Miller's Smokehouse in Belton is moving on up

Dirk Miller, owner & pitmaster of Miller's Smokehouse in Belton. (Photo ©Michael Ainsworth/ Texas BBQ Posse)

We got a chance to visit Saturday with one of our favorite pitmasters in the state, Dirk Miller of Miller's Smokehouse in Belton. Posse member Marshall Cooper & I first visited Miller's in early 2012, after Texas Monthly BBQ editor Daniel Vaughn tweeted about a promising little joint in Belton. It quickly became one of our favorite BBQ places in the state.

Our group of four caught up on all the BBQ news with Dirk, including their move down the street to a much larger space. On our first trip to Miller's four and a half years ago, you walked into a tiny dining room, which has expanded twice since then into a 1600 sq. ft. restaurant. Only 14 months after our first visit, Miller's was named to Texas Monthly's top 50 BBQ joints. Their growing reputation and success since then has been a credit to the Miller family's pursuit of BBQ and dining excellence.

The new restaurant, located a block and a half south on Penelope St., is 7000 sq. ft. and will feature five 1000-gallon indoor smokers. Dirk has the new smokers lined up outside the current building so they will be well-seasoned before the move, which is expected in December. Also, Miller's is now open seven days a week, a rarity in the barbecue business.

I often get the question from co-workers and friends, "I'm heading to Austin the weekend, where's the best BBQ there?" I tell them to pull off I-35 when they get to Belton, then drive a couple of minutes to Miller's Smokehouse. You won't find trendy two-hour lines there, just some of the best BBQ in the entire state. And if he's around, you'll probably get to talk barbecue with one of the top pitmasters in Texas.

Miller's Smokehouse, 208 N Penelope, Belton, 254-939-5500. Open Sun-Thurs 11am until the meat runs out, Fri-Sat 11am-9pm or until the meat runs out.

Work continues on Miller Smokehouse's new location at the corner of Penelope & Central in downtown Belton.
(Photo ©Michael Ainsworth/ Texas BBQ Posse)

Three of Miller Smokehouse's five new 1000-gallon smokers are seasoned beside the current restaurant. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/ Texas BBQ Posse)

An authentic BBQ experience at Billy's Oak Acres in Fort Worth

Lunch is served at Biily's Oak Acres BBQ: Sausage, bologna, brisket, pulled pork, hot links and pork ribs. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobis.com)

On an almost perfect autumn Saturday, there were so many possibilities for fun in North Texas.

-The State Fair.

-Big-time college football with UT at TCU and Baylor against Texas Tech in Arlington.

-The Rangers' pursuit of the American League West title.

-Smoked Dallas, the barbecue and live music event.

The Posse, of course, chose barbecue. But not the Dallas affair, which offered VIP tickets for $90 apiece. For us, the terms "VIP" and "BBQ" just don't go together.

Instead, we drove about 45 miles to Billy's Oak Acres BBQ on the West side of Fort Worth.

With fighter jets from the nearby Naval Air Station periodically roaring overhead, this was an authentic barbecue experience. Hand-lettered signs. Well-worn buildings. A 6-decade old brick pit.

"If you're going to make it in barbecue, you need to keep your overhead low," said pitmaster and owner Billy Woodrich, 46, who opened his joint a couple years ago.

Brisket at Billy's features a great bark.(Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobis.com)

You also need to serve good smoked meat.

"The bark on the brisket is like a meal itself," said Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins.

Phil Lamb called a crusty piece of pulled pork, a "barbecue potato chip."

The pork ribs, perfectly cooked, got our vote as the best meat of the day.

"I like a little sweet in the rub and he's got them just right," said Jim Rossman.

Woodrich, a former bounty hunter, cooks with pecan wood. He also served us smoked bologna and a commercial sausage. All of the meats had a nice, gentle smoke flavor, nothing overpowering.

"This is our kind of place," Wilkins said.

Last year, Billy's joint lost out to the Baby Back Shak in Dallas in an episode of Spike's Hungry Investors. The investors praised Woodrich's food, but not his kitchen logistics. They liked the potential of the Shak better.

But Woodrich still hopes to grow. He said he plans to open a place later this year near Angelo's in Fort Worth.

