Dig Into Barley Swine’s Barbecue Spread

Nadia Chaudhury is the editor of Eater Austin covering food and pop culture, as well as a photographer, writer, and frequent panel moderator and podcast guest.

Barley Swine is a restaurant that often experiments, and barbecue is no exception. The smoked meats pop-up, helmed by Bryce Gilmore, Jack Zizzo, Mark Buley, Charles Zhuo, and the rest of the team on Sunday, September 11, featured not-so-expected cuts of smoked meats, from beef tongue, goat shoulder, to smoked quail stuffed with sausages. Brisket was nowhere to be seen.

Zizzo, who was one of La Barbecue’s former pitmasters and is now a Barley Swine staffer, manned the two smokers throughout that day. One of those smokers happened to be his own personal one.

Accompanying those meats were sides with twists (potato salad with shrimp, coleslaw with corn), and fruity sauces (smoked peach, mango habanero). The sweet finale included a fried peach hand pie paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with shiso, and a take on oatmeal cream pie filled with key lime instead.

62 lucky customers already waiting in line for an hour got to partake in the feast, which was sold out even before doors opened. Since it was pegged as an all-you-can-eat experience, there were plenty of second helpings to be had. Turns out customers were big fans of the tender beef tongue, sausage-stuffed quail, along with the summer slaw with corn, cornbread, and buns.

Eater was on the ground, capturing the barbecue-filled scene from prepping, smoking, marinating, all the way to the tasty end results. While there are no firm plans for a follow-up barbecue pop-up, the restaurant hopes to do something similar in the future.