to reach out to any of these pit masters or myself if you have any questions. Also, send your love to Bryan and his team because they are working hard to get open again.

Thank you for listening and if you liked the show please leave a 5 star rating on apple podcasts. It helps the show grow and get discovered. If you didn’t like the show you can write me at [email protected]. Tag us in all of your meat posts and if you see people getting a little too friendly with their bbq, remind them #dontsqueezeyourmeat!

Tag us in all your social media with @bestbarbecue.

Our Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/bestbbqshow/

and Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/bestbarbecue/

Watch us on YouTube!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC99iAPEAsTs7vPzov8mygPA

This week I sit down with Chef and BBQ pitmaster Eric Faust. He's a fellow New Yorker who came to Texas to buy a smoker and never left. If you're listening to the episode you'll hear all about his story and how he got into the best bbq which is Texas barbecue.

Eric has cooked at restaurants and privately since he graduated from Culinary Institute of America in New York. As some of you may remember from a previous episode, I grew up in New York so Eric is like a long lost brother. We've hung out and eaten bar b q many times but this was the first chance we had to cook together.

For those of you who don't know, my day job is as a Texas Realtor. I sell homes in one of the best cities in the world and I use some of that money to produce this show. I also love my clients so I always use some of the money I make to show them my appreciation. These clients are super unique and they are creating an amazing space on the 4 acres they bought. I thought cooking BBQ for a hundred of their friends during their housewarming party was a good way to celebrate.

Enjoy this episode with Eric and follow him on Instagram (@thesmoketrail) to see when he's pop ups are happening in Austin!

Thank you for listening and if you liked the show please leave a 5 star rating on apple podcasts. It helps the show grow and get discovered. If you didn’t like the show you can write me at [email protected]. Tag us in all of your meat posts and if you see people getting a little too friendly with their bbq, remind them #dontsqueezeyourmeat!

Tag us in all your social media with @bestbarbecue.

Our Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/bestbbqshow/

and Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/bestbarbecue/

Watch us on YouTube!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC99iAPEAsTs7vPzov8mygPA

This week I sit down with Catherine Stiles from Stiles Switch BBQ, The Switch BBQ and Barbecue Wife, her own brand of Margarita and Bloody Mary mixes. We talk about being a mother while running restaurants. Being a mother and her own brand ambassador takes a real hustler.

She tells us about her past in radio marketing and events. Little did she know that her marketing jobs in Houston would prepare her for her own brand of products. Products that I highly recommend. She focuses on freshness and quality and it comes out when you put one of her mixers into your favorite beverage.

One thing that goes great with a day of smoking is a good bloody mary or margarita. I'll have some at my next BBQ for sure.

Enjoy this conversation with Catherine Stiles and learn all about how she is part of the amazing Texas BBQ family.

Thank you for listening and if you liked the show please leave a 5 star rating on apple podcasts. It helps the show grow and get discovered. If you didn’t like the show you can write me at [email protected]. Tag us in all of your meat posts and if you see people getting a little too friendly with their bbq, remind them #dontsqueezeyourmeat!

Tag us in all your social media with @bestbarbecue.

Our Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/bestbbqshow/

and Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/bestbarbecue/

Watch us on YouTube!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC99iAPEAsTs7vPzov8mygPA

This week I sit down with two chefs who love cooking Bar B Q for their customers in Sisterdale, TX. They serve local wines and have unique items on their menu that include BBQ but span a range of flavors.

Jake and Jo first met in Austin and their story just gets better from there. Jake spent time on the west coast driving a truck and ended up in Sisterdale, TX. Jo was a private chef in Austin and an accountant before they opened the restaurant. In the end, they quit their respective jobs and decided to reopen a small building to serve BBQ. It started with some popups and quickly escalated to a restaurant with delicious bites and perfectly crafted desserts.

I spent the day in Sisterdale eating their food and learning the story of this amazing spot. No matter where I go I keep finding more and more people who are loving the BBQ family. Enjoy this episode and make sure you add Black Board Bar B Q to your next barbecue tour.

Thank you for listening and if you liked the show please leave a 5 star rating on apple podcasts. It helps the show grow and get discovered. If you didn’t like the show you can write me at [email protected]. Tag us in all of your meat posts and if you see people getting a little too friendly with their bbq, remind them #dontsqueezeyourmeat!

Tag us in all your social media with @bestbarbecue.

Our Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/bestbbqshow/

and Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/bestbarbecue/

Watch us on YouTube!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC99iAPEAsTs7vPzov8mygPA

You’re listening to the Best BBQ Show and I’m your host, Yoni Levin. I realized something today. After almost 100 episodes of the show, I’m not sure you all know my story on why this show came to be. I’m not sure you know how I got interested in BBQ to begin with or why I’ve spent two years covering the Texas BBQ scene and all the interesting people in and around it.

