Lewis Barbecue

“Texas-trained brisket mastery meets the Holy City”

John Lewis brought his Texas-honed craft to Charleston in 2016 and reset the city's ceiling overnight. His custom-built pits — the largest in South Carolina — turn out brisket with a bark that stands up to anything in Austin, cooked in the Central Texas manner with the wood doing the work and the sauce kept on the side. The open-air beer garden, carved out of a converted NoMo warehouse space, has become one of Charleston's genuine gathering places. The beef brisket is the headline: peppery bark, a silky rendered fat cap, and slices that hold together until you bite. It is arguably the best brisket in the state. The jalapeño cheddar sausage is made in-house and snaps with each bite, the smoked turkey stays improbably moist, and the whole-hog nods to the Carolina canon he cooks alongside the Texas one. Arrive before noon on weekends; the good cuts sell out, and the line has a reputation of its own.