Each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue gives what is perhaps probably the most unique meal you may take pleasure in whereas sporting shorts and Crocs. Anybody can line up for the restaurant’s menu, however a reservation on a prolonged ready checklist is required to attempt its steak expertise. Co-owners Evan LeRoy and Sawyer Lewis created it to showcase Texas-raised beef of their everlasting location, which opened in South Austin in February. “It’s enjoyable to have the ability to supply one thing that’s slightly exterior the barbecue field,” Lewis stated.
The expertise commences earlier than the steak is served. LeRoy ushers diners pitside to disclose the thick-cut steak that’s been sluggish smoking at 225 levels. He explains the restaurant’s relationship with Lorene Farms, close to Schulenburg, a city positioned about eighty miles southeast of Austin, the place Joel Bintliff raises a small herd of Akaushi Wagyu and Angus crossbred cattle. Each 4 weeks, a cook dinner at LeRoy and Lewis breaks down an entire beef carcass from Lorene into particular person cuts, making 24 complete servings of porterhouses, ribeyes, and T-bones.
To take pleasure in a kind of steaks, clients should e-mail Lewis at sawyer@leroyandlewis.com to get on the ready checklist, which has recently hovered at round fifty reservations deep. She sends diners an e-mail with out there time slots. Minimize varieties, all bone-in, normally weigh between three and 4 kilos and price $60 per pound. Diners can add no matter else they’d like, however Lewis suggests the miso-glazed carrots, arugula salad, and hand-breaded onion rings.
Steak preparation begins within the morning, when LeRoy applies a beneficiant layer of kosher salt earlier than putting the meat on a roasting rack within the cooler to dry brine. At round 3 p.m., he additional seasons it with salt and floor pepper, then smokes it with oak wooden for about two hours till it reaches an inside temperature of 120 levels. He pulls it off the warmth whereas an oak fireplace is stoked on the grill. It takes solely a few minutes per facet for the steak to get the suitable char, then a cook dinner slices it for service.
The everyday tray at LeRoy and Lewis is loaded with meat choices, however a platter with nothing however steak permits for focus. There’s sufficient marbling to maintain every chew juicy, however the taste leans extra beefy than fatty. The filet portion of a porterhouse could be bland, however this was one of the vital sturdy I’ve tried. Maybe that’s why the ready checklist retains rising. I requested Lewis what they’ll do if it will get too massive. “We’re simply gonna have to determine learn how to do extra steaks,” she stated.
This text initially appeared within the November 2024 challenge of Texas Month-to-month with the title “Steak Evening Is Cool Once more.” Subscribe today.