Billy's Oak Acres BBQ, 1700 N Las Vegas Trail, Fort Worth, 817-367-2200. Open Tues-Sat 11am-8pm, Sun 11am-3pm. http://www.billysoakacresbbq.com

Pitmaster Billy Woodrich serves up a lunch feast for the Posse. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobis.com)

Pitmaster Billy Woodrich shows his 1950's era brick pit to Jim Rossman. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobis.com)

Billy's Oak Acres BBQ is located just off Interstate 820 in northwest Fort Worth. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) 

Check out the map of the Texas BBQ Posse's favorite joints

Since 2009, the Texas BBQ Posse has logged over 7,000 miles visiting joints around the state. In early 2010, group member Gary Barber set up an interactive Google map to chart our favorite BBQ joints around the state. Dozens of BBQ tours have followed since then.

This map shows the places we'd visit again, an unofficial Texas BBQ Posse "stamp of approval." You can click here to access our Google map of Texas BBQ Posse stops. Enjoy the blue highways of Texas BBQ and follow the smoke!

Poll: What are your top 5 Texas BBQ joints?

A father and son wait to order at a Texas barbecue joint. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

It's hard to say what's a more emotional subject for Texans, barbecue or politics.

Over the years we've tried to keep the Posse blog free of partisan politics, there are plenty of other places on the web where you can endlessly argue that subject. But when it comes the BBQ, strong loyalties and opinions have been shared between writers and readers on the Posse blog over the past five years.

Nothing gets BBQ fanatics going like a list of the "top" BBQ joints in Texas. We saw this once again when Gary Jacobson wrote More evidence that Lockhart has lost its barbecue magic last week. He shared the top five lists of several of the Posse members who went on our recent Houston BBQ tour. Some of our readers agreed, others didn't. That's how Texas barbecue goes.......

Just for fun, here's a chance to pick your top five favorites. We listed 26 top Texas BBQ joints (in alphabetical order) to choose from. If some of your favorites aren't listed, just add a comment to this blog post & we'll add it in the final results.

survey solution

Mac's Bar-B-Que of Dallas makes a surprise visit on Men's Journal Top 10 Texas BBQ list

Brisket Frito Pie at Mac's Bar-B-Que in Dallas. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Another day, another Top 10 Texas BBQ list.

It's gotten to the point where every publication, whether they've ever actually ever stepped foot in the state, is coming out with their own top 10 Texas BBQ list.

Outside of Texas Monthly and the Posse's recent Best of Texas BBQ rankings, I pretty much ignore all the often silly lists coming out these days.

However, I couldn't resist the temptation to open a link this weekend from Men's Journal, trumpeting "EXPERT ADVICE: Daniel Vaughn's Top 10 BBQ Joints in Texas."

When Daniel speaks, barbecue fans listen. Thus is the power of the pulpit when you are Texas Monthy's BBQ ambassador.

Will Texas Monthly's Top 5 BBQ joints be same as those named by its new BBQ editor?

During our live online barbecue chat Monday on DallasNews.com, a reader asked us to predict the Top 5 ranked joints in Texas Monthly's 2013 BBQ issue, which should be available soon.

There was considerable agreement among the four Posse members participating. We each put Franklin Barbecue in Austin No. 1. The next three spots were occupied by the same three joints, although the orders differed: Snow's BBQ in Lexington, La Barbecue in Austin and Pecan Lodge in Dallas.

The fifth spot, depending upon the Posse member, went to either Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor or Kreuz Market in Lockhart.

A few hours after the chat ended, I was finally able to get a copy of Daniel's Vaughn's new book, The Prophets of Smoked Meat, which is due out in a couple of weeks.

Vaughn of course is the celebrated blogger -- Full Custom Gospel BBQ -- who recently became BBQ editor of Texas Monthly.

In his book, Vaughn lists his Top 5, not in any designated order: Fargo's Pit BBQ in Bryan, Louie Mueller, Pecan Lodge, Vera's Backyard Bar-B-Que in Brownsville and Franklin.

