Lamberts

Lamberts-Austin

The first BBQ we ate on our trip to Texas turned out the be the only place we visited that had silverware and linen napkins.
Lamberts is in the heart of downtown Austin and it has a great modern/rustic/artisan thing going on. Great drinks, upscale beer list and a menu that showed these guys really care about food.

 Spareribs

Homemade BBQ Sauces

You know what else? These guys also turn out some kick ass BBQ too. Terrific brisket, succulent ribs, amazing sides (in fact, these were the best side dishes we ate on the entire trip).  As amazing as the meat is in the little out of the way places we visited throughout Central Texas, the quality of the side dishes border on pathetic. Lamberts served up an amazing apple/cabbage cole slaw, a great potato salad and they even did a fresh riff on the ubiquitous pickle component that is seemingly always served up with BBQ. Lamberts had pickled carrots, cauliflower and they were fantastic!
If you are heading to Austin and BBQ country you really need to make a stop at Lamberts. 

Congress Avenue Bridge

Another note of interest is that Lamberts is just blocks from the Congress Avenue Bridge (home to the largest urban bat colony in the USA). These bats take flight at dusk and you really need to witness the sight of 1.5 million bats taking off.