[Music]
if there's one place known for its
barbecue it's austin texas
and we're here for the brisket the ribs
and probably the meat sweats
[Music]
i knew it was gonna be good but i didn't
know it's gonna be this good i'm kind of
speechless
[Music]
welcome to austin we're going to four of
the best barbecue spots
in austin texas now what do you think we
will be doing to measure the bestness of
said barbecue
on this trip we're looking at three main
things when we're talking about barbecue
all right we're looking for bark
yep we're looking for tenderness
definitely i'm looking for juiciness yo
so you know there are a lot of things
that go into barbecue but those are the
three main things we're looking at and
we're going to be trying
brisket obviously we're trying the ribs
ooh ribs
and the sausage which is my favorite all
right maybe get a little uh
coleslaw or potato salad or beans in the
mix please mac and cheese maybe
all right we're going to louie miller
first so let's go let's do it
i thought you said go this way louis
miller has been smoking some of the best
barbecue in texas
since 1949. located in taylor texas
many people refer to it as the cathedral
of smoke
[Music]
central texas barbecue is very unique we
use
offset smokers we use a lot of post oak
wood
but we're really beef centric it's that
combination
utilizing convection heat rather than
radiant heat that
creates a cooked meat that doesn't have
to be chopped
sauced and bunned but can actually be
sliced out similar to
say prime rib it's sort of that
engineering
and technology that has allowed brisket
to become sort of the calling card of
central texas barbecue
it's the best barbecue in texas the
first time i ate here i had
a sausage first time i ever had barbecue
i bit the sausage
squirted all over me best sausage i ever
ate best brisket i ever ate
i'm gonna come here until i hit the dirt
you get all that what makes great
barbecue
great food great atmosphere great
service
as soon as you walk in not only are the
optics there but your sense of smell is
being overwhelmed by
smoke different types of fats that are
being cooked
rendered and emanating from our pets
for our small central texas meat market
tradition
it's really about the beef it's about
the smoke it's about the simple
seasoning and it's about the love that
goes into it
everyone says it's like their dad's
favorite it's like old-school
classic texas style barbecue i just want
to get in the meat when he's talking to
the interview
all this meat just salt and pepper right
yep i'll go i'll go pre-sauce
yeah i'm gonna go no sauce cause that's
just the way it should be
it's amazing how much flavor just the
salt and the pepper can bring out of
this
vinegar's meat it's like brisket candy
almost yeah the sausage i am so excited
for i love
beef sausage whoa
sausage is the sleeper of barbecue
people need to realize
it's not grocery store sausage it's far
from it it's amazing the tasting has
this really nice snack to it yeah
and that's like what i look for in
sausage specifically like
you're gonna get food all over your
shirt yes you are
[Laughter]
one thing we discovered is that louis
miller is one of the few places that
serves beef ribs every single day
yeah most places only serve them on the
weekends look at this
how beautiful is that look that looks so
tender it's so soft
and like i know i'm not supposed to play
with my food but how can you resist
[Laughter]
too big of a piece hello
do you see the beauty in the majesty
that's involved in this process
i'm obsessed with barbecue this is stop
number one and i don't know how we're
going to top this i can't imagine
the other brisket bit better than this
should we have some potato salad for
dessert
yeah another day
another barbecue joint this time it's
mickel weight craft meets right in the
heart of austin
all right we are on our way to nickel
weights nickel weights
nickel weights there is an h but it's
nickel weights it's uh completely
outdoors
uh-huh it's kind of hot hot as hell yeah
but some say it is the sleeper hit best
bbq in austin so we have to go that's
funny do it cruise in the back
yep you guys hungry yeah we're here
because our friends brought us here to
celebrate my birthday this is tremendous
it's incredible it's so good so good
i'm not sure sydney and i were ready for
the heat when we got to the trailer
i'm like sweating more the meat sweats
are happening yeah just hand me a napkin
please
do a little dab it's a schvitz
you just sweat it uh it gets hot in the
pit 130 degrees in the summer in there
so
texas summer get used to it i think the
defining thing that i really believe you
cannot have
good barbecue without is cooking with
wood to me that's like the one thing is
if
you say you're not cooking with it it's
probably i don't think it's gonna be
good
obviously tom and his team use post oak
for their barbecue
and while they have the standard brisket
ribs and sausage they also have a lot
more
we're talking beef cheek barbacoa smoked
chicken and pork shoulder
and don't forget the sides they have
everything from cheesy grits to frito
pie
to healthier options like kale coleslaw
roasted beet salad and who cares it
doesn't have cheese on it
okay that's it let's start with brisket
and what's funny about the brisket bad
nose is that you really don't even need
a fork it just kind of like falls apart
do you see oh wow look at that yeah
wow wow it's so tender you know what i
like about it is that it's not like
it's not super salty the bark is
perfectly seasoned it's so subtle that
the fattiness of the meat that's melted
all together just gives like this
creamier taste
sausage yes yeah there's two kinds which
one do you want to do
text check what's that i think it's like
a mix of beef and pork
okay it's a mix of beef and pork
whoa great tasting yeah that's amazing
i like the mix of beef and pork honestly
adds extra flavor absolutely
okay so these are pork ribs uh i know
normally do beef
yeah but they're the pork ones and like
i can't like stop looking at them like
every time i look i'm just like
my mind is like ribs right there i'll
take this one because i was touching it
before
perfect thank you thanks for being super
considerate so tender so much flavor
i know that everyone gets the beef rib
but i love
pork bear ribs though
you not on yours weird how much was it i
don't know it just looks like not on
boom boom boom it's like like i ate my
ribs like a corn on the cob
i have to explain to joe how to eat food
sometimes when you don't i got to see
this is how you do rib i don't know
where they're getting this meat but it's
absolutely fantastic
the meat store yeah i like these pickles
too
all yours they're thick we actually are
about to go to that funkling one
but the uber driver just told us like he
is awesome
and then he just brought out here and
then really enjoy it
well that is the perfect segue into our
next spot franklin barbecue
the restaurant is legendary for its
lines which can last for over three
hours
are you kidding me we're gonna wait for
you don't worry goodness i've never
waited in this line it's like
i've been awesome x amount of times i
can't i can't do this yeah that happened
no way i'm looking forward to how this
food tastes
like i'm lukewarm on it yo i gotta get a
tank top
you're flying airport oh yeah oh my god
yeah bring it to my team back in seattle
washington
wow the most delicious rib literally
falling off the bone
as you can see it's definitely worth it
we should have brought beer yeah we
should have i don't know maybe it's like
a texas thing with an austin thing but
they're like tailgating waiting for
barbecue yeah i mean i think that's the
whole thing right if you know you're
gonna wait sometimes i'll bring some
beers and hang out like make it fun
all right after all that waiting we
finally got our food
but there was just one problem so
you can't eat the tiggo orders at
franklin's apparently
but you can eat them in your hotel pool
yes
we think this is like the most legendary
barbecue in austin i think
i mean i didn't want to like it yeah
you know with all the waiting totally
coming into this with a negative
attitude
like oh you think you're so great
because everyone's waiting in line let's
see how great it is
that is great it is it's just the right
amount of everything the right amount of
fat the right amount of bark it's
amazing i gotta go let's rib
rib it up i mean this ribs
wow that's really flavorful it's
perfectly tender
it's falling apart but it's not like
sopping wet it tastes rich somehow
uh-oh ah bees
thank you thank you franklin moving on
to the sausages
these are the most like smoky looking
sausages i think we've seen honestly the
rest of them have been
[Laughter]
you have barbecue sauce on your face so
what you're bees in your hair
it looks like more like beef jerky than
it does a sausage you know
not to be putting anything down right
now but of the sausages we've had that
isn't my favorite
i like the snap to it if i don't want to
say dry but it's like
a little tough it's got a very distinct
flavor it's unlike the other brisket
we've had and i think that if you were
to put in a lineup with some other food
like you would know
jiggly better kill that yeah dude
you wanna go jump in the pool yeah go
for it
finally it's over to leroy and lewis for
some less traditional smoked meats
they stand out among barbecue spots in
austin by serving pulled pork with
crispy chicharron
and adding kimchi alongside brisket
it's really juicy really tender love the
way they cook it their sides are really
