Best of 2009: Best Atmosphere

For our penultimate Best of 2009 award, we name our winners for Best Atmosphere. For some folks, the atmosphere of a Texas BBQ joint is as important as, or even more important than, the food (see blog poll on the far-right column). One of the best things about our BBQ trips is that initial feeling you get when you pass through the door. That unmistakable smell of years and years of pit smoke. The pictures and memorabilia on the walls - walls often charred from the aforementioned smoke. Each place is different from the next. We've hit up glorified shacks run by a few or even a single person, and we've hit up monstrosities run like well-oiled machines by large staffs. Last year's first- and second-place winners swapped places this year, and we have a newcomer at #3. Here they are:


1. The Salt Lick (Driftwood): 37 points

2. Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor): 23 points

3. Opie's Barbecue (Spicewood): 17 points

Others receiving votes: Snow's BBQ, Mills County BBQ Company, Smitty's Market, Schoepf's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que, Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que (New Braunfels), Milt's Pit BBQ, Mann's Smokehouse, Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse