The legend says, "Build it and they will come." That's what happened to the Salt Lick barbecue restaurant.
In 1967, Thurman Roberts dragged his heel in a circle in a field beside a back country road out in the middle of nowhere. He built a barbecue pit in that circle.
"People would drive by and smell the barbecue smoke and stop to buy some to take home," recalls Thurman's son Scott who helped build that pit.
At the suggestion of a friend, Thurman added picnic tables and more people came by. Then he added a small building so visitors could enjoy their meals out of the rain, and more people came by. The original building was expanded. More people came. It was expanded again. A second building was added and it was expanded as well.
People keep coming and the Salt Lick keeps accommodating them, and it remains charmingly rustic. The original picnic tables—which have seen more coats of paint than you can count—are still being used, along with that original stone pit.
Today, the restaurant can feed 800 people at one time and often feeds more than 2,000 people a day during busy summer Saturdays.
People come to the original location in the minuscule village of Driftwood from all over. Austinites drive as long as an hour each way just to eat lunch. People who live in the area make certain this is the first place they take out-of-town visitors. Drop in on Grand Prix weekend in November and you'll hear more Italian, French, and Spanish than you will English. The Salt Lick is so popular with those Formula 1 racing visitors from across the Big Pond that it even has special hours just for them.
The Salt Lick is an icon. It's a sprawling, rustic restaurant and event center—still out in the middle of nowhere—and one of the most popular barbecue eateries in all of Texas.
It currently has satellite restaurants in Round Rock, near the Dell Diamond, and at the Austin airport. The Salt Lick will cater, and you can order some barbecue on-line.
Plans are to bring the Salt Lick experience around the state, maybe further.
The newest addition to the restaurant is Salt Lick Cellars, in a stone building nestled among the trees. It's a gift shop and a tasting room that sells a variety of Texas beers and wines, including the Salt Lick's own brand made from grapes grown right out back behind the parking lot.
"The Cellars was my idea and dad's," says Maile Roberts-Loring who runs the Cellars.
Maile grew up in the Salt Lick business, working as a hostess and waitress. She comes armed with a business and psychology degree from Emory University in Atlanta and an MBA from the University of Texas.
When Thurman passed away in 1981, his wife Hisako ran the Salt Lick until son Scott convinced her to let him take over in 1987. Until recently, she still kept an eye on things. She is now over 100 years old.
"I'm very proud of Maile because she has such dedication and desire," Scott says. "It's like looking in a mirror and seeing myself talking to my father."
Maile echoes her father. "It makes me proud to be a part of what my grandfather started and especially what Dad has done," she says.
She recalls fondly being handed a pamphlet when she first began work at the Salt Lick. "I learned that Hill Country friendliness concept from my father and those were the first words I noticed in that pamphlet."
That friendliness is what keeps customers coming back and keeps employees in a business that usually sees fast turnovers.
Take Robert Gonzales, basting ribs on the pit. He's been here for 14 years.
"It's like working with family," he says quietly.
But his 14-year tenure is nothing. His father Carmen has been with Salt Lick for about 45 years.
The Salt Lick has expansive grounds, with two buildings to serve customers, a Kids' Ranch playground, an event center along adjacent Onion Creek, and another beautiful event center, Thurman's Mansion, on the hill overlooking the