Texas takes their barbecue seriously. So serious that Texas’ own magazine (and ezine) Texas Monthly goes out every 5 years, travels over 15,000 miles and visit over 340 BBQ establishments to name the best BBQ joints in the Lone Star state. This year’s winner: A tiny cafe in a little town of Lexington called Snow’s BBQ.
Snow’s BBQ is about an hour’s drive northeast of Austin and is surprisingly open only on Saturdays. Owner Kerry Bexley a former rodeo clown and prison guard, comes into work Friday night to fire up the oak logs. They open at 8 a.m. and will stay open until they sell out and from the sound of their BBQ and only being open one day per week, I bet they sell out every time.
Pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz, 73, has been cooking barbecue in central Texas for over 42 years. She comes
into work around 2 a.m. early Saturday morning.
“We were named No. 1 in Texas and from that point on our whole business has changed drastically,” Bexley says. “We’ve gone from cooking from 300 pounds to cooking in excess of 1,000 pounds, and last week we sold out before 10 [a.m.].”
With all the hoopla lately it’s not uncommon for folks to call ahead from miles away and order a half-a-pound of BBQ, sausage and some ribs. Even with the high price of gasoline these days, people will travel pretty far to get great barbecue. And great barbecue is what they’ll get at Snow’s BBQ!
Executive editor and chief gourmand at Texas Monthly couldn’t believe there was an unknown great barbecue place in Texas yet to be discovered. Some of the best known barbecue places in Texas are Louie Mueller in Taylor, Kreuz Market and Smitty’s in Lockhart, Coopers in Llano and City Market in Luling. Snow’s BBQ is only 5 years old and only a baby compared to the well-known Texas BBQ joints.
Even Miss Tootsie will agree that the fame of becoming #1 in Texas has changed business there. “There’s no time for relaxation”, she says in her Texas Monthly interview.
People line up 7:00 in the morning 20+ deep waiting to get inside for BBQ. They have to because Snow’s BBQ on the particular day Texas Monthly was there, sold out of barbecue within an hour. Folks from all over the state and even out of state have been coming by to try Tootsie’s BBQ. She’s even getting worried there won’t be any barbecue for their locals who have been eating her great BBQ for many years.
I only have one thing to say to owner Kerry Bexley; It looks like it’s time to open your doors more than one day per week!
