LeRoy And Lewis Barbecue – Austin, Texas

What can you say about a wife who practically pushes her husband out the door so he can gallavant through the Lone Star State in pursuit of barbecue?  That’s precisely what my Kim did.  She didn’t do so out of malice or because she’s tired of me.  Far from it.  We’ve been together for four decades.  There’s no one whose company I enjoy more and it’s mutual.  Throughout my Air Force career, we were stationed far away from family and had only ourselves to rely on.  We’ve grown together both figuratively and literally (mostly me).  While I would love for my Kim to be by my side every moment of every day, she knows I sometimes need to explore culinary horizons by myself, advance scouting for when I can take her with me.

Mysandrists might decry the Austin weather as divine retribution for me traveling without my bride and our debonair dachsund, The Dude.  An uncommon cold spell has limited my outdoor activity to getting in the car and driving to one of the anointed restaurants on my list.  On February 8, the high temperature in Austin was 88.  Since my arrival, the high temperature has been in the low 30s with wind chills making it feel much colder.  At least the barbecue has exceeded expectations even if the weather hasn’t.  Thankfully, save for I-35, Austin’s highway infrastructure is efficient and drivers mostly polite.  It’s a far cry from driving the mean streets of Albuquerque.

Second on my list of restaurants to visit was LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue which earned a Michelin Star in 2024.  By definition, a Michelin star signifies “a very good restaurant.”  That definition is very misleading.  Only 2,817 restaurants in the world have Michelin status of any kind.  Considered the most prestigious culinary award in the world, a Michelin star can be the honor of a lifetime, one that can greatly alter the trajectory of a restaurant, usually for the better.  2024 was the first year in which Michelin evaluators visited Texas.  Fittingly, they included barbecue restaurants in their itinerary of visits.

As if a Michelin star isn’t enough, in 2025 Evan LeRoy of LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue was nominated for the prestigious James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef – Texas” honors.  He sailed through the first round to be named a semifinalist for the award.  In Texas, Michelin stars and James Beard awards are almost secondary to being ranked among the best barbecue joints in the Lone Star state.  In the 2021 compilation (the next edition is due in mid-2025) of Texas Monthly’s “Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints,” LeRoy and Lewis was ranked number five.  At the time in which Texas Monthly’s Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn compiled the sacrosanct listing, LeRoy and Lewis were plying their inimitable craft from a food truck.

Vaughn noted that “The joint’s ethos is aptly summed up in its slogan: “New School BBQ, Old School Service.” At LeRoy and Lewis, the new-school approach means Evan LeRoy eschews pork ribs (though on Saturdays he does offer “bacon ribs”—massive pork ribs with the belly still attached) and turkey (except around Thanksgiving) and serves brisket only on Saturdays and Sundays. (Said brisket is Akaushi, by the way, and a good reason for a weekend visit.)   Seven years after debuting its popular trailer, LeRoy and Lewis  launched its 5,000 square-foot brick-and-mortar in South Austin on February 28, 2023.  With more commodious digs to operate from, brisket is now an everyday offering.  LeRoy and Lewis is a “whole animal barbecue restaurant,” that includes lesser-used cuts as well as beef cheeks.

As you approach the restaurant, you’ll notice that it has its own version of the yellow brick road.  Signage wrapping almost all the way around the building propels you forward until you reach Nirvana.  Perhaps the one good thing to come out of visiting Austin during an Arctic winter blast is that there was practically no line when I arrived at LeRoy and Lewis on a Thursday evening at about 4:45PM.  The Thursday special is smoked chicken fried steak with cream gravy, mashed potatoes and a Parker House roll.  You’re probably wondering why anyone would have chicken fried steak at a barbecue restaurant, particularly one that earned the honors detailed above.

One of the reasons is in honor of my friend Bruce “Sr Plata” Silver, architect of Sr. Plata’s Chicken Fried Steak Trail.  For years I’ve been practically begging my friend to join me on a Central Texas barbecue excursion.  Since he’s been unable to do so, I’m hoping my visit will either make him jealous enough–or hungry enough–to join me during a future visit.  Sr. Plata would have loved the smoked chicken fried steak, especially since the cream gravy had no swine.  This may well be the best chicken fried steak I’ve ever had–and as my probably slightly clogged arteries will attest, I’ve had a lot of chicken fried steak.  Crispy edges skirted the tender slab which covered much of the plate.  Each forkful was like a hug from your grandmother, enveloping me in love and warmth.   The cream gravy is crowned with green onions and a lot of black pepper though not enough gravy to cover the mashed potatoes.

Though the smoked chicken fried steak should have been enough to fill me up, I didn’t come to one of the premier barbecue restaurants in the world to completely eschew barbecue.  Instead of the requisite brisket, beef cheeks or tri-tip dinner, my choice was the L&L Burger (smoked and seared one-half pound brisket patty, American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and special sauce nestled in a potato bun).  The ground brisket is Akaushi beef, a specific Wagyu cattle breed, separate and distinct from other Japanese cattle breeds.  That’s premium beef, about as good as you can get.

My server told me “you’ve never had anything like this.”  I could have retorted about the dozens of smoked burgers I enjoyed at the legendary Smokehouse Barbecue restaurant in Rio Rancho, but I had the feeling the L&L burger would be even better and that’s saying a lot.  Let’s just say it’s the best burger I’ve ever had without green chile.  Moreover, it ranks with my favorite green chile cheeseburgers as among the best burgers I’ve ever had.  I would consider moving to the Austin area just to be close to this spectacular wonder.  My initial plan was to consume it at my hotel, but when it was plated for dining-in, I had to do the right thing and take a stab at eating half before asking for a doggy bag.  Like all of life’s most pleasurable bites, it was impossible to stop.  My face and hands resembled those of Dennis the Menace.  Fortunately no one at the restaurant knew me.

Only one thing could have made my first two visits to Austin Michelin starred barbecue joints better and that would have been having my bride with me.  She would have loved LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue as much as I did.

LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue
5621 Emerald Forest Drive
Austin, Texas
(512) 962-7805
Website | Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 20 February 2025
# OF VISITS: 1
RATING: N/R
COST: $$$
BEST BET: Smoked Chicken Fried Steak, L&L Burger, Big Red
REVIEW #1453