Sofia Levin reviews: Houston’s Barbecue — ‘tastes exactly like it does in Texas’

In a sentence: Australia’s most authentic American barbecue
The damage: meats $10.50 per 100 grams, $8-12 sides, $8 desserts (allow $40pp)
Top tip: if you order too much, you can always take it away…
Quench your thirst: American beers and soft drinks
If you like this: visit Bluebonnet (Brunswick East), Fancy Hanks (CBD), Big Earle’s Roadhouse (Port Melbourne)

You wouldn’t stumble across Houston’s Barbecue by accident, unless you worked in the particular Keilor East industrial estate where it’s based. It’s a destination eating experience, and arguably the best example of American barbecue in Melbourne – perhaps even Australia.

That’s not just my opinion, either. Texas Monthly’s barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn visited the first day Houston’s Barbecue opened back in 2019 and was impressed (he was less complimentary of Fancy Hanks diversion from tradition in his article).

Kit has been cooking American barbecue, specifically central Texas-style barbecue, since 2016. He quit his job in IT and started working at a brewery, where he staffed a regular Australian barbecue on weekends. He bought a smoker to play with, eventually moving to another brewery where he was in charge of the kitchen – until they doubled his rent. He spent the next eight months selling brisket from a food truck in his driveway, before it got too crowded and he found the current site. After a research trip to Texas (25 barbecue joints in about 10 days, no less), they opened the brick-and-mortar store.

Houston’s Barbecue is open ever Friday and Saturday from 11am until it sells out. There are a few picnic benches on a grassy area out the front; otherwise it’s cafeteria style. You follow the signs to enter and start at the sides: fries (standard or loaded with brisket or pulled pork), creamed corn, mac ‘n’ cheese, potato salad and slaw.

At the front counter, Kit slices and weight meats, displayed in steel trays. He gets his grain-fed Australian meat from Costco and says it’s all about the process and cook. Brisket and pulled pork are $10.50 for 100 grams, which you can order as a sandwich on a fluffy Martin’s potato roll for an extra $3. The peppery brisket sports the all-important burnt crust, while the pork is smoky and tender. Kit will sell you 300 grams of pork ribs for the price of 200 grams ($22). Beef ribs cost between $35 and $60, depending on weight.

The spicy house sausage is based on a Louie Mueller Barbecue recipe, passed on by third-generation pit master, Wayne Mueller. Smoked and fried chicken wings are $2.50 each; insanely juicy southern-fried chicken thighs are $6; and the yardbird smoked chook is $7, $15 or $26 for a quarter, half or whole bird respectively. The BBQ, hot sauce, white sauce, garlic aioli and tomato sauce are made in-house.

Drinks are imported from the States, whether Dr Pepper, A & W Root Beer or Budweiser. A staff member with a baking business called Butterdays makes peanut butter, pecan and key lime pie slices, along with choc-chip brownies and a banana pudding that tastes like a Paddle Pop.

For anyone eager to learn the craft, Kit runs a barbecue school once a month that starts at 6.45am and goes for 12 to 14 hours. It’s limited to 24 students who do a full brisket and pork rib cook, make sausages, smash burgers and eat lunch. Instagram is the best way to stay up to date.

Houston’s Barbecue
99a Slater Parade, Keilor East
houstonsbbq.com.au