You may not start dreaming of barbecue until lunchtime, but pitmaster Evan LeRoy is already a day ahead.<\/p>\n
LeRoy, the chef and owner behind LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue<\/a> in Texas, gave Food & Wine a glimpse behind the scenes of one of Austin’s most celebrated barbecue restaurants. By the end of the tour, we had a new appreciation for the time, skill, and precision behind every tray of barbecue.<\/p>\n LeRoy and Lewis has quickly become one of Texas’ most acclaimed barbecue destinations, earning a Michelin star and the No. 2 spot on Texas Monthly’s latest barbecue rankings. After years as a food truck, co-owners LeRoy and Sawyer Lewis opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2024. Every cut of meat is sourced from local farms and ranches committed to ethical, sustainable practices.<\/p>\n Award-winning smoked pork starts with whole hogs<\/p>\n As LeRoy explains on the tour, it all begins with the evening pig delivery. “Every single part of the pig is good to barbecue,” LeRoy explains. It’s clear he takes meticulous care with the meat. The operation functions as a butcher shop, smokehouse, and scratch kitchen all under one roof.<\/p>\n Related: Even Texas Chefs Buy Store-Bought Barbecue Sauce \u2014 Here Are the 6 They Keep at Home<\/a><\/p>\n The heritage-breed hogs are sourced whole from Peaceful Pork near Corpus Christi. LeRoy and his team break them down entirely in-house. Hams go into sausage. Skin goes into stock (which then becomes the base for their pork hash), while shoulders go into the pulled whole-hog sandwich. Nothing is wasted, and nothing comes pre-cut.<\/p>\n “We have done a lot of different dishes,\u201d he continues, \u201cbut these are the things that we can sell, things that we can execute, things that make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n What \u201cnew school barbecue\u201d means<\/p>\n LeRoy attributes the restaurant’s success to its “new school barbecue” philosophy, one that respects Texas barbecue traditions while pushing beyond the expected menu of brisket and ribs.<\/p>\n That attention to detail extends to every part of the process, including the wood that fuels the smokers. LeRoy exclusively uses post oak, sourced from a local firewood supplier, and is particular about its moisture content. Green or fresh wood, he explains, is a no-go. “If the log is fresh or green, then it has a lot of moisture to evaporate before it’ll start burning and producing that smoke, and it will kind of choke off your fire, and it won’t maintain that heat level and smoke level that you’re looking for,” he says.<\/p>\n It’s this meticulous,ingredient-driven approach that helped earn LeRoy and Lewis a Michelin star.<\/p>\n Related: The 21 Best Grilling Cookbooks, According to Chefs<\/a><\/p>\n How a DIY smoker led to a Michelin star<\/p>\n “It felt really good for the entire staff,” LeRoy says of sharing the Michelin news with his team. “We told them that we want to make the best barbecue in the world.\u201d When they got the star, it showed that they had \u201creally elevated and pushed and became that restaurant.”<\/p>\n The recognition marks a remarkable milestone for a business that began as a food truck in 2017 with less than $50,000 in startup funds and a smoker LeRoy welded together in his driveway after watching YouTube tutorials. That original pit trailer now sits outside the restaurant \u2014 a reminder of where LeRoy and Lewis began and how far they\u2019ve come.<\/p>\n