For some, Texas barbecue is booming. You may have seen those pictures of lines out the door, or stories touting the cuisine’s national acclaim and the new generation of pitmasters behind it.
There’s another story playing out in some places you might not notice right off.
Over in Hallettsville, a historic barbecue joint is enjoying a revival of sorts while just down the street, another barbecue spot — a place heralded as among the best of the state once upon a time — seems to be quietly nearing its end.
Sort of a tale of one city, two barbecue spots.
Daniel Vaughn, barbecue editor for Texas Monthly, joined the Standard with the story. Listen to the interview in the player above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Let’s talk about these two places. Let’s talk about the one that’s enjoying a revival, because that’s the happy side of things. What’s the backstory?
Daniel Vaughn: Well, you’re talking about Kolacny Bar-B-Q. Yes, It’s in like a residential neighborhood in Hallettsville on the south side of 90 that runs through town. And it’s only open on Saturday and Sunday.
It’s a tiny little building painted pink. They cook over direct heat. They burn the wood down to coals out back. You can see the smoke rising behind the building.
One thing that’s very important, though, if you’re going to visit Kolacny Bar-B-Q is you’re probably best to call ahead and place your order because the meat goes fast.
Sounds like you’ve learned the hard way.
I have learned the hard way, indeed. I have showed up and just gotten sausage. I missed out on that chicken and the pork steak and the the pork ribs that I love so much.
They’re leaning into continuity. What gives you a sense that this one’s here to stay?
Well, you know, you have a new generation that took over. You had Ervin and Carolyn Kolacny ran it since it’s been open in 1989. And so their son, Devin, and his wife, Karen, decided that they would go ahead and take over.
Oftentimes when you have a family-run barbecue joint and the owners are aging, they don’t have another generation who’s interested in taking over. And this was the opposite.
And these folks know how to cook that barbecue, how to cook those sides and they know all their customers as well. So it really was seamless.
Things are not looking that promising, though, for another place that used to be heralded as one of the best joints in the state, Novosad’s. Tell us about what’s going on there.
Yeah, well, Novosads in Hallettsville is run by Nathan Novosad. He is the third generation to run Novosad’s BBQ.
Novosad’s was once a Texas Monthly Top 50. They still have this banner hanging in the dining room celebrating it when they made it back in May of 1997. The sign that’s painted on the side of the building is fading, but also heralds that big accomplishment.
But yeah, they’ve just been trimming hours day by day to now they’re down to just open three days a week.
What’s happened?
Nathan Novasad’s getting older. He’s getting past retirement age and he doesn’t have the next generation. His kids aren’t interested in running this barbecue joint and he hasn’t found any takers when he put it up for sale.
So he doesn’t really see any options but just the inevitable closure of Novosad’s once he finally comes to its end.
Yeah, there was a line that stuck out when I was reading the story that you wrote for Texas Monthly about Novosad’s cutting back hours every few years, almost like a slow fade.
Is that how a lot of these legacy joints end — not with a bang, sort of a quiet scaling-down like this?
Well, honestly, most that I’ve seen that have closed this way, it is more with a bang. It is a group of owners or a couple who decided that they’ve done it just as long as they can and it’s time to just call it a day.
So yeah, the scaling back is something a little bit different. I think maybe he’s just trying to hold on a little longer to find somebody to buy the place and continue the legacy.
See, that was what I was going to ask, because we have something of a global reach when it comes to Texas. I don’t know if you’ve heard that, but we do.
And I’m wondering if maybe some enterprising listener might be interested in stepping in. He’s still got it for sale, huh?
He’s still got it for sale. He’s still got the old, historic pits back in the pit room and the big old sausage pit. And with the purchase of the restaurant, you would also get that old school sausage recipe that they’re known for.
