Married couple Jeff Lutonsky and his wife Meghan Love opened Mable’s in 2011. They’re from Kentucky and Oklahoma, respectively, and their BBQ-country roots are on full display at their honkytonk smokehouse. We recommend the fantastic Sliced Brisket, though the Pulled Pork is a close runner-up. Vegetarians have an option too — there’s a tasty Vegetarian Sloppy Joe on the menu. Other than the fabulous kale, the sides are unimpressive, but do the trick. Mable’s is perfect on those nights when you want a no-frills meal and a strong drink in a comfortable environment. Sure, we love Williamsburg’s other BBQ staple Fette Sau as well, but the prices are better and the experience is less ‘precious’ at Mable’s.
Featured Reviews
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we really just like Mable’s for it’s sheer simplicity. This is quality BBQ, and the restaurant could fly just as easily in Austin as it does in our burgeoning BBQ town of Williamsburg. The menu is small and familiar – in some ways the antithesis to the nearby hipster mecca Fette Sau – but everything tastes exactly like you hope it’s going to.
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The smoked meats and sandwiches are slathered in a sweet sauce that obscured the meaty, smoky taste of the meat. I have been to a few barbecue joints in Tulsa, and they too emphasized the sauce, way more than central Texas barbecue joints do. The best thing we ate was the cubed barbecue brisket sandwich ($9.95), made with the fatty end of the brisket. Served on a hamburger bun, the brisket was tender, moist, and smoky, although it could have done with less sauce.
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The very limited menu, featuring just three meats and a handful of sides, includes Texas-style moist, fatty brisket—beautifully smoky and exceptionally tender—dry rubbed in copious black pepper before being left to cook for 12 hours in a Southern Pride smoker. The pork ribs, from the Oklahoma side of the border, are just as succulent, with a great caramel char around the edges from a pass on the grill after they emerge from the smoker. Only the Kentucky-style pulled pork shoulder disappoints, the mushy meat doused in too much of that secret-recipe sauce.
