‘Texas Monthly’ Says Three Austin Restaurants Are Making Some of the Best Barbecue in Texas

The sixth edition of Texas Monthly’s hotly-anticipated best barbecue restaurants of the state list is here, and three Austin restaurants made the top 10 portion. Interstellar Barbecue made its first-ever list appearance at No. 2, LeRoy & Lewis at No. 3 (also first time to the list), and list regular Franklin Barbecue at No. 7 (down from last year’s No. 2 position.)

Nabbing the No. 1 spot is Goldee’s in Fort Worth, where the ownership and pitmaster group has a lot of Austin barbecue and restaurant experience: Lane Milne (Micklethwait Craft Meats and now-closed Freedmen’s), Jonny White (Franklin and Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ), Jalen Heard (Freedmen's and Banger’s), Nupohn Inthanousay (who managed Thai Kun), and PJ Inthanousay. Dylan Taylor, who worked at La Barbecue and had wanted to open an Austin restaurant, had been part of the founding group but has stepped away from the restaurant at the moment.

Snow’s Barbecue, in Lexington under the amazing Tootsie Tomanetz, Kerry Bexley, and Clay Cowgill, dropped from its previous No. 1 spot to No. 9 this year.

The publication notes that 29 entrants are first-timers to this barbecue list. The top ten is much more diverse than it has been in the past, too.

Interstellar co-owner John Bates and Brandon Martinez opened in 2019 converting one of the locations of their now-permanently-closed restaurant Noble Sandwich Co. into a smoked meats spot. The team is rounded out by pitmasters Carlos Cruz and Warren McDonald.

Pitmaster and co-owner Evan LeRoy opened new-school barbecue truck LeRoy & Lewis with managing partners Nathan and Sawyer Lewis in 2017 (they won Eater Austin’s Best Food Truck later that year). The team plans on opening a physical location with a brewery component eventually.

Franklin co-owners pitmaster Aaron Franklin and Stacy Franklin opened the namesake barbecue restaurant in 2009. Now the pitmaster team includes Jordan Jackson, Megan Nesland, and Matthew Van Orden.

Texas Monthly’s Top 10 Best Barbecue Restaurants

1. Goldee’s Barbecue (Fort Worth)
2. Interstellar BBQ (Austin)
3. Truth Barbeque (Houston)
4. Burnt Bean Co. (Seguin)
5. LeRoy & Lewis (Austin)
6. Cattleack Barbeque (Dallas)
7. Franklin Barbecue (Austin)
8. Evie Mae’s Pit Barbeque (Wolforth)
9. Snow’s BBQ (Lexington)
10. Panther City BBQ (Fort Worth)

The Rest of the Austin Barbecue Restaurants From the Unranked Top 50 List

• Distant Relatives
• La Barbecue
• Micklethwait Craft Meats
• Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ

Update, October 19, 2021, 10:13 a.m.: This article, originally published on October 18, 2021, has been updated to reflect Dylan Taylor’s status at Goldee’s.

• The 50 Best BBQ Joints 2021 [Texas Monthly]
• All Coverage of Interstellar BBQ [EATX]
• All Coverage of LeRoy & Lewis [EATX]
• All Coverage of Franklin Barbecue [EATX]