Lewis Barbecue offers the taste of Texas

Renata Parker
| For TALK Greenville

Good barbecue isn't just about pork. Pitmaster John Lewis wants you to know that in Texas, brisket reigns supreme, and that includes his restaurant, Lewis Barbecue.

Lewis grew up in El Paso, Texas, and discovered his love for Central Texas-style barbecue early on while working in the restaurant industry in Austin. His life changed when he took a job as a pastry chef in Denver, where he discovered that good barbecue was hard to find.

“I started missing barbecue and started making it for my friends there,” says Lewis. “Eventually, I developed a new version of a style of barbecue that everyone was doing in Texas at the time.”

From the archive: John Lewis takes over Tommy's Country Ham House

Unable to find the right smoker, Lewis constructed his own.

“The secret to brisket is the whole process, which starts with the best meat we can get,” says Lewis. “Then it's more about the smoker than the cook. I built my first smoker out of an old metal trash can and then taught myself to weld. It was a lot of trial and error until I got it just right.”

With the encouragement of his friends, Lewis began competing in Denver with his signature brisket, winning awards year after year, including the title of Grand Champion.

In 2010, Lewis returned to Austin to help his friend Aaron Franklin open Franklin Barbecue. He later co-founded La Barbecue with LeAnn Mueller. The accolades followed. Soon after opening, La Barbecue made Texas Monthly's “Top 50” and was named “Best Barbecue in Austin” by the Austin American Statesman.

In 2014, a barbecue competition brought Lewis, now a celebrated grill master, to the Lowcountry, where he fell in love with the area. Two years later, he opened his first Lewis Barbecue in Charleston. In 2022, he opened a second location in Greenville at the former Tommy's Ham House site on Rutherford Street.

Today, Lewis still builds his own smokers, just without the trash can. At the smokehouse in Greenville, six of his huge smokers are fired with wood around the clock.

“There's no gas, no electricity, and no shortcuts,” says Lewis. “There's always someone in the smokehouse making sure the conditions are perfect. Every 15 minutes, he turns and moves the meat and stirs the oak and hickory wood.”

In addition to his legendary beef brisket, Lewis serves slow-cooked pulled pork, pork ribs and turkey breast. Hot Guts sausage, a Texas specialty, is made in-house and smoked in a special sausage smoker.

All meat comes from family-run farms throughout the Midwest, while ingredients like kale come from local farms like Bradford Farms in Sumter.

Although barbecue sauces are available, the meat is not served with sauce.

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“There's a saying in Texas: 'If you have nothing to hide, you don't have to cover it up,'” says Lewis. “We buy the best meat available and want you to taste the meat first.”

The barbecue sauces are made from scratch and include a sweet and zesty Texas Red, a spicy, vinegar-based South Carolina and a signature roasted Hatch Green chile. There's also one in the works that Lewis calls a “secret sauce.”

“It’s an all-purpose grilling and seasoning sauce made with a few secret spices,” says Lewis.

The menu includes daily specials, salads and a selection of barbecue sandwiches. The three-meat El Sancho Loco has it all, with a generous helping of pulled pork, brisket and sausage. It's paired with the best-selling side dish, the green chile corn pudding, a cheesy cornbread casserole with a kick of hatch chile.

This summer, look for tasty new additions to the menu, including smoked chicken wings, a cheeseburger with Hatch Green Chile, and a large salad with Texas-style barbecue meat.

Sauces, condiments, meats and custom tailgate packages can be purchased at the restaurant or delivered directly. Lewis Barbecue is open daily for lunch and dinner. For more information, visit lewisbarbecue.com

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Lewis Hatch Chili Roast: Pitmaster John Lewis is bringing spice to the Upstate with his popular Hatch Chile Roast on August 25. Held at Lewis Barbecue Greenville, this fun event celebrates a New Mexico classic with a wide range of activities, including tasting tents that spotlight local chefs. The Lewis team will roast 3,000 pounds of fresh Hatch chiles on-site and sell them in 1- and 5-pound bags. Additional Hatch chili products, other treats and exclusive merchandise will also be available for purchase. Enjoy great food, live music, plenty of cold beverages and more. Admission is free, with a donation to a local nonprofit partner. For more information, follow @lewisbarbecuegvl on Instagram.

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