Ribs and chicken at Busbee's Bar-B-Que (Bandera, TX)

My second lunch a couple of Sundays ago: Pork ribs & quarter chicken (dark) at Busbee's Bar-B-Que (Bandera, TX).

"9 Crazy BBQ Pits" (from Funny or Die)

My buddy Frank Mancuso sent me the link to these 9 unusual BBQ pits. Which one is your favorite?

Carriage House BBQ Sauces

Got a shipment of Carriage House (Fredonia, NY) Chicken 'N' Ribs BBQ sauces. Original, Honey, Hickory Smoke, & Hot Style. Anyone tried them? We just decided to have another rub-and-sauce party, so we'll be trying all 4 soon.

Coming up...

Pictures of a sauce shipment I recently received

On Wednesday, The Q Card has its 1-year anniversary. I'll give a little update on it.

We announce the details of The Q Card's launch party for The Sugar Shack BBQ (Austin)

Pictures from my first visit to Busbee's Bar-B-Que (Bandera)

Pictures from my first visit to Best of Texas Barbeque (Bandera)

Pictures from first meal at Live Oak Barbecue (Austin)

Pictures from first meal at Lockhart Smokehouse (Dallas)

More details on this year's Gettin' Sauced!

Reminders: (1) You have through TOMORROW to enter our Firefly Spice Company giveaway. (2) Half of all purchases of The Q Card through TOMORROW will be donated to tornado-relief efforts in Alabama.

Bar-B-Que-T (Austin, TX) has closed.

Bar-B-Que-T, the pink trailer on South Congress, has closed. The owner moved and is in the process of opening a bar & grill. Very best wishes to her. The trailer sat in the same spot where another BBQ trailer sat for a short time. Another trailer has already taken the spot, but it's not BBQ.

Anyone tried Sid's Main Street BBQ (Bandera, TX)?

I made two BBQ lunch stops last Sunday in Bandera (pics from each to come), and I would've made a third if the place had been open. Sid's Main Street BBQ has only been open a few months. Haven't heard anything about it. Anyone been?

QOTD: What's the best BBQ in New York City?

As of this week, we have 2 New York City BBQ joints entering our 2nd annual Gettin' Sauced! BBQ sauce contest (Hill Country and Brother Jimmy's). It got me thinking about NYC BBQ, and I became curious which joint folks like best. Last July, we pitted NYC against Texas in a round of Battle BBQ, but today I simply ask who does BBQ best in the Big Apple. Sooooo, who does?

Dinner at Q on the Riverwalk (San Antonio, TX)

Last Saturday night's dinner at Q on the Riverwalk at the Hyatt Regency in San Antonio: Oak-smoked Angust brisket & "Texas Dry Rubbed (Slightly 'Mopped')" St. Louis pork ribs, with rotisserie-roasted vegetables.

The rest from Bert's Bar-B-Q (Austin, TX)

More from the table at Bert's

Blog: "Does One Need Teef To Make Good Beef?* A Study of Austin’s Pitmasters"

An interesting blog post from To Serve Man re: the relationship b/w BBQ that's served in Austin proper and the teeth of those who serve it (Hat tip to my buddy Frank Mancuso.):

"What we found was a curious relationship between mouth bling and good BBQ: the more bling on the teef, the less amazing the beef. It’s tempting to believe the inverse is true—we tend to associate extreme subculture aesthetics with extreme magical wizard capabilities, such as those required to perfectly smoke, render, and season a brisket. For instance: would you prefer a guy with dreadlocks making your Jamaican ackee and salted fish, or one with a preppy haircut? But there it was anyway, a series of repeated coincidences—as the pitmaster’s sparklemouth decreased, we found the quality of the BBQ increased."

What's your take on this? Have you found this to be true? Or is the opposite true for you? Or is there anything to this at all? Are we simply biased one way or the other, based on the building/service/etc, before we ever take our first bites?

2nd best BBQ in Austin?

If you wanna get in on the action over at Reddit.com, they're asking, "where's the second best bbq in Austin?" I'm not a forum member, so I don't know any backstory or related threads or anything about the user who posted the question. Thus, I don't know what the user believes is the best in Austin. And I won't make any assumptions.

Latest trip to Bert's Bar-B-Q (Austin, TX)

Mills County Cookoff Smokers: Round 6

Google BBQ Bus: Recap and pics from a partygoer

Check out Eli Castro's great writeup (with pics) of this past Saturday's Google Austin BBQ Adventure, which we had the pleasure of announcing. Our pics to come later. Great job, Eli. So happy you enjoyed it, and I hope the others on the bus did, too.

The rest from the Q Literary Feast (San Antonio)