Google lists Lewis Barbecue as "Texas-style house-smoked meats served in an industrial-hip space with a bar & outdoor tables." This really under-represents this place.
The wait was nearly nonexistant. There were maybe 6 or 8 folks in line ahead of us but they had 2 spots to place orders so we waited about 2 minutes total. I didn't know it at the time, but John Lewis himself was cutting meat and taking our orders. Tall, thin, very polite and patient, black framed glasses. Sort of an Aaron Franklin vibe. Makes sense, as he's originally from Texas too. Order as much or as little of anything, they weight it and plop it neatly on your tray. "Plates" are simply sections of pink butcher paper. They ask how many's in your party, and they rip off that many slices of paper.
I ordered 1lb brisket, 1lb ribs, and 1/2 lb pulled pork. For sides- mac 'n cheese, tater salad and fries.
Brisket was super tender, almost too tender, but the slices held up. I ordered fatty and wasn't disappointed. PERFECT saltiness. I could've handled more pepper spice, but the rub was a great wide audience pleaser. My mom who doesn't care for smoked meats raved, she thought it was excellent. I didn't expect her to like the place so much.
Ribs were full spares, sliced into long single bones at order. The flavor had a slight vinegar vibe going on, assuming from a baste. Not what I expected, but delicious. They were edging more toward fall-apart than gentle tug, but held their shape until tackled by the tooth and overall were great. My dad raved about the ribs.
Pulled pork was fantastic. Less smoke & bark than my homemade stuff (assuming because they cook large butts whole), but the texture and overall flavor was awesome.
The fries are unique. Sorta spirally wedges cut thick but perfectly crisp and tasty. Honorable mention to the fries!
Mac 'n cheese was quite rich, too much for me. I wonder if they use Monterray jack cheese. I am a big Mac 'n cheese fan, but this wasn't my favorite. My son loved it though.
I didn't get to sample the tater salad, it was gone in a hurry. I take this to mean my family loved it enough to eat it all before I could.
They serve the meat on a single tray, on pink butcher paper, with [what seemed like] homemade dill pickle chips, pickled onion, ( <-- these two for color certainly, but also were quite tasty) and white bread slices.
There's a separate smoker house, similar to what you may have seen at Franklin BBQ in Austin, with 4 huge stickburners going inside. I didn't ask for a tour or anything.
LOTS of seating, both indoor and out in a well laid out outdoor patio area with lots of lighting and a friendly neighborhood cat. We ate outside since it was a nice 70 degree day. Classic country played over the speakers in the outdoor area, much to my dad's delight. I too like classic country and it was a nice change over the modern hip hop crap that every other restaurant plays all. the. time. [eyeroll]
There's also a separate bar room with several more seats. The 2 pics above show the bar room in the background, you walk through that to get into the main dining and ordering area (far background), which itself is quite large I thought. I walked up to the bar to order drinks, both adult and root beers for the kids, and the young gentleman at the bar was very friendly and gave me a tray to bring the drinks out on.
All in all a 9.5/10. Why not a 10 you ask? Because a 10 indicates perfection and I have yet to meet perfection, but this was SO close! The only reason I knocked a 1/2 pt off was because I could think of a couple small tweaks to make it perfect in my personal opinion, but this is simply me being picky, no real flaws here at all. I can tell this fella loves his craft and is great at it. I would wholeheartedly recommend Lewis Barbecue to anyone. I've never eaten at Franklin, but I suspect the brisket is darn close if not the same.
The aftermath. My family of 5 was pleasantly full and we still had mac 'n cheese to take home. Best $92-ish (plus drinks) I've spent in ages. Fantastic BBQ.
One of the mobile smokers in the parking lot, wood locker behind it.
The wait was nearly nonexistant. There were maybe 6 or 8 folks in line ahead of us but they had 2 spots to place orders so we waited about 2 minutes total. I didn't know it at the time, but John Lewis himself was cutting meat and taking our orders. Tall, thin, very polite and patient, black framed glasses. Sort of an Aaron Franklin vibe. Makes sense, as he's originally from Texas too. Order as much or as little of anything, they weight it and plop it neatly on your tray. "Plates" are simply sections of pink butcher paper. They ask how many's in your party, and they rip off that many slices of paper.
I ordered 1lb brisket, 1lb ribs, and 1/2 lb pulled pork. For sides- mac 'n cheese, tater salad and fries.
Brisket was super tender, almost too tender, but the slices held up. I ordered fatty and wasn't disappointed. PERFECT saltiness. I could've handled more pepper spice, but the rub was a great wide audience pleaser. My mom who doesn't care for smoked meats raved, she thought it was excellent. I didn't expect her to like the place so much.
Ribs were full spares, sliced into long single bones at order. The flavor had a slight vinegar vibe going on, assuming from a baste. Not what I expected, but delicious. They were edging more toward fall-apart than gentle tug, but held their shape until tackled by the tooth and overall were great. My dad raved about the ribs.
Pulled pork was fantastic. Less smoke & bark than my homemade stuff (assuming because they cook large butts whole), but the texture and overall flavor was awesome.
The fries are unique. Sorta spirally wedges cut thick but perfectly crisp and tasty. Honorable mention to the fries!
Mac 'n cheese was quite rich, too much for me. I wonder if they use Monterray jack cheese. I am a big Mac 'n cheese fan, but this wasn't my favorite. My son loved it though.
I didn't get to sample the tater salad, it was gone in a hurry. I take this to mean my family loved it enough to eat it all before I could.
They serve the meat on a single tray, on pink butcher paper, with [what seemed like] homemade dill pickle chips, pickled onion, ( <-- these two for color certainly, but also were quite tasty) and white bread slices.
There's a separate smoker house, similar to what you may have seen at Franklin BBQ in Austin, with 4 huge stickburners going inside. I didn't ask for a tour or anything.
LOTS of seating, both indoor and out in a well laid out outdoor patio area with lots of lighting and a friendly neighborhood cat. We ate outside since it was a nice 70 degree day. Classic country played over the speakers in the outdoor area, much to my dad's delight. I too like classic country and it was a nice change over the modern hip hop crap that every other restaurant plays all. the. time. [eyeroll]
There's also a separate bar room with several more seats. The 2 pics above show the bar room in the background, you walk through that to get into the main dining and ordering area (far background), which itself is quite large I thought. I walked up to the bar to order drinks, both adult and root beers for the kids, and the young gentleman at the bar was very friendly and gave me a tray to bring the drinks out on.
All in all a 9.5/10. Why not a 10 you ask? Because a 10 indicates perfection and I have yet to meet perfection, but this was SO close! The only reason I knocked a 1/2 pt off was because I could think of a couple small tweaks to make it perfect in my personal opinion, but this is simply me being picky, no real flaws here at all. I can tell this fella loves his craft and is great at it. I would wholeheartedly recommend Lewis Barbecue to anyone. I've never eaten at Franklin, but I suspect the brisket is darn close if not the same.
The aftermath. My family of 5 was pleasantly full and we still had mac 'n cheese to take home. Best $92-ish (plus drinks) I've spent in ages. Fantastic BBQ.
One of the mobile smokers in the parking lot, wood locker behind it.
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