"In a region where barbacoa is worshipped, a trip to Vera's can double as Sunday mass," Vaughn writes. "Vera's is the only joint in the state still cooking beef heads with wood smoke..."

It will be interesting to see how Vaughn's Top 5 mimic -- or don't -- Texas Monthly's.

Video: The Texas BBQ Posse talks about their Austin BBQ Tour

Here's our latest barbecue tour video, shot and produced by Dallas Morning News photojournalist Nathan Hunsinger.

Is Austin rapidly becoming the the new Texas BBQ capital, replacing Lockhart? Some of our readers wholeheartedly agree, while some consider such statements as blasphemy. Yes, barbecue is a highly emotional issue.

Click here to read our Austin BBQ Tour story and see the tour slideshow on dallasnews.com.

You can join us for an online chat about the Austin BBQ Tour at 1pm-2pm on Monday, April 29th. Click here for the link to the chat on dallasnews.com.

Today in the Dallas Morning News: The BBQ Posse's Austin BBQ Tour

Here's a look at our Austin BBQ Tour story in today's Dallas Morning News travel section. This is the Posse's second installment from the Texas BBQ trail in the DMN this year. Our Best of Texas BBQ project was published in early March.

The tour grew out of a growing suspicion that Austin might be quickly replacing Lockhart as the state's barbecue capital. And nothing we experienced on that day disproved the theory, every stop on the tour was nothing short of sensational.

Click here to see the story, slideshow and video links on the DMN Travel section of dallasnews.com.

Also, you can join us for an online chat about the Austin BBQ Tour at 1pm-2pm on Monday, April 29th. Click here for the link to the chat on dallasnews.com.

Our first Posse wedding and our first taste of John Lewis' pitmaster magic at La Barbecue in Austin

Ali cuts Easter brisket at La Barbecue "Cuisine Texicana" in Austin. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse) 

Over a three-day period recently, Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins and I each ate at La Barbecue "Cuisine Texicana" the trailer start-up in Austin featuring pitmaster John Lewis -- and free beer.

Comparing notes later, we agreed that La Barbecue would have fared well in our recent Best of Texas Tour.

We didn't include it because the joint opened last November and has been operating only a few months. Longevity is a consideration.

On this trip, we went to Austin for the wedding of Posse members Libby Jacobson, my daughter, and Mike Gagne. It was the first wedding in the four-year history of the Posse.

The secret to avoiding those long lines at Franklin Barbecue in Austin

The line was over 100 deep at Franklin BBQ on a recent Saturday. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Even now, four weeks later, we're still complimenting ourselves for our nifty navigation of the long lines at Franklin Barbecue in Austin during the Posse's Best of Texas Tour. People can begin queuing up two hours before the joint opens and the number can quickly grow to a hundred or more.

We took advantage of Franklin's advance-order service and had Posse members and Austin residents Libby Jacobson and Mike Gagne pick up our food before the place opened for regular business.

"It was a glorious feeling," Libby said of walking past the line and directly inside the restaurant to the pick-up counter. "You feel like you're someone special."

Snow's brisket is only meat to score a perfect 10 on Posse's Best of Texas BBQ Tour

Our perfect 10 brisket from Snow's BBQ in Lexington. (Photo by Tom Fox/DMN)

During our recent Best of Texas BBQ Tour, we traveled nearly 700 miles over three days and tasted brisket, pork ribs and sausage at 10 top places in the state.

Each meat was scored on a scale of 1 to 10 (best) by 6 members of Texas BBQ Posse.

Just one received a perfect score: the brisket at Snow's BBQ in Lexington.

Fargo's BBQ - New digs, same great BBQ

Fargo's BBQ co-owners Belender Wells & Alan Caldwell in front of their new sign on 720 N. Texas in Bryan. 

We dropped in on Fargo's BBQ's new location in Bryan as our third of 10 stops of the Top 5 BBQ Tour. They were in their old location five blocks north for 13 years, which didn't have a dining room.

Co-owner Alan Caldwell says the move went smoothly, including moving the original brick pit from the old location, which got broken but was put back together with a little masonry work.

Without a doubt, Fargo's is one of the best BBQ joints in Texas

When you hit the Texas BBQ trail, there are often more disappointments than pleasant surprises. How can a place that looks so cool from the outside have such tasteless meat inside? How can a perennial BBQ people's choice winner be so bad? We've seen and learned a lot over the past two and a half years as we travel around the state searching for the best smoked meats.

Our recent Speedtrap BBQ Tour is a perfect example. Snow's BBQ and City Meat Market in Giddings were off-the-charts good, just like they've always been when we go there. The next couple of stops looked really intriguing from the outside but didn't rise to the top of our evolving list of favorite joints.

However, our last stop of the day was the game changer. We first heard of Fargo's Pit BBQ in Bryan when BBQ Snob Daniel Vaughn gave it five stars after his first visit in 2010, one of only 17 five-stars Daniel had recognized in the country. We had high hopes but are accustomed to disappointment on the BBQ trail.

We drove north up Hwy. 6 from Navasota and headed west at the MLK St. exit in Bryan, then north on Texas Ave. until we saw the blue facade of Fargo's on the left. We applied our criteria for a great joint: Cool looking building - check. Handmade signs - check. You smell smoke as you approach the driveway - check. Cash-only sign - extra points. Fargo's was looking good indeed.

Owner Alan Caldwell greeted us at the counter, working the joint with his wife and son. We told him this was our last of five stops that day. He said Fargo's should have been our first stop and he was right. The meats, priced at $10 a pound, were displayed in a glass-enclosed warmer and looked amazing. And they tasted as good as they looked.

Just as he had done with the BBQ Snob, Alan declined to show us the pit or tell us what kind of wood he uses. I guess it's a trade secret and he understands how good his product is. Just a hunch, but I suspect when the Texas Monthly Top BBQ 50 list comes out in 2013, this place will be a busier than ever.

We headed north toward Dallas after eating every last morsel of meat we ordered from Fargo's. One of the Posse members, who will remain unnamed, even ate a small chunk of brisket that had fallen on the bumper after we had eaten on the tailgate of Marshall Cooper's Tahoe. Since Fargo's doesn't have seating, you have to get creative if you want to eat onsite. Like Meshack's BBQ in Garland, another Posse favorite.

We must have debated for the next hour about what we had just experienced at Fargo's. We've learned to be cautious in our assessments, but someone declared Fargo's to be the best stop of the day. A day that included Snow's and Giddings.

I'm not prepared to make such a bold statement yet, after only one visit. However, we'll be back there in March at the top of our Houston BBQ Tour. The first stop of the day. Daniel Vaughn has seen enough though. Late last week, he named Fargo's as his second six-star joint ever. Franklin BBQ was the first he named in September 2011. That's pretty lofty territory the little blue BBQ joint on Texas Ave. in Bryan.

Fargo’s Pit BBQ, 1220 N. Texas Ave., Bryan TX 77803. Phone: 979-778-3662. Hours: Tue-Sat, 11 am-7 pm.

Photos by Bruce Tomaso, Jim Rossman & Chris Wilkins

Check out the Posse's BBQ destinations story in the Dallas Morning News

Dallas Morning News travel section editor Mary Ellen Botter recently asked Gary Jacobson and I to come up with a list of the Texas BBQ Posse's favorite joints to visit. We solicited suggestions from the posse and were off and running.

We weren't trying to come up with a list for the best meats we'd sampled, we did that last December in our piece Announcing the Posse's "2010 Best in Texas BBQ picks and will follow up annually with updated lists.

This is just an unofficial accounting of cool places we've been, though like any BBQ list I'm sure it will stir some controversy. At least three of these places would not make our Best in Texas rankings, though they are fun joints worth the road trip for a visit.

For instance, Hard Eight in Stephenville probably doesn't have any of my "best of" meat selections, though the singer Jewel would likely disagree! Late last summer we spent a hot afternoon in the pits watching, learning and asking questions of the pitmasters. The meats are pretty good and they taken performance BBQ to a new level.

Pecan Lodge in Dallas was another interesting choice for us. We are all in agreement that the meats coming off Justin Fourton's smoker are world-class, but it's not exactly a "joint," residing in Dallas Farmers Market shed #2. It wasn't on the initial list, but Posse member Phil Lamb made a great point and we added them.

Phil wrote, "I need to revise my list... When we emailed last week, I dinged Pecan Lodge due to atmosphere. After eating there on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, however, I think it should be included. Although the actual restaurant atmosphere is not great, we really enjoyed being at the Farmers' Market. That aspect makes Pecan Lodge very unique and I hope to get down there for more fresh fruits/veggies and good BBQ soon."

You can click here to see our story online at dallasnews.com. Good news, it's not behind the paywall, so non-subscribers should be able to see it. There's also an embedded slideshow of cool bbq pix you can click on to get a look at our picks.

We'd love to hear what places you think should be added to the list. There are obviously some great destination joints we didn't have the room to include. We have a bbq trip planned to Houston in the fall and will see if some of those places make their way onto our list as well.

Meshack's Bar-B-Que in Garland named as one of the best in the country

The honors continue for one of the Possse's favorite BBQ joints in the state. Meshack's Bar-B-Que Shack in Garland has been named in the list of Top 21 BBQ Sandwiches in this month's Garden & Gun magazine.

The slick looking national magazine describes itself as, "A Southern lifestyle magazine that's all about the magic of the new South - sporting culture, food, music, art, literature, people, and ideas."

Meshack's owners Donna and Travis Mayes got a visit yesterday from the city of Garland, who will be honoring them with a proclamation at the next Garland City Council meeting. Congrats to the Mayes family on their achievement, what a great accolade for one of the best BBQ joints around....

Photo by Irwin Thompson

See the latest & greatest photos of Franklin Barbecue in Austin

My Dallas Morning News colleague Guy Reynolds made a couple of trips to Austin to shoot photos for a page one story on Franklin Barbecue, which has attained cult status in an amazingly short length of time.

Click here to see the slideshow of Guy's work, behind-the-scenes photos of Aaron Franklin & crew from the early hours working the pits to closing time, and everything in between. Above is a photo of Aaron and wife Stacy relaxing in front of the little turquoise trailer that started it all.

Guy describes how he shot the Franklin portrait on his facebook page, "I shot that portrait of Aaron and Stacy on 4x5 film with an 1950's Graflex Crown Graphic just because, well, I can. Real photography: what a concept."

The Morning News story is behind the paywall, but you can see it if you are a DMN customer or digital subscriber.

Photo by Guy Reynolds/The Dallas Morning News

Report from the new Franklin Barbecue: It's still the same ol' amazing BBQ

Texas BBQ Posse member Phil Lamb checks in after a visit to Franklin Barbecue's new location at 900 E. 11th in Austin. Franklin's former home, the little blue trailer at Concordia & I-35, quickly became a Texas BBQ legend.

Can pitmaster Aaron Franklin continue to produce what some call the best brisket in Texas at his new sit down restaurant? That's the million dollar question among Texas BBQ followers.

Phil writes:

I had another great BBQ lunch at Franklin this afternoon. My uncle and I did 1 lb. brisket (lean), 1 lb. brisket (fatty), 2 lbs ribs and 2 sausage links. All were outstanding. Lots of smoke, great bark.

Texas Monthly's Pat Sharpe joins the Top 50 BBQ dialogue....

Texas Monthly executive editor and food writer Pat Sharpe graciously comments on our blog posts regarding their Top 50 BBQ rankings. We wanted to publish her comments in a seperate post to be sure everyone got a chance to read it.

Hello, all.

Since I am the person who heads up Texas Monthly's top-fifty list every five years, let me respond to a couple of questions. We do, in fact (as Jacob said, above), indicate whether each place uses wood or gas/electric, but it's in the form of a symbol (of flames or a commercial smoker) so a reader might not notice it immediately.

This thread suggests we should put the description in words next time. Forty-one places on the list use wood and nine use gas or electric (one of those has a combo).

Like all of you, I prefer wood-smoked barbecue (who in their right mind doesn't?). But if we had not considered 'cue done in a commercial smoker when we did the tasting in 2008, we would have left out these cities altogether: Austin, Crockett, Dickens, Harlingen, Jacksonville, Los Fresnos, Paris, Peadenville, and San Benito.

No matter how much we might regret it, the barbecue world is moving rapidly in the direction of commercial smokers. When I participated in my first Texas Monthly barbecue round-up in 1997, there was probably not a commercial smoker in use except at the big chains. Now they are all over the place.

We made the decision to judge the meat solely on the basis of taste, on the theory that there is more to smoking than fuel source (like keeping the temperature constant and quality of meat, to name just two).

Was that a good or a bad decision? I'm curious to know what readers of Texas BBQ Posse think. We'll be doing the story again in two years, so there is time to mull it over.

Pat Sharpe, executive editor and food writer, Texas Monthly

More on Texas Monthly’s taking the gas

I don’t mean to pour charcoal lighter on the fire, but Gary is indisputably correct about gas versus wood: No one who cooks with gas belongs on a list of Texas’ best barbecue joints, any more than grape Nehi belongs on a wine list. (And the offense isn't pardoned just because the gas cook throws on, as Marshall Cooper puts it, "a couple of sticks of wood for perfume.")

Texas Monthly, more than most, ought to realize this. Indeed, in the introduction to the magazine’s last Top 50 issue (published in June 2008), the editors described their vaunted list thusly:

Our quintessential, quinquennial review of the fifty best barbecue joints in Texas, with special attention paid to the top five (one of which you’ve probably never heard of), the cherished components of the classic barbecue meal, and the pits in which our meats are smoked, seared, or (Lord help us!) gassed. (Emphasis added.)

Patricia Sharpe, Monthly’s superb food writer, wrote that the 2008 list differed from the 2003 list in at least one important way:

[T]he biggest change over the past five years is that the gas-burning commercial smoker is gaining ground. …To give the devil his due, this contraption has brought acceptable barbecue to areas where it hardly existed, like the Rio Grande Valley. The danger is that it will replace traditional pit-smoking, as fewer and fewer people are willing to get up at three in the morning to sustain this labor-intensive craft. The smoker has also enabled giant, mediocre chains … to proliferate like houseflies. With so many children cutting their teeth on institutional barbecue, one fears for the future.

All of which leads one to ask: If the thought of cooking with gas instead of wood makes you gasp, “Lord help us!”, if the nicest thing you can say about gas is that it’s made “acceptable” barbecue more widely available, if there’s a danger that it will drive true wood-smoking into a small corner of the barbecue world, if it’s to blame for the success of “giant, mediocre chains,” and if it threatens to produce a generation of Texans who know nothing but “institutional barbecue” – then why can’t you people find 50 top joints in the Great State of Texas that cook brisket the way God meant it to be cooked: With wood?

Photos by Chris Wilkins & David Woo

'Someone needs to call out Texas Monthly on its Top 50 BBQ joints'

One of the great things about full-day barbecue tours is the time it allows for important, spirited debates about important issues.

Some of the topics we've addressed: Is it ever worth making a special stop at a joint that advertises on a highway billboard? (No.) Should you make an impromptu stop at a place that has "Soulman" in its name? (Probably not. They're trying too hard.) Can "great" sausage ever truly compare to "great" brisket? (No. We need a new grading system for sausage.)

On our East Texas tour last weekend, we got into a new hot topic.

"Someone needs to call out Texas Monthly on its Top 50 BBQ joints" one Posse member said as we were driving back to Dallas after eating at five places. Four of them were Texas Monthly Top 50 picks in 2008, the last rankings. Two cooked with wood (Stanley's in Tyler and Baby J's in Palestine) and two with gas (Stacy's in Jacksonville and Cripple Creek in Athens).

To us, there was no comparison. In taste, the guys with the gas-fired smokers didn't come close to the guys using all wood.

"They should have separate lists," someone said of Texas Monthly.

"They shouldn't include the gas guys," another said.

"They should at least tell you when the place uses gas," another said. "What does it take to walk to the back of the joint and check out the pit?"

None of the criticisms were uttered lightly. We consider Texas Monthly's once-every-five-years ranking the bible of Texas barbecue. And, we love going to Lambert's in Austin. We just don't consider it a true BBQ place.

So, Texas Monthly, consider yourself called out.

Photos by Chris Wilkins & Jeff Haynes