At Chisholm Trail Icehouse & BBQ, food has a family lineage that can be traced back several generations.

Owner Randy Hashem is the grandson, son and nephew of several family members who have been barbecue connoisseurs, cooks and recipe innovators for many decades. The restaurant's most-ordered items, such as potato salad, squash casserole and barbecued meats, involve recipes and techniques Hashem learned from his mother, aunt, grandfather and grandmother.

"Food has been in our family a long time," he said. "I always tell people that I didn't get this physique by watching people eat. I ate my share of it for sure."

Hashem's grandfather, Lupe Jasso, was a grill master who frequently barbecued meats, especially for Easter. When Jasso died in 1992, Hashem acquired his grandfather's barbecue pit and began trying to replicate his techniques.

The restaurant smokes its meats with pecan and oak, a practice that was not easy to perfect, he said.

"I tried for, like, three years to cook a brisket on that pit, and I screwed it up every time," Hashem said. "So then it became a mission to figure it out. Once we kind of figured that out, we started doing tailgate stuff."

The story behind the name

The name of the restaurant comes from Chisholm Trail in Round Rock where Hashem planned to open the restaurant in a building constructed in 1856. Because of the cost to occupy a historical building, he instead decided to open in Austin.

Before Hashem opened the restaurant, he spent three months traveling through Texas sampling food and analyzing the service of any barbecue joint he could find. While visiting other restaurants, he looked for three components: the quality of food, how clean the restaurant was and how the staff dealt with customers.

"I found that nobody was consistent across the board," he said. "If the service was good, the restaurant was dirty, or if the restaurant was clean, then the service was terrible. I realized that those were three things that I've always done really well."

Marvin Rasmussen, a weekly customer, said his favorite meat is the lean brisket.

"I think it's the best barbecue in the city," he said.

He and his wife, Sheri, live in a neighborhood near the restaurant and drop by once or twice a week. Sheri said she likes to try different things on the menu but favors the sandwiches, potato salad and chicken.

"[The restaurant] feels like home," Sheri said.

About 70 percent of the restaurant's business comes from catering for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast usually includes scrambled eggs, migas, bacon, sausage, and biscuits and gravy.

"It's a great niche because most people who are delivering breakfast do croissants and muffins," he said. "We're trying to give you a home-cooked feel. I think that's what people love the most about [the food]—you can taste that things are homemade."

Daily specials

• Monday

• Chopped-beef sandwich with one side ($7.49)
• Rib plate with two sides ($8.79)

• Tuesday

• Sausage sandwich with one side ($7.29)
• Sausage plate with two sides ($8.79)

• Wednesday

• Beef sandwich with one side ($7.49)
• Beef plate with two sides ($8.95)

• Thursday

• 1/4 lb. chicken plate with two sides ($7.49)
• 1/2 lb. chicken plate with two sides ($8.95)

• Friday

• Beef, sausage or chopped sandwich with one side ($7.49)
• Two-meat plate with two sides ($9.79)

Customer favorites

• Brisket by the pound ($13.49)
• Pork ribs by the pound ($9.95)
• Turkey breast by the pound ($11.49)
• Potato salad: Made with relish, eggs, onions and mayonnaise. (small $1.69, pint $4.19)
• Squash casserole: The recipe comes from Hashem's aunt and is made with zucchini, yellow squash, onion and carrots and topped with cheese. ($1.69, pint $4.19)

Chisholm Trail Icehouse & BBQ, 8650 Spicewood Springs Road, Ste. 148, 258-3063, www.bbq512.com

Hours:

• Mon.–Thu. 11 a.m.–8 p.m.,
• Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–9 p.m.
• Sun. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.