awesome
i mean i feel like barbecue is like one
of those like sacred things
but they're trying to do new stuff with
it growing up in texas and central texas
specifically barbecue is
a big thing i eat a lot of barbecue i
like barbecue a lot
i want to eat it as much as i can i
don't want to feel good about the stuff
i'm eating
the ranches i'm supporting we do that
with our business we
buy everything from texas from local
sustainable ranches
and just try to really push the
boundaries on
what we can call barbecue often sourcing
sustainably means not always having
standard barbecue staples on the menu
but that just keeps things interesting
for evan and his team without even
looking at the menu they'll destroy the
brisket and ribs and jalapeno cheese
sausage and
coleslaw and potato and beans and all
this stuff we don't have but as soon as
we carve them off a little piece of the
beef cheek
as soon as we give them a little piece
of that pull hog with the crispy skin on
it
uh they're in man they're in we do not
have ribs here
they don't have ribs no ribs why not
they only source from local farms in
places that uh raise meat sustainably
and okay
perhaps they can't get the ribs they
want
fair enough yeah fair enough i mean i
appreciate that i respect that it's
2019.
i think the break from tradition for
maybe the younger generation
is exciting what do i do first um
brisket brisket
whoa wow i can only notice the
difference in the texture
of this brisket than the other ones
we've had especially the bark is
the crispiest maybe which i love the fat
is not as distinct on one part or the
other i feel like it's like a nice
marbling and like fattiness all the way
through and what is this
this is the beef treat should we try
that yeah do some cheeks all right let's
work together yes thank you
whoa whoa
that's incredible i have noticed that
all of these meats the best meats we've
had have some have been like defying
physics where they've been
really juicy and really tender yet
really put together
and just like not falling apart not
sloppy
no clue in how they do it but well i
think the key is that you have to let it
rest
and that lets the juices kind of like
fall back into the meat because if you
slice something open right when it's
finished cooking
all that juice just falls right out so
resting is key that's why you see
everybody wrapping the meats and then
they unwrap them
and slice for service i want to try this
sausage yeah me too
man the snap the snap
you're so right you're showing the money
with sausage having had like that really
good snap
this is almost like crispy snap it's not
like um bounce back it's like
crunch you know what we're missing out
on is this kimchi i've never had kimchi
with barbecue
i love the pickles and the kimchi like
cuts through the richness of what's
going on this plate let's talk about
this pork because the skin
like it wasn't a crispy skin
that's crunchy i love this pork so much
because i'm so sick of eating beef
and now it's time to determine the best
of the best
you know we've had a lot of really
delicious barbecue i am
full of barbecue i'm sweating from
the meat and today and the insane
humidity that's out here it's
so hot humidity too you gotta pick let's
do it go i can see your thing hide it
three ready
i can't believe it is that an x or a t t
it's good i'm going off though
and i'm pretty sure i spelled it out
wrong sorry nick awaits okay you know
what this is my number two
really yes i mean look this is
og it was so good the brisket was great
they had the beef rib every day the beef
rib nobody else does that they all only
do it on the weekend
all right i like i respect the beef rib
every day of the week
right everything about that place just
screamed perfect texas bbq
sure sure uh what i like the most about
nickel weight is
they did everything great and they put
their own little spin on it they didn't
reinvent the wheel
they just said their own specific way
and that to me elevated everything
i think with nickel weight all together
everything just works so perfectly i'm
like dreaming about that brisket here's
what i'll also say about louie miller
the sausage all beef
yeah good point everything had its own
great element
but i think overall louie miller all
beef
texas best barbecue so i'm gonna go
ahead and fold and waffle and say that
louie miller was the best barbecue in
austin texas
look mickel weight's great yeah
franklin's is great larroya lewis is
great they're all delicious but i think
this is the best on a city slicker i'll
say whatever it takes to get out of a
sticky situation
all right well let's go to the airport
okay bye
just look at this beautiful texas
landscape
clue skies yeah let's just get rain all
right now we're just whole people
talking about the weather