The Iron Works Barbecue: An Austin staple

Once upon a time The Iron Works served up reputedly the best barbecue in Austin, Texas. Since 2003, I’ve been frequenting this shack of restaurant on an annual basis around the South by South West Music Conference and Festival. Seemingly like quite a few barbecue places in Austin, it is in quite an odd setting. Until 1977, this red corrugated tin building did house the ironworks of the Weigl family, who came over from Germany in 1913. Their ornamental craft can be seen all over the city, including the State capitol. The setting is like that of a modern Western movie, and the interior has just as much character as the exterior, with old worn, dark wooden floors, tables covered by red plastic tablecloths, and walls adorned with memorabilia from the ages of Weigl Ironworks.

The menu is simple, and sits above the window to the kitchen. A small kitchen team deals with the masses of meat cooked in the man sized barbecues and broilers. In canteen style, you make your choice form the window to the kitchen, pick up your meat on a tray, select your drinks from the ice baths, and pay. The beef ribs are their most popular order, followed by the brisket as a close second. Their sausage is unspectacular. BBQ, as it means in most of southern and mid western America, means cooking tough pieces of meat over a low smoky heat, for a long time. What Ironworks still do well is their beef ribs. The meat has a fall-off-the-bone quality and tenderness. For the newbie, nothing beats the sampler, which includes a bit of brisket, sausage, one beef rib, pickles, a little scoop potato salad, beans, onion and barbecue sauce. Should you be inclined they even introduced a salad bar a couple of years ago and there is always a pie of sort on offer at the till. Pecan usually.

There’s a covered back room, sort of like a porch that looks down onto a stream, testament to the warm weather of Austin. Families, hipsters and workers alike are found here and The Ironworks to me is a downtown Austin staple and their beef ribs certainly beats anything we can get in the UK. With both character and good food, this is what places like Bodean’s in London (my most recent post here), wish they could be. And saying this, this is by no means the best in Austin (although I think Salt Lick is overrated), and there are much better outside Austin, but you’d need to hop in a car to be able to get to them (I wrote up a barbecue run quick summary here. Oh and Jay Leno and President Obama have both eaten here…

The Iron Works Barbecue
100 Red River Street, Austin TX 78701
Phone: (512) 478-4855
Website: www.ironworksbbq.com

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Technorati Tags: barbecue, austin, eating, bbq, texas

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