Iron Works Barbecue Credit: Photo By John Anderson

Iron Works Barbecue (1)

100 Red River, 478-4855, 800/669-3602

Monday-Saturday, 11am-9pm

www.ironworksbbq.com

The red tin restaurant known as Iron Works started out in 1935 as Weigl Iron Works, where many of Texas’ decorative architectural metal works were built by Fortunat Weigl and sons through the years. Charlotte Finch acquired the space in 1977 and since ’78 has been smoking barbecue in this historical ironsmith shop ever since. It’s not air-conditioned but is always cool and breezy inside. The location couldn’t be more convenient, being right next to the Convention Center.

The Iron Works spicy dry rub is used on all of the meats and poultry, as well as in the chili and the pinto beans. After smoking, the meat is anointed with spicy and regular barbecue sauce, with additional bottled sauce available on the tables. Smoking is done in a pit, over local oak coals. The drinks are always ice-cold, resting in an icy bath in old soda-pop coolers.

Iron Works is perhaps best known for its brontosaurus-sized beef ribs, massive slabs of luscious and smoky meat-covered bone ($6.50 per pound), although the pork ribs ($16.95 per slab, $8.50 per half-slab) are nothing to sneeze at. The brisket ($9 per pound) is reliably moist and tender, with a nice, smoky finish. The smoked pork loin ($10.75) can be a little on the dry side, depending on when it came off the pit. The poultry options (chicken, half-bird for $4.60; turkey, $12.95 per pound) are both moist and well-smoked. The ham is always good, and at $8.45 per pound is great for sandwiches at home. Their sausage ($6.95 per pound) is superb, made in-house, semicoarse grind, spicy, and with just the right amount of fat. All of these meats can be had as a sandwich or as components of plates, single or in combinations ($6-12). In the winter, they make a very respectable bowl of Texas red chili con carne ($3.95/bowl). Iron Works: It’s reliable and smack in the middle of it all.

This article appears in March 2 • 2007.

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Mick Vann is a retired Austin chef who is a food writer and restaurant critic, cookbook author, restaurant consultant, and recipe developer. He moonlights as a University of Texas horticulturist with a propensity for ethnic eats and international food, particularly of the Asian persuasion, but he also knows his way around a plate of soul food or barbecue.