Sí Baby-Q
They smoke a chicken quarter till it is tender, then douse it in a Malaysian-inspired Butterworth curry. It goes out over turmeric and saffron rice, with ikan bilis on the side.1
Why go
Matthew Hyland and chef Simone Tong came from New York, where she founded Silver Apricot and he launched the Emmy Squared pizza group. They opened the modern Chinese restaurant Zoé Tong here and inherited an Ole Hickory rotisserie with the building.1 The truck came out of that smoker, with Jonathan Lagos, a pitmaster from Terry Black's down the street, hired to run it. Daniel Vaughn writes that the Central Texas fundamentals hold, the fat cap well rendered and the bark glistening on the ribs. The Eastern half of the idea lands unevenly. The restaurant closed on 31 December 2024 and took the truck with it.2 Sí Baby-Q came back in March 2025 at Fierce Whiskers Distillery with its original staff and a changed menu.3
Order this / avoid
- The SXSE Smoked Chicken, which Vaughn calls the resounding favorite at the table. The Dan Dan Frito Pie runs on the restaurant's own dan dan sauce, made with brisket trim and ground wild boar, under house queso, scallions, cilantro and queso fresco.1
- The house sausage, one link: a classic beef one comes from brisket trimmings, and a rotating second carries cheese and green chiles from Steelbow Farm in Manor.1
- Avoid: ordering the brisket for the advertised Indonesian long peppercorns. There is a jar of them by the truck's window and Vaughn could not taste them in the meat. Skip the flaky roti for the same reason, and skip the Esquites Chinos, which he found too sweet for their own sauce.1
What locals & experts say
- Daniel Vaughn, Texas Monthly's barbecue editor, June 2024:
In similar fashion to KG, Sí Baby-Q colors outside the lines of Texas barbecue, but in some ways it is frustratingly restrained.
He is generous about what is left when the peppercorns do not land: an impressive version of conventional Texas barbecue.1 - Simone Tong on the barbecue learning curve:
It's a learning process, and it's a humbling process.
Vaughn reads that line as evidence of how well she understands Texas barbecue.1
Good to know
- Where it is now: the truck moved to Fierce Whiskers Distillery, 5333 Fleming Ct, in March 2025, trading Thursday through Sunday.3
- Method: oak in a gas-fired rotisserie, the smoker inherited from the building's previous life as Uncle Billy's Brew & Que.1
- Hygiene: no inspection score exists for this business. Austin's published dataset covers fixed premises. Mobile vendors are permitted under a separate program whose scores are not published as open data. That is a coverage gap and not a clean bill of health. Fierce Whiskers Distillery, the host site, holds its own record and scored 97 on 21 February 2024, which is the distillery's number.4
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "BBQ pop-up"
Verdict
should-visit — Nothing here takes a booking. Every dish named on this page was eaten at the old Barton Springs site in June 2024, before the move, so read the board before you plan around any of it. Go for the chicken.