City Meat Market in Giddings is about as “old school” as a Texas barbecue joint can get. You enter through the screen door on the side of the brick building. To the left is the old butcher shop which closed several years ago. Go right and you enter a small dining room that leads to the pits where you place your order.
The menu is pure classic barbecue fare – brisket, pork ribs, pork chops, and chicken. Only salt and pepper season the coarse-ground, house-made beef and pork sausage. The side dishes include coleslaw and banana pudding, but the potato salad is the standout.
Texas Monthly honored City Meat Market in the Top 50 BBQ lists of 2008 and 2013. It also gained fame as being the place where legendary pitmaster Norma “Tootsie” Tomanetz of Snow’s BBQ up the road in Lexington learned to barbecue in 1966 from the late pitmaster Orange Holloway.
Following the history of the City Meat Market is difficult because there have been several businesses with that name in Giddings since the late 1800s. Hershel and Lillie Doyle purchased the meat market in 1952. They ran the market for three decades with renowned Black pitmaster Orange Holloway manning the fires.
Gerald Birkelbach was working in the City Meat Market processing plant when he and a partner took over the operation until his death in 2021 at the age of 64. The barbecue joint is now owned by his daughter Brooke Kovar and her husband Chris. Brooke can often be seen serving customers and tending the smoker, just like her daddy did.
City Meat Market is at the corner of U.S. Highway 290 and U.S. 77 in Giddings. The screen door is unlatched on weekdays from 7am to 4pm, Saturday from 8am to 2pm, but is locked on Sunday. There is a large parking lot for patrons behind the building.
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This article appears in June 19 • 2026.
