Chef’s Table: BBQ – The Best Facts on Snow’s BBQ Restaurant

If there’s one story from Chef’s Table: BBQ that has managed to warm everyone’s heart, it’s Tootsie Tomanetz’s. Although the burning debate of “Who makes the best barbecue in America?” may never get settled, Tootie from Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Texas is a top candidate. The 85-year-old fireball has been a pitmaster for more than half a century, and now, with the Netflix show, she’s put Snow’s BBQ on the world map. But what makes Snow’s BBQ so lit? Here’s all there is to know about this Chef’s Table: BBQ restaurant.

A school maintenance worker on weekdays and a fierce apron-clad pitmaster on the weekend, Tootsie balances her life just like she balances the salt and pepper ratio in her brisket. Friday nights are not the same for this Chef’s Table: BBQ star, who wakes up at 1 a.m. and heads to Snow’s BBQ by 2 a.m., to start the fire. Tootsie was introduced to the world of barbecue by her late husband White in 1966, when he asked her to help him during work at the City Meat Market in Giddings. Today, people know who Tootsie is and how she still celebrates the Central Texas tradition of barbecue every Saturday. She shares BBQ with a community that she considers her family. The ace pitmaster’s cooking technique is “country cooking”, where she uses an actual mop to add sauce to the meat and uses her bare hands to test the heat of the pit. As it’s revealed in Tootsie’s chapter of Chef’s Table: BBQ, at Snow’s BBQ, there are no secrets, “the only secret is the pitmaster.” However, those who wish to take selfies with this American barbecue legend will have to wait it out for a while.

Chef’s Table: BBQ fan-favorite Tootsie opened Snow’s on March 1, 2003, with the restaurant’s owner, Kerry Bexley. Based roughly an hour outside of Austin, Texas to the east, Snow’s just had Tootsie, Kerry, a Miss Phyllis Rogers, and Kerry’s two daughters on the workforce when it opened. The iconic restaurant is open only on Saturdays, starting from 8 a.m. till “sold out” sadness strikes, often around noon. For those asking, barbecue on Saturdays is a totally Texan thing and a weekly event that eventually became a reason to bring friends and family together, as seen on Chef’s Table: BBQ. But in an interview with Texas Monthly, Tootsie had confessed that Snow’s was kept open for more than one day a week as “there’s no market for it.” Lexington hosts a livestock auction every Saturday around 12:30 p.m. and the townsfolk make sure they’ve had their fill of smoked meat before visiting the event.

Snow’s BBQ takes its name from Kerry’s nickname that used to be “Snowman.” His initial motive behind opening the restaurant was to help his daughters get some work experience. “Good BBQ, good service, and friendly people have helped to keep the fire burning,” says Kerry on the Snow’s BBQ website. However, the star attraction of Snow’s continues to be head chef and pitmaster Tootsie, because of whom Snow’s BBQ was rated as the number-one BBQ joint in Texas by Texas Monthly in May 2008. The same year gave a boost to the Chef’s Table: BBQ featured restaurant, with The New Yorker calling it “the best Texas BBQ in the world.”

Currently, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Snow’s BBQ has shut down but stays open for online deliveries. Tootsie, who turned 85 in April 2020, still shows the enthusiasm of a 35-year-old as she prepares her famed brisket.. just like she used to 17 years ago. “We appreciate ’em mail-ordering because thataway they can still get some of Snow’s barbecue, and it gives us something to do during the week,” the Netflix celebrity said in a recent interview. That’s exactly how Chef’s Table: BBQ fans can show some love to Tootsie: by ordering Snow’s world-famous BBQ brisket, pork ribs, turkey breast, and even their original sauces online.

All episodes of Chef’s Table: BBQ are available to stream on Netflix.

Source: Texas Monthly, The New Yorker, Snow’s BBQ

About The Author

Saylee Padwal
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Saylee Padwal is a Features and News Writer for Screen Rant where she covers Reality TV. Enjoys spending her spare time binging her favorite horror films, crime docs, and exploring local coffee shops.

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