Ready, Set, Fire!

Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew

Local controversy about the origins of Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew was already full-blown well before the restaurant even opened in the refurbished Fifties-era Violet Crown Shopping Center in December. All it took was for some enterprising leasing agent to overinflate a quote taken from an enthusiastic blog post, and thanks to social media, a rendition of that old kids’ gossip game went viral. To set the record straight, all three of the principals involved in Stiles Switch are from Taylor, Texas. Owner Shane Stiles is a longtime barbecue enthusiast who named his restaurant after a 19th century rural railroad stop and put together an experienced team to bring his vision to life in Austin. Pit man Lance Kirkpatrick worked for the legendary Bobby Mueller in Taylor from 2000 until Mueller’s death in 2008 and is proud of what he learned as the master’s right-hand man. “I answered an ad in the Taylor paper and went to work the next day. I chopped his onions, peeled his potatoes, fetched wood – whatever Bobby needed those first few years until he finally asked me to cook with him. He taught me how to cook brisket and a lot about how to treat people in business,” Kirkpatrick recalls fondly. General Manager James Jackson did his barbecue apprenticeship at PoK-e-Jo’s in Austin and at the venerable Southside Market in Elgin. Kirkpatrick and Jackson have every right to claim their own résumés, but they never intended to trade on anyone else’s brand to give the new business a leg up.

Enough about the gossip already – “What about the barbecue?” you ask. Meats at Stiles Switch are smoked over post oak, sold market-style, and priced by the half pound: brisket, chopped beef sandwiches, three kinds of sausage, beef ribs, pork ribs, pork shoulder, chicken, and turkey. The five sides, potato salad, cole slaw, pinto beans, mac and cheese, and corn casserole, are sold by the serving ($1.75): by the half-pint, pint, and quart. Finish off the meal with warm peach cobbler topped with Blue Bell ice cream or creamy banana pudding ($3.50 each). The beer taps are stocked with local brews such as Live Oak, (512), Indepen­dence, and Thirsty Planet, and it’s got a wide selection of domestics in bottles and cans as well. My favorite meats so far are the brisket, moist and tender under a thin black-pepper bark; the beef short rib, dense and beefy with a little caramelized fat under a crisp crust (ask them to cut the meat in half if you’re sharing); and the house-recipe sausage (made by a friend in nearby Thorn­dale), with a snappy casing and nice notes of garlic and cayenne. The sides here were the only real disappointment. Either too sweet or too bland, they didn’t come near the quality of the meats and could use some rethinking. The cobbler, on the other hand, was just dandy.

Stiles Switch offers good barbecue in a friendly setting with plenty of ice-cold beer and big-screen TVs on hand. It’s just a short walk from the North Lamar MetroRail stop, so if the lines are too long at some of the central-city spots, hop on the train and give it a shot. – Virginia B. Wood

This article appears in March 9 • 2012.