The Best Barbecue Near Burnt Bean Co., by the Record

The line forms before the doors open, which has been the rhythm at this Seguin BBQ shop since Ernest Servantes and Dave Kirkland, both decorated in the competition circuit, opened together. The industrial room with iron beams and exposed brick fills fast. Brisket, ribs, and sausage lean toward tender and lightly smoked rather than aggressively bark-forward. A Michelin Bib Gourmand and a James Beard nomination keep the queue honest.

1. Texas Monthly #1 · The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Ernest Servantes and David Kirkland
3. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Barbs B Q is a weekend-only BBQ shop in Lockhart that draws hours-long lines on Saturdays and Sundays, which is the only time the pitmaster opens the doors. The compact menu runs classic smoked meats with unexpected turns, like pork ribs finished with lime zest and turkey with a black pepper rub. Texas Monthly, Bon Appétit, and the New York Times have all taken notice, and the Michelin Guide awards it a Bib Gourmand.

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
2. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
3. The New York Times The Restaurant List

The menu lives on a board, the pits run on post oak and mesquite, and the building used to sell gasoline. This is a barbecue counter in a converted gas station on Loop 410, and it's been going strong for decades. All meat is cut to order, the brisket sandwich arrives on cottony white bread that's somehow exactly right, and Mimi's potato salad, a family recipe, is the side you don't skip. The Michelin Guide has it listed.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio

The picadillo mac and cheese earned a shoutout from the New York Times, which tells you something about what this South Side BBQ counter is doing. Everything is cut and weighed market style, so you load your tray with brisket, turkey, and sides that lean hard into Mexican tradition: pickled nopales, street corn, chicharrón mac. A line forms early and moves slowly for good reason. Texas Monthly put it on their statewide list, and a James Beard semifinalist nod followed.

1. The New York Times Picadillo Macaroni and Cheese · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
2. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Two brothers run this Texas BBQ shop near the stadium, open only Thursday through Saturday, which keeps the line long and the brisket moving fast. The setup is classic smoke-and-queue, but house-made flour tortillas stand in for white bread, and the sides swing toward poblano mac and cheese and okra-laced beans. Texas Monthly named it one of the state's 50 best BBQ joints, which the regulars already knew.

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
2. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
2. San Antonio Express-News #25 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Andrew Ho, Andrew Samia, and Sean Wen

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Andrew Ho, Andrew Samia, and Sean Wen
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Andrew Ho, Andrew Samia, and Sean Wen

Brisket exists here, but only on Fridays, which tells you something about a barbecue joint's confidence. LeRoy and Lewis is a new-school BBQ shop in Garrison Park, run by two couples who built it from a food truck into a Michelin-starred spot with glazed brick walls and a peaked roof. The menu leans into beef cheeks, rotating sausages, and whatever specials the week demands, with banana pudding tiramisu for anyone who needed proof this isn't a traditionalist operation.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. Texas Monthly #2 · The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
3. The Infatuation #4 · The 25 Best Restaurants In Austin

Damien Brockway runs a BBQ truck parked at Meanwhile Brewing, and the cooking draws on African diaspora traditions in ways that make the usual brisket-and-sausage spread feel like a starting point rather than the whole story. Pecan-smoked chicken and nose-to-tail restraint sit alongside rotating sides that shift the genre somewhere new. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and Brockway is a James Beard semifinalist. Come early, bring patience, leave with extra napkins.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Eater The Best New Restaurants in America
3. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Austin