Riverside Barbecue Truck Morphs Into a New Restaurant Within a Market

Riverside food truck JNL Barbecue moved into a new more physical location in the East Cesar Chavez neighborhood late last year. Its new home is at 2027 East Cesar Chavez Street, inside of Upscale Market since early December.

The menu includes an array of Texas barbecue staples available by weight, including brisket, al pastor pork ribs, Cajun butter turkey breast, Carolina-style pulled pork, beef-garlic sausages, and smoked and hand-cut bacon. There are also sandwiches, meat plates, sides (including green beans mixed with bacon), and chicharrones.

Upscale Market had actually been a location of Austin market Quickie Pickie, which closed sometime this year (the East 11th Street location remains open). JNL took over the operations space that had been La Barbecue’s setup from 2017 to 2021.

Co-owners and couple pitmaster Ben Lambert and Sarah Lambert started hosting barbecue pop-ups, which they turned into a food truck in 2019 parked at Buzz Mill’s then-Shady Lane location. When that closed in 2020, they relocated into the original Buzz Mill in Riverside.

JNL is open from 11 a.m. until everything is sold out from Thursday through Sunday.