Freedmen's Bar

5 Stars

http://www.freedmensbar.com/

In 1869, this beautiful structure where Freedmen's is located, was built by forner slave George Franklin. George was on the forefront of developing an area known as Wheatville located north of Austin. The area itself was named after James Wheat, a freed slave from Arkansas who brought his family here in 1867. This became the first African-American community in Austin after the Civil War and over the years the building served as several different businesses including a church, residence and store. It is now historically labeled as the Franzetti store.

Researching this history I was eager to step foot into Freedmen's Bar which was named out of respect to the community's historical importance of Austin. What brought my attention to Freedmen's was the pitmaster. Evan LeRoy politely called out the Texas BBQ Posse on their overlooking of his BBQ during one of their recent tours. Being outspoken and slightly over-confident myself at times, it struck a harp chord with me. Either this guy is cocky or he may just have something up his sleeve.

With a somewhat planned and somewhat impromptu trip to Austin, I communicated back and forth with Evan to ensure he was going to be present when I visited. Normally I wouldn't make a big deal over a visit but to be a BBQ disciple, I must visit with the teacher.

Evan's culinary background begin in Texas followed by a stint at Hill Country BBQ Market in New York as their pitmaster. Finding his way back home, he dabbled in tacos out of a food trailer we know as Torchy's and then off to Lambert's for a hot minute before landing as Executive Chef/Pitmaster of Freedmen's Bar. I found Evan to be one of the most humble guys I've met and for his age, he takes his BBQ as personal as a pitmaster of 40 years.

Unlike some gourmet BBQ such as Lambert's, they are all about BBQ and don't venture into any other territory. This was fine by me. I ordered the Holy Trinity plate, rightfully named since I was drinking a damn good Old Fashion in a former church. A personal motto of mine, you always need a reason to repent and I was well on my way. No specifications to my order  were requested as I let Evan work his miracle. What was presented to me was a BBQ masterpiece probably approved by the Pope himself. Pork spare ribs, an equal serving of fatty and lean brisket, handmade sausage and pork belly. Samples of sides were brought as well.

Like a young man with his first girl (awkward moment alert) I didn't know where to start. Brisket won out and it was absolutely perfect. With Evan using Texas Post Oak he hit a homerun. The smoke ring was visible, the meat moist with the fat working well while the bark kept it together. I quickly lowered my head and gave thanks. The sausage consisting of fatty brisket, pork belly, and jalapeno had a great flavor as the ingredients meshed well together delivering a nice spice from the jalapeno. The ribs were majestic. Wonderful amount of salt, pepper, and peppercorn with the meat pulling off from a slight tug. For desert, the pork belly was heavenly. Oh yeah the sides...just order them, especially the smoked beets.

After humming praises to myself while finishing off the second Old Fashion, I then saw the light. I realized if Evan could produce this consistently then there should be no reason Freedmen's is not mentioned in the same discussion as Stiles Switch, la Barbecue, Franklin's and the rest of the booming and quite likely, new BBQ capitol of Texas. Dust off your Bible as Freedman's will have you saying Hallelujah and Amen.