Here's a new installment of our "BBQ is" pitmasters portrait project

Ben Washington, Whup's Boomerang Bar-B-Que, Marlin.  (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobia.com)

Posse member Daniel Goncalves is back with the next installment of his "BBQ is" pitmaster portrait series.

The Dallas-based editorial and commercial photographer has been photographing top pitmasters around the state with a Fuji Instax 210 instant film camera. Sixty seconds later the Polaroid is dry and Daniel has each pitmaster fill in the blank with a sharpie on their portrait, "BBQ is ________." With this project, Daniel continues to raise the creative bar for both the Posse and Texas BBQ photography.

Click here to see our first blog post featuring his portraits of Austin pitmasters.

Yes, we're all riding the wave of this Texas barbecue phenomenon

Lockhart Smokehouse pitmaster Will Fleischman. (Photo ©Daniel Goncalves/Fotobia.com)

A while back, after the lunch rush and long before dinner, I was sipping a beer and talking to Will Fleischman, the pitmaster-philosopher at Lockhart Smokehouse in Dallas.

Is the Texas barbecue bubble going to burst? I asked. Will the culinary accolades from around the country and the long lines of customers here eventually go away?

Fleischman acknowledged that the frenzy for Texas barbecue might someday cool. But, he said, he was going to ride the wave of popularity as far as it goes. He had been employed at Lockhart since it opened in 2011. From his point of view, he said, he hadn't worked a day the whole time. It was fun.

There's no argument that Texas barbecue is hot. We have VIP tastings, $150-a-head custom bus tours of top Texas joints, and long lines of regular barbecue lovers happily queuing up for hours just to get served.

I know all that. You could argue that the Posse is just a byproduct of the Texas barbecue resurgence.

But the true extent of this phenomenon didn't become entirely clear to me until this past week.

Dallas BBQ history made at Daniel Vaughn's book party with the first briskets ever cooked in Big D by Aaron Franklin

Aaron Franklin, center, works the serving line while Justin Fourton works his smoker "Lurlene." (Jim Rossman photo)

Friday was an historic night in Dallas barbecue.

The book party for Daniel Vaughn's Prophets of Smoked Meat at the home of Steve and Anne Stodghill brought together four of Texas' best pitmasters: Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge in Dallas, Tim Byres of Smoke in Dallas and Will Fleischman of Lockhart Smokehouse in Dallas.

More evidence of the Texas BBQ hipster pitmaster, and this one's smoking turkey

Lockhart Smokehouse pitmaster Will Fleischman. (Photo ©Chris WIlkins/Texas BBQ Posse) 

While we were at Lockhart Smokehouse in Dallas the other day, pitmaster Will Fleischman stopped by our table to explain his recent experiments cooking turkey breast. He didn't have high hopes, he admitted, but the final product turned out well and will soon be added to the regular menu.

We tried some and it was excellent.

As Fleischman talked, it occurred to us that here was another example of the phenomenon we wrote about recently, the young hipster pitmaster who is changing Texas barbecue.

Last year Fleischman was named one of the 10 best pitmasters in the south by Southern Living magazine. Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin was the only other Texan on the list.

Of course, this week in Dallas, we'll get the debut of the anti-hipster pitmaster when Jack Perkins is scheduled to open his Slow Bone joint at Sylvan and Irving Boulevard.

We can't wait.

Lockhart Smokehouse owner wants to add another pit to keep up with demand at his Oak Cliff joint

Our Shiner Platter lunch at Lockhart Smokehouse. Yes, it was a good as it looks. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins)

During an anything-but-light lunch Thursday at Lockhart Smokehouse in Dallas, owner Jeff Bergus said business has been so strong -- up more than 25 percent this year -- that he's thinking of adding a second pit to the big Bewley that the joint has used since opening in early 2011.

Where would it go?

Bergus said he wasn't sure, but pointed out that there is a small, vacant storefront adjacent to the back of his place, which would be one possibility.

Lockhart is now cooking two tons of meat a week, he said, and sometimes selling out.