Vodka & Food

Anyone having lunch in Lockhart or along the old Chisholm Trail almost inevitably ends up with hours-smoked beef. It's smoked over post oak wood, with the brisket as the star of the show. The tradition traces back to German and Czech immigrants who ran butcher shops with attached smokehouses there in the 19th century.

Since a 2003 resolution by the Texas Senate, Lockhart officially holds the title "Barbecue Capital of Texas." Restaurants like Black's Barbecue were already serving pure brisket there back in the 1950s, though the fatty, hard-to-cook cut didn't catch on across the rest of Texas until the 1960s.

With this fatty, heavily smoked meat, a simple vodka soda with lime works better than a sweet cocktail. The carbonation and the lime's acidity cut through the fat without masking the smoke flavor, the way a heavily flavored drink would.

Alongside grill smoke, Tex-Mex forms the region's other great culinary tradition. Fajitas trace back to Mexican-American vaqueros in South Texas, who grilled the then-cheap skirt steak over mesquite wood. The dish became popular nationwide only after Ninfa Laurenzo served it at her restaurant, Ninfa's, in Houston.

In Austin itself, Sunday mornings often revolve around breakfast tacos — tortillas filled with egg, bacon, and cheese. Austin and San Antonio still argue over who invented them. Many brunch spots pair them with a Bloody Mary, the classic vodka-and-tomato-juice cocktail, which tends to complement the heat of Texas cuisine rather than compete with it.