The smell of smoked meats permeates as customers enter Liberty Barbecue in downtown Round Rock. Sounds of knives on plates and muffled chatter characterize the Tuesday lunch crowd. Owner John Brotherton circles between tables, exchanging greetings with customers.
Brotherton and his business partners, the Perez family, opened Liberty Barbecue in Round Rock in December 2018. The barbecue joint shares recipes with Brotherton's other restaurant, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue, in Pflugerville—recipes that earned his Pflugerville business top honors in a statewide ranking of the best new barbecue places in Texas.
“Barbecue is super hot right now,” Brotherton said. “Everybody’s got this obsession with barbecue, and I think a lot of it has to do with just the way that barbecue has improved over recent years.”
Brotherton said now is an era of experimentation in Texan cuisine that has led to new and evolving recipes, adding that his own staff often revisit their menu for newfound inspiration—from Tex-Mex reimagined to an upcoming barbecue charcuterie concept.
