Austin BBQ Tour: 6 Tastings, Michelin Stops & Skip the Line

Six barbecue stops in East Austin — including a MICHELIN One Star joint and two Bib Gourmand smokehouses — with skip-the-line access at every one and an air-conditioned ride between them. No walking in Texas heat, no three-hour queue, and enough food that most guests tap out before the last plate. la Barbecue holds a MICHELIN One Star and a line that wraps the building. Micklethwait Craft Meats is a Bib Gourmand honoree and one of Food Network's 25 Best Food Trucks. KG BBQ is chef Kareem El-Ghayesh, a James Beard semifinalist, smoking lamb with Middle Eastern spice. Mum Foods makes the pastrami Texas Monthly's barbecue editor calls the best in the state. Parish Barbecue brings Louisiana heat from a pitmaster who cooked at Franklin. Then a sixth stop we don't announce. It's sweet. You'll think you're finished eating. You aren't. Between plates, your guide tells you how East Austin was built and why these blocks became America's most argued-about barbecue. Come hungry.

1. 1

   Stop 1

   35 min

   Smoked lamb with Middle Eastern spice from chef Kareem El-Ghayesh, who took his Cairo upbringing into Central Texas barbecue. A MICHELIN Bib Gourmand honoree and a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Texas.

2. 2

   Stop 2

   25 min

   Texas pastrami on house-made rye — called the best pastrami in the state by Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn, at a deli USA Today named to its Restaurants of the Year list. Queens deli technique, Central Texas smoke.

3. 3

   Stop 3

   25 min

   The MICHELIN One Star stop, and the reason the line wraps the building. You walk past it. Sausage ground and stuffed in-house, plus brisket from a joint that has held a place on Texas Monthly's Top 50 Barbecue Joints in Texas.

4. 4

   Stop 4

   25 min

   Start with brisket-stuffed kolaches and house-made sides at a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand smokehouse that Southern Living named a Top 50 barbecue joint and Food Network ranked among America's 25 Best Food Trucks. Owner Tom Micklethwait makes nearly everything by hand, down to the pickles.

5. 5

   Stop 5

   25 min

   Louisiana flavor meets Texas tradition. Pitmaster Holden Fulco cooked at InterStellar Barbecue and Franklin Barbecue before opening his own truck, and the menu shows both lineages.

6. 6

   Austin

   10 min

   A secret sweet stop: We don't announce this one. You'll think you're finished eating. You are not finished eating.

• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• Guests using a wheelchair are welcome. All tour stops have wheelchair- and stroller-accessible surfaces, but our vehicle is not lift-equipped, so wheelchair users will need to follow the route in their own accessible transportation. Contact us before booking and we'll share the full stop list and timing.
• Children who require a car seat are welcome, but families will need to provide their own car seat and transportation between stops.

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.