Central Texas-style barbecue compound opens on the Northeast Beltline

Lewis Barbecue, a Central Texas-style barbecue restaurant from pitmaster John Lewis, is opening its first Georgia location Dec. 8 along the Atlanta Beltline’s Northeast Trail in Ansley Mall.

The restaurant’s opening comes just a week after a new Beltline pedestrian bridge opened near Ansley Mall, according to a news release, which directly connects Lewis Barbecue’s whopping 8,000-square-foot building to the Northeast Trail.

Lewis Barbecue is connected to the Northeast Atlanta Beltline Trail by a newly opened pedestrian bridge. (Courtesy of Lewis Barbecue)

Lewis opened the first Lewis Barbecue in Charleston, South Carolina, nine years ago. A second location followed in Greenville in 2022, and that same year he opened another concept in Charleston inspired by his West Texas roots called Rancho Lewis.

Lewis Barbecue has earned national acclaim, including a Michelin Bib Gourmand distinction for good food at a reasonable price in the first American South guide that was released in November.

The Atlanta location will serve a large menu with such offerings as beef brisket, beef ribs, pork ribs, pulled pork, turkey and Texas hot guts sausage, all cooked over Texas oak delivered from Central Texas in several large smokers on the restaurant’s rooftop.

Sides will include hatch green chile corn pudding, beef tallow fries, mac and cheese, collard greens, potato salad and icebox pies for dessert.

Lewis Barbecue will have a menu of Central Texas-style barbecue including beef brisket, ribs, pulled pork and Texas hot guts sausage, plus a variety of sides. (Olivia Wakim/AJC)

Diners at the counter-service restaurant will move quickly through a line selecting sides and cut-to-order meats. An outdoor walk-up window facing the Beltline pedestrian bridge allows for to-go pickup, and a second building houses a large bar with couches and additional tables. In the coming weeks, it will serve beer, wine and cocktails, and a separate bar snack menu will be available. The interiors are styled after a “Texas dance hall,” Lewis said, with colorful patterns and vintage decorations in the barroom.

The barbecue compound fits more than 200 guests, according to a news release.

“I want a crowd that needs (barbecue) not just once a month, but a few times a month,” Lewis said.

Beef brisket at Lewis Barbecue. Central Texas-style BBQ is characterized by beef, especially brisket, smoked over indirect heat from Texas oak. It shouldn't need a sauce. (Andrew Thomas Lee/Courtesy of Lewis Barbecue)

Atlanta stood out to him because it’s a city full of people who “grew up eating barbecue,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Despite the city’s great food scene, Lewis said there isn’t barbecue like the kind he’s making.

“It’s Central Texas barbecue in its most purest form,” he said.

It’s a style characterized by beef, and especially brisket, smoked over indirect heat from Texas oak. The meat is often served plain with barbecue sauce on the side. While the restaurant has several sauce options, good Central Texas barbecue shouldn’t need it, Lewis said.

Lewis was born in El Paso, Texas, but when he moved to Austin at 18, he fell in love with the Central Texas barbecue he discovered there. His menu still pays homage to his hometown with hatch green chile corn pudding, thick, house-made hatch green chile sausages and the hatch green chile barbecue sauce.

Above the dining room, a row of custom smokers from Austin Smoke Works, a company Lewis co-owns, smoke brisket throughout the day. They operate the smokers in three different waves, so they never run out of meat and it’s always fresh.

“Basically how this works is you’re herding humans through the door to eat cattle,” Lewis said as he proudly surveyed the smokers.

The custom smokers are from Austin Smoke Works, a company Lewis co-owns. (Andrew Thomas Lee/Courtesy of Lewis Barbecue)

Lewis began his career in Austin where he worked at restaurants like Franklin Barbecue and La Barbecue. But he said he realized opening a barbecue restaurant in Austin would never make much business sense — the market was overly saturated, and it felt like “a constant race to be No. 1.” Lewis decided to take his food to cities where barbecue was still popular but lacked the style he’s known for.

“(Lewis Barbecue) is so much like a place that’s for everybody,” he said. “You don’t have to be a barbecue nerd kind of person for this place.”