If your idea of the perfect day includes eating as much barbecue as you can from the best joints in the world, then Texas Monthly has the festival for you. On July 29 at 10 am, tickets for the fifth annual TMBBQ Fest go on sale, giving Texans a chance to sample food from the most respected pitmasters in the state.
Inspired by TM’s incredibly popular list of the 50 best BBQ joints, this year’s festival will be held on September 14 on the City Terrace at the Long Center in Austin.
VIP tickets are priced at $145 each; regular admission is $80. Although all ticket holders get the chance to sample the famous fare, VIP tickets do score you an extra hour in the barbecue extravaganza, two free drink tickets, a commemorative shirt and The Q Card — which is basically like a reward card for barbecue lovers.
Entry for kids ages 5 and under is $10. This is presumably because children are small and can’t eat as much, but we know a few pre-schoolers who can put away their weight in ribs.
The 25 meat masters confirmed for this year’s festival include Dallas-Fort Worth restaurants Lockhart Smokehouse, Pecan Lodge, Cousin’s Bar-B-Q in Fort Worth and Hutchins BBQ in McKinney, as well as newcomer Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland. (Once upon a time, Pecan Lodge got the newcomer nod.)
Many of the participants will also offer side dishes and desserts, and there will also be a cash bar. Tickets can be purchased online.
Below is the full list of participating restaurants:
- Black’s Barbecue (Lockhart)
- Buzzie’s Bar-B-Q (Kerrville)
- City Meat Market (Giddings)
- Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que (Llano)
- Cousin’s Bar-B-Q (Fort Worth)
- Cranky Frank’s Barbeque Company (Fredericksburg)
- Franklin Barbecue (Austin)
- The Granary ’Cue & Brew (San Antonio)
- Hatfield’s BBQ (Rockport)
- Hays Co. Bar-B-Que and Catering (San Marcos)
- Hutchins BBQ (McKinney)
- Killen’s Barbecue (Pearland)
- La Barbecue (Austin)
- Lamberts Downtown Barbecue (Austin)
- Lockhart Smokehouse (Dallas)
- Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor)
- Miller’s Smokehouse (Belton)
- Opie’s Barbecue (Spicewood)
- Pecan Lodge (Dallas)
- Pody’s BBQ (Pecos)
- Snow’s BBQ (Lexington)
- Stanley’s Famous Pit Barbecue (Tyler)
- Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew (Austin)
- Two Bros. BBQ Market (San Antonio)
- Tyler’s Barbeque (Amarillo)
Lockhart Smokehouse is heading to Austin for TMBBQ Fest in September.
