KG BBQ.

KG BBQ

Pork ribs come out glazed in pomegranate molasses and sprinkled with za'atar, off an oak-fired offset smoker, and the sauce on the table is tahini cut with vinegar and cumin.3

Why go

Kareem El-Ghayesh had never heard of brisket when he first came to Texas in 2012, aged 25 and working in finance in Cairo. A friend took him to a Rudy's, and what got him was the counter theater of cutting the meat in front of you: This is something I had never seen, never smelled, and never tasted before.3 He went home, ordered the Franklin cookbook, and learned on a Weber Kettle bought from a Cairo grocer, working around beef that Egyptian butchers consider too old to sell five days after slaughter. He bought a vacuum sealer to imitate the weeks of Cryovac wet-aging American pitmasters take for granted, ran a Saturday supper club through 2015, then took a month of saved vacation to eat his way around Texas and ask for a job. At least fifteen joints said no before Bill Kerlin took him on in exchange for free labor.3

Then the pedigree got specific. Charcuterie and sausage-making at Salt and Time, line work at Lamberts, pits at Rollin Smoke, InterStellar and the late Freedmen's, and Valentina's, where Miguel Vidal was the influence that settled the question: Working there was why I decided to do this fusion.3 So the method here is orthodox Central Texas, salt, pepper and oak in an offset, and the sauce rack is Egyptian. He calls tahini the national barbecue condiment of Egypt, and his build is sesame paste with vinegar, salt, cumin, garlic, cayenne and water. The brisket shawarma is, in his own words, the OG of the fusion.3

Order this / avoid

• Order: the pomegranate glazed pork ribs with za'atar, and a whole rack of smoked lamb at medium rare with mint chimichurri. Very little else in this city is smoking lamb racks.1
• If you get one thing: the brisket rice bowl, brisket over Mediterranean rice with candied nuts, tahini and pomegranate seeds. McCrary picks it as the dish that shows fastest what the kitchen is doing.1
• The dish the pitmaster points at: the brisket shawarma, bark-on chunks in warm pita under baladi salad, which he calls the OG of the fusion. Add the yogurt garlic sauce alongside the tahini.3
• Sides worth the cup: the pink buttermilk potato salad built on roasted beet puree, and the salata baladi of tomato, cucumber and onion.2
• Do not skip: the cardamom pistachio rice pudding with mascarpone whipped cream.2
• Avoid: planning around a Monday to Wednesday visit. Texas Monthly prints Thursday to Saturday 11 to 8 and Sunday 11 to 5 or sold out.2

What locals & experts say

• The Infatuation Austin, Nicolai McCrary, 17 April 2025, 9.4: There aren't that many barbecue spots in town smoking whole racks of lamb, and here they're cooked to a perfect medium rare and served with a bright, garlicky mint chimichurri. On the cardamom pistachio rice pudding: This is one of the best desserts in Austin. It isn’t overly sweet—it’s aromatic and complex, with lots of distinct layers that introduce new and exciting textures in each spoonful.1
• Texas Monthly, Daniel Vaughn, Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025 edition: To experience how beautifully the tangy, sweet Middle Eastern flavors meld with smoky meats, try the pulled lamb shoulder rubbed with cinnamon and sumac, along with surprising sides like a vibrant pink beet-enriched potato salad and a spunky salata baladi of tomato, cucumber, and onion. KG sits in the list's unranked Best of the Rest section; the ranked Top Ten is a separate group and KG is not in it.2
• The one recorded miss, and it is worth knowing the kitchen owns it. Daniel Vaughn, 2022: The slices of fatty brisket I ate were tender and well seasoned, but the bark was inexplicably trimmed off. El-Ghayesh said it was a mistake, and it was really the only oversight of an otherwise exciting experience.3
• MICHELIN Guide Texas, Bib Gourmand, inaugural 2024 edition. Austin had fourteen.4

Good to know

• Where it is: a trailer on the patio at Oddwood Brewing, 3108 Manor Rd, on the Mueller and Cherrywood edge. Picnic tables, beer from the host, bands out back at weekends.1
• Hygiene, and read this exactly as written: there is no public inspection score for KG BBQ. Austin Public Health's open register covers fixed addresses only, and mobile vendors are permitted under a separate program whose scores are not published as open data. The permit at this address belongs to Oddwood Ales and is the brewery's record, not this kitchen's. Absence of a score is not a clean bill.5

Verdict

must-visit — Kareem El-Ghayesh learned Texas barbecue in Cairo off a Franklin cookbook and a Weber Kettle, then spent years in Austin pit rooms before opening this trailer on Oddwood Brewing's patio. Pork ribs come glazed in pomegranate molasses and dusted with za'atar; whole racks of lamb come off at medium rare with a garlicky mint chimichurri; the brisket is plain salt and pepper over oak and exists to prove the pit is straight. Tahini cut with vinegar and cumin is the house sauce, which he calls Egypt's national barbecue condiment. The Infatuation rates it 9.4 and Texas Monthly put it in the 2025 Top 50.