It all started when I was a young boy in upstate New York. Now I say upstate because I’m not talking about New York City. I’m talking about way up state. As in almost Canada. I grew up in small city called Rochester, NY. A city that is almost foreign to me now that I’ve been away for two decades.

The only BBQ in Rochester at that time was a place called Dinosaur BBQ. To this day I still like their sauce, but that’s about all that’s good about it. I’ll probably go back the next time I’m up there just to see if they’ve stepped up their game, but I wasn’t impressed back then.

Back then all I had was a weber kettle and a dream. Someone gave me a copy of the BBQ Bible and my interest was peaked. Shout out to Steve Raichlen. I read lots of the recipes, dog eared pages, highlighted, took notes and started my BBQ journey. My favorite method back then was the snake method and it was my foray into slow smoked meat.

I also spent some time on amazing ribs which if you’ve been following bbq long enough is one of the oldest sites on the internet all about bbq and how to cook it. One of my favorite articles is about how the smoke ring is a myth and how you can produce one without any smoke at all.

Now I say slow smoked but I’m embarrassed to admit that I was doing everything wrong. I used cheap charcoal briquettes that didn’t burn very well. I was smart enough not to use lighter fluid back then but I did make some common mistakes. One of them was soaking little piles of wood chips. I soaked those wood chips for hours. I used different kinds, different sizes and I just couldn’t seem to figure out why I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. The one thing I didn’t try was just not soaking the dang wood chips. If hindsight is 2020, my hindsight is clouded with thick white smoke that comes from wet wood.

Luckily, that was merely the beginning of my BBQ journey. After college I traveled the state working for non-profits in politics and the environment. I helped create legislation that saved plastic, encouraged recycling and brought a ton of awareness about homelessness. I also worked in kitchens, bars and served at restaurants between campaigns. I loved the work but it wasn’t the full time gig I had dreamed of.

Then I caught, what I thought back then, was a huge opportunity. There were field organizer positions opening up for a huge new Greenpeace campaign. I would travel the world helping solve major issues on the national and international level. I went to conferences on both coasts and even attended the conference of the parties United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Long story short, after they sent me to Austin in 2008 I realized there was more politics than progressiveness and decided to stay in this amazing city I had discovered almost completely by accident.

Luck would have it that when I moved to Austin I landed in a small neighborhood just south of the river. A small neighborhood that just happened to have a BBQ trailer in it. A BBQ trailer called LA Barbecue. I had luckily found, what was then, one of the only quality BBQ joints in Austin. I know what you’re thinking, not Franklin? Not Lockhart? Nope, my first BBQ in Texas was LA Barbecue. The place where John Lewis worked before he opened Lewis BBQ. Where Esaul Ramos of 2M, Dylan Taylor, and Brendan Lamb of Smiley’s BBQ all worked.

When I first showed up in 2012 they had just opened and I knew it was rare to find a place with good BBQ that didn’t have a line. I had heard of Franklin, but had yet to eat there. I was there early and often. Although, back then early just meant a few minutes before they opened. I would bug the guys in the pits and quickly made friends with Ali Clem who was there every day serving up the good stuff to those of us who patiently waited.

I was a regular. Some weeks I’d show up 3 days in a row. They had free beer and even some old timers playing country music on a very small hand built stage. About a year later, something happened. I showed up at the usual time and I wasn’t the first one there. No big deal, I just got there a little earlier the next time, but that didn’t do for long. Soon I had to come in 30 minutes early, then 45, then an hour. My #1 spot was in constant jeopardy by all the people discovering this delicious place that I wanted to be my secret!

Fast forward a few years and I got my 118 gallon pit. Started cooking my own briskets. Made a list of places I wanted to go and just kept on trying barbecue all over Texas. Then it happened. In May of 2016 I saw a short documentary produced by Yeti about an 81 year old pitmaster named “Tootsie”. She worked all week as a custodian and then woke up early on Saturdays to cook barbecue out in Lexington, Texas. The moment I saw that video I knew I had to go. I rounded up a few friends and we headed out there to try the best BBQ in Texas.

If you haven’t been to Snow’s before, it’s an experience. The cool country air, the small town roads and the friendly people are just part of the experience. We didn’t even bring chairs. We just got in line and waited for that slow smoked goodness we had heard so much about. After that day I was hooked. A couple months later we went again and then again. Before I knew it I was waking up at 5am to be near or at the front of the line every Saturday to eat at Snow’s. After a while the crew started to notice. They were like, weren’t you here last week? And “how many weeks is that in a row now?” I became a regular in a small town where magic was happening.

Clay Cowgill was the first one to start keeping track. We were fast friends and soon I was spending half the time talking to him while my lady, incredibly patiently, held my place in line. We talked about wood, meat, smoke, timing, feel and I started adjusting my home cooks to match some of Snow’s methods.

Almost a year later, we showed up early as planned to see the line was 10 times longer than it had ever been. Our early Saturday ritual was about to take all afternoon. I went and asked Clay what was going on and he told us they had just gotten the #1 spot on the Texas Monthly top 50 for the second time. Til that point I hadn’t even heard of the list, but I was going to find out about it since all these people decided to get between me and my BBQ. A few months later I was talking to some friends about podcasts how to create one and we decided to create one about BBQ. I started calling my friends who owned, operated or cooked BBQ and asked them if they would be on my show. Now, almost 3 years later I’m so happy to share Texas BBQ with you and all the amazing people in it.

The BBQ family has been so generous to me and I can’t wait for what’s next in modern barbecue and this show I have created. Stay tuned. 2019 is going to be an interesting year. We’re on youtube and we have more friends than ever on Instagram. I’m so thankful to have ya’ll as listeners and if it wasn’t for you, there’d be no show. So I’ll make a deal with you. If you keep listening, I’ll keep talking tasting and trying to cook Texas BBQ, the best barbecue in the world. For now, go out there what this amazing bbq scene has to offer. If you need some tips, feel free to message me. If you think I need to cover some places, send them to me and they will be added to my list.

This is your host, Yoni Levin saying “Go eat some meat with the people you love and have a great week."

Thank you for listening to the Best BBQ Show. This week we talk to Michael and Asenette Hernandez. Owners and operators of Hays Co BBQ. Their top 50 bbq serves the masses every day and their restaurant just keeps getting bigger.

In 2007 they started with a trailer and weren't sure what the barbecue scene was like. As BBQ got more popular, they kept stepping up their game and their customers kept coming. Through bumps and bruises along the way, they found a nice little spot right on I35 in San Marcos, TX. They served from a modular building until they could build what is now a 500 seat restaurant with event spaces, a huge bar and overflow parking in the back that doubles as the seasoning area for many cords of wood.

Enjoy this episode with Hays Co BBQ and subscribe now to hear all our episodes as they drop!

Thank you for listening and if you liked the show please leave a 5 star rating on apple podcasts. It helps the show grow and get discovered. If you didn’t like the show you can write me at [email protected]. Tag us in all of your meat posts and if you see people getting a little too friendly with their bbq, remind them #dontsqueezeyourmeat!

Tag us in all your social media with @bestbarbecue.

Our Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/bestbbqshow/

and Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/bestbarbecue/

The shed had the first every steak showdown a few weeks ago and the Best Barbecue Show was there to cover it. Over 100 teams competed in 2 steak catagories, ribs, turkey and bloody mary's. In this episode we talk to a long list of people from the BBQ scene.

Johnny Joseph, a 3 times SCA points champion and an expert at steaks. @blowinsmokegrillers

George Logue, chef extraordinaire.@georgelogue

Grill Girl Robyn and her team. @grillgirlrobyn @jeff_romero_67_

Brad Orrison, host and grand champion BBQ team leader! @bradorrison

Ricky Bobby of the 3 Taxi Guys was keeping the party alive. @rickhewatt

We sat down at the @bbcharcoal camp and talked to Joey Machado and his crew including @mgrills_texas owner Travis Mcgee. Also, cooking with B&B and cooking the 1st place turkey was their new team member Christina Fitzgerald. @chefchristinafitzgerald.

JR Hawkins aka @thpitmaster

Thank you for listening and if you liked the show please leave a 5 star rating on apple podcasts. It helps the show grow and get discovered. If you didn’t like the show you can write me at [email protected]. Tag us in all of your meat posts and if you see people getting a little too friendly with their bbq, remind them #dontsqueezeyourmeat!

Tag us in all your social media with @bestbarbecue.

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Thanks for listening to the Best BBQ Show!

This week we're sitting down with the men behind The Noble Sandwich (@noblesandwichco) company in Austin, TX and talk about their new restaurant, Interstellar BBQ (@interstellarbbq). John Bates (@chefjohnbates_atx) and Brandon Martinez (@ChefBGMartinez) have been smoking meat and serving amazing sandwiches for 9 years. They've even been on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri. Now they're going to focus on a BBQ restaurant in north west Austin.

Joining us in this conversation is Warren McDonald (@McDonaldWarren) who is part of the Noble Sandwich and Interstellar team. Enjoy this conversation and all the info on this soon to be open BBQ restaurant.

Don't forget to subscribe and like the video!

Thank you for listening and if you liked the show please leave a 5 star rating on apple podcasts. It helps the show grow and get discovered. If you didn’t like the show you can write me at [email protected]. Tag us in all of your meat posts and if you see people getting a little too friendly with their bbq, remind them #dontsqueezeyourmeat!

Tag us in all your social media with @bestbarbecue.

Our Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/bestbbqshow/

and Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/bestbarbecue/

Follow Mike Wyont: @pitman_mike

Flores Barbecue: @flores_barbecue