Project Smoke is one man’s attempt to explore the world of barbecue by eating it every day for a week. Find all of the entries here, and please pray for his soul.
All good things must come to an end, and this week did so in style. Lamberts, which calls itself a purveyor of Fancy Barbecue, was the final verse in this week-long meat-song.
The occasion was a pre-theatre dinner before my wife and I went to Phantom of the Opera. A perfect time and place for said fancy barbecue. Nothing makes me crave delicious, smoked meat like a 19th-century operatic love triangle.
Actually, that’s a lie. I was fed up with beef at this point, grass-fed or otherwise. Luckily, my significant other wanted the brisket plate, so I was able to sample that and satisfy whatever arbitrary rules I’d set up for this adventure. My food trended a little more modern.
The brisket was a hit. Unlike most of the other places I ate at this week, Lamberts cooks with gas, which isn’t as authentic but allows them to fit into their gentrified 2nd Street surroundings. Regardless, it’s still good barbecue. It is prepared with a brown sugar and coffee rub, which is of a piece with the espresso barbecue sauce at Franklin. But just so you don’t think you’ve wondered into downtown Lockhart, it comes with a side of escabeche, which as far as I can tell is pickled veggies.
Now let’s get down to business. My appetizer is one of the best things I’ve had in an age. Chicken Fried Oysters. Yes, you read that right. It was really just fried oysters, but fresh ones, perfectly cooked with a habenero tartar, which wasn’t so much hot as a little tart. The killer finish was the four tiny squares of fried Texas Toast. I could have eaten a tray of those and just been wheeled straight into intensive care.
My entrée was just as over the top. A fried pork belly on a small hashbrown with essentially a salad on top. I didn’t finish it, but the dish was decadent. Our shared sides were Brussels sprouts (obviously, we’re in Austin) and whole fried okra. Yes and yes.
Lamberts might not look like a top-shelf place to go for barbecue in Austin, but just know that it did come in at number 9 in Texas Monthly’s list. That’s not nothing, and for a nice night out, Lamberts is the perfect mix of Austin’s cutting-edge culinary scene with a shoutout to its past, all in a cool old building. One could do a lot worse.
