Restaurateur Lou Lambert talks about food, love, and an Austin homecoming. Austin Connoisseur Episode “BBQ Lamberts” Lou Lambert: Everybody is very opinionated of barbecue because it is something that they know how to do or think that they know how to do and they have memories of what it should be. My name is Lou Lambert and we are at Lambert’s downtown barbecue, we’re on the corner of second and Guadalupe right next to the new City Hall. After being out of the state for many years and looking where I wanted to be back in Texas looking at Austin what brought me back here is just the vibe of Austin you have that Texas roots that I love because I grew up here, it has so much more to offer culturally, athletically, outdoor wise, food. You have the sunshine which I missed desperately after being in San Francisco. It was just a perfect fit for me being in the food business, the ability to come in here and do the kind of food that I wanted to cook, and then the outdoors and the people that are here were very vibrant so I think it is a good fit and I am fortunate to be here. I have been in the restaurant business off and on for 20 years. Always since high school been involved with food and beverage to some point whether it is washing dishes, waiting tables, cooking so I always thought that was going to be something to get me by until I decided what I wanted to do when I grow up. I just reached a point that said I love this and I want to make a career out of it. I ended up in Hyde Park New York at the Culinary Institute of America and then worked in New York for a brief while and worked in California for Wolfgang Puck. Back in Texas I was working in to us at Café Pacific as executive chef, then back in it California. So it on a traveled a bit before I decided to settle back down in Texas and out of everywhere I detest the time Austin was where I wanted to be. The food that we’re doing here at Lambert’s is based around smoking and grilling and both qualify as barbecue so we’re doing a lot of great things with a wood burning smoker, and then I think we’re actually one of the only ones in town that have a actual wood burning grill. We’re doing some great ribs and brisket, I mean basically anything that qualifies as barbecue that you can smoke we are doing it. It has got that down home and kind of comfort feel but at the same time because of the product and the preparation it is a little bit uptown, or downtown that is where we got the moniker, “fancy barbecue”. The style of cooking that I do I think is really rooted in coming from a Home Life, a background where food was really important. And the whole family was involved in cooking, all my mothers side was more of a ranching family and in the summers we would go to the ranch and work cattle and we would have a trail cook cooking over an open fire. Just that down to earth, really good and simple foods and as I got into the food business I’ve always sort of gravitated back towards those really simple things. I think we are known for going the extra step in putting integrity back into something like barbecue and smoking. People look at me as very straightforward, food that is not complicated with a lot of flavor and a lot of depth to it. Just like Mexican Food there are a lot of styles of food not just between Texas and a lot of other states but between West Texas in Central Texas. In central Texas you have the German influence. West Texas is more of the Mexican influence with Baracoa’s and things so what we have done here and what has influenced our cooking here is we have picked and choosed a little bit of the best of all those styles of Texas barbecue. When you come in the restaurant you have got to try any of the meats out of the smoker, we do ribs and barbecued chicken they’re all great also try our achiote seared chickpeas, that is one of the dishes that we did at the restaurant. The brisket is exceptional, we have been told it is one of the best briskets if not in Texas than the country and that is a bold statement. For our desserts, we do all of our desserts and house but the one that we sell the most of his our maple bread pudding it is made with biros bread real maple syrup, a little jack Daniels hard sauce it is really great and it is a great way to end a barbecue meal. I think that people who love barbecue love to have fun and they love to pull up a lawn chair and drink a beer. They all are very opinionated what barbecue is and what it should be and I think it is kind of a brotherhood of barbecue heads. I’m Lou Lambert and I am a connoisseur.