There is a lot of barbecue in Dallas and much of it is fine. This is the one worth the drive.
Lockhart Smokehouse came out of Lockhart, Texas, the town that has a legal claim to being the barbecue capital of the state, and it kept the rules. You queue at a counter. You order by weight. It arrives on butcher paper with no plate and no fork. There is no sauce on the table, because the meat is not meant to need any. Order the brisket — ask for moist, not lean — and add a jalapeño cheese sausage link for the table.
It suits a group better than it looks. Ordering by the pound means you are not negotiating twelve separate menu choices, and the sides are ordinary in the best way: beans, slaw, potato salad. Children who claim not to like barbecue will eat sausage.
Go early. They smoke a fixed amount each day and when the brisket is gone it is gone, which can happen well before closing at weekends. Arriving by half twelve is sensible. Bishop Arts is a fifteen-minute walk away afterwards, and worth it.
