One of my favorite central Texas BBQ joints is Black’s BBQ in Lockhart. Black’s is easy to find. Just head toward Lockhart and the restaurant’s signs, which you’ll see if you’re coming in from any direction, proudly proclaim that the restaurant is the “Oldest in Texas, Same Family.” Apparently it is mostly true. Black’s is the oldest barbecue restaurant in Texas that has been continuously run by one family.

 

Since 1932, when it first opened its doors, Black’s has seen its share of publicity and famous customers. But perhaps its most powerful was President Lyndon Johnson. Word is around Lockhart that in the 1960s, when Johnson was in office, he had Black’s homemade sausage flown all the way from Texas to cater an affair in the U.S. Capital. That’s a powerful hankerin’ for some Texas barbecue.

 

When you enter Black’s, you can grab yourself a paper plate and help yourself to side items such as coleslaw and potato salad from a small salad bar. Then a Black’s BBQ employee will ask you what else you’d like. She will fill your plate even higher with any helpings of hot sides you want (pinto or green beans, black-eyed peas, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, etc.) and take your meat order, which is sliced right there before your eyes as your mouth waters.

The “Family Pack” is a favorite. For $15.75, you get one pound of the meat of your choice, three pints of sides, sliced onions and pickles, lots of sauce, and they’ll even throw in a loaf of bread.

Black’s is open “8 days a week.” What that really means is every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and when the restaurant happens to be in a background shot of a movie being filmed in Lockhart.

Black’s BBQ—215 N. Main St., Lockhart, Texas; Phone: (512) 398-2712; E-mail: blacksbbq@sbcglobal.net; Web site: www.blacksbbq.com