Lee N.
Yelp
It used to be that there were regional differences in Texas BBQ. You'd hardly know it now that the new school geniuses have taken over. And they are geniuses. Waco is home to two TM top 50 joints. And that's huge. But many of us can tell the difference between Pine Curtain, ever heard of Longview? BBQ and West Texas style and hill country style. And if we want Waco style, Tony's is the place. Because Tony's is what happens when an Italian family makes Barbecue for many decades. You get endless amounts of burn your tongue hot beef essence juice to dip your brisket in. Your get guys who haven't seen their necks in 30 years because of its between eating here every day and getting in shape, they're going to chose Tony's every time, and not because they want to make widows of their wives. Their wives would rather have a happy man than a long-lived man, a man who knows how to make love to her because the passion hasn't been drained from him, a man who eats red meat, not because of what it does to his arteries, but because he's a man, and what's a man without some manner of danger and blood and red meat? He's going to show up every Thursday for all-you-can-eat ribs because it's all-you-can-eat and that still means something in this crazy postmodern world where words no longer mean things. At Tony's it means not just ribs but really everything because some people don't like ribs, and should they be denied life's greater pleasures?
So here's what you do. You stay up too late binging Netflix and roll out of bed at 10:30 to make coffee and throw on yesterday's clothes because wearing clean clothes to Tony's would be utter nonsense. And you sit down next to a family of honest black folks who never miss a Thursday at Tony's and you smile because you'd never see them otherwise, but today, you're sharing a table on the wrong side of town.
After lunch you'll wander home, full of coffee and Dr Pepper and way too much barbecue and you'll pour yourself a gin and tonic because it's too damned hot to work, and you'll sleep under a tree in your backyard until the air conditioning tempts you back inside, and you sleep despite the caffeine because the gin has won. And your dog will leave you alone because of the bone you brought, and the kids are in school and when they come home, there will be leftover meat and Bluey for them and you'll sleep until then, maybe read a book about death and horses, and you won't feel like such a square because you slept in, ate BBQ and did some day drinking , so you'll be refreshed and not feel the need to join a fight club.
