The Texas Monthly BBQ Fest (TMBBQFest) is an event I’ve never been to but thanks to a partnership at work, I received two complimentary general admission tickets from Texas Monthly to attend this year. Food festivals are lots of fun, and I was excited to see what this one is all about!
I do love barbecue but this festival has always been daunting to me! With 30 barbecue joints from all over Texas, it’s a lot of meat to try, not to mention all the sides and dessert they also bring. When we arrived, the smell of barbecue was overwhelmingly delicious. Our strategy was to visit restaurants outside of Austin because we have easier access to Austin barbecue. We ended up trying 10 of the 30 bbq joints!
Here are all the barbecue places that represented this year:
- 2M Smokehouse
- Baker Boys BBQ
- BBQ on the Brazos
- Bodacious Bar-B-Q Mobberly
- Blood Bros. BBQ
- Cattleack Barbeque
- Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que
- Evie Mae’s Pit Barbecue
- The Granary ’Cue & Brew
- Guess Family Barbecue
- Hays Co. Bar-B-Que
- Heim Barbecue
- Hutchins BBQ
- Killen’s Barbecue
- la Barbecue
- Lockhart Smokehouse
- Louie Mueller Barbecue
- Micklethwait Craft Meats
- Miller’s Smokehouse
- Pinkerton’s Barbecue
- PODY’s BBQ
- Roegels Barbecue Co.
- Smolik’s Smokehouse
- Snow’s BBQ
- Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew
- Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue
- Terry Black’s Barbecue
- Truth BBQ
- Tyler’s Barbeque
- Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ
My favorite stop was Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue from Tomball. They knew what they were doing because their plate included two slices of meat and two desserts – pork belly, chile relleño sausage, carrot souffle, and spiced chai panna cotta.
Killen’s Barbecue of Pearland served crispy good fried chicken!
I also loved Cattleack Barbeque (of Farmers Branch)’s pastrami burnt ends.
TMBBQFest Tips
Will and I were very unprepared for this festival! It was our first time and we went in with no expectations. We simply wanted to eat some good barbecue and enjoy the day. After up and down weather in Texas in the last two weeks, the weather turned out perfect for this event! We were pleasantly full when we left about an hour and a half later.
However, being the planner that I am, these are the tips I recommend if you go!
1. Wear sunglasses and a hat.
It was a beautiful day but also very sunny! These were must-haves to be comfortable.
2. Get there early.
The lines start as you’re trying to park your car. Since the event is on a Sunday, you could grab a street spot downtown for free and walk across the bridge. The closest parking is at the Palmer Events Center for $8, but get there early as it can take at least 20 minutes to get in. There are also long lines to get into the festival at 1 pm, so if you want to try a specific restaurant, get there early! By 2:30 pm, some restaurants had already run out of bbq, so be early to get the best bites.
3. Splurge for VIP tickets.
One way to avoid the lines is to buy a VIP ticket. This allows you to get into the festival at noon, one hour earlier than general admission. Some restaurants have special items on the menu specifically for VIP hour. General admission tickets were $80 and VIP was $165 and included extra perks like two drink tickets.
4. Split your dishes.
You can get full very easily after visiting a few booths, so to try more restaurants, split the plate with a friend. You’ll save stomach space and help cut down on food waste.
5. Pick your top three must-tries.
If we had prepared more, I would have known exactly which booths to wait in line for instead of meandering. If your goal is to try a specific restaurant’s barbecue or to try the top barbecue joints, know exactly where you’re going and get in line. The barbecue runs out and lines get long! Grab a map at the entrance.
6. Hydrate!
The fest has several water coolers throughout the grounds, so bring a reusable water bottle. The weather can get warm and you’ll be consuming a lot of seasoned meat, so water is necessary!
7. Chill out.
Even the biggest bbq aficionados will agree that after getting your fill of the best barbecue, it’s great to just chill out. Take a seat on the lawn and enjoy live music.
Whether you spell it bbq, barbecue, or barbeque, people who love barbecue will have a fun time at this annual festival.
Have you ever been or what kind of food festival would you want to attend?
Keep up with my food adventures! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Bloglovin’. You can also subscribe to the exclusive email list.
You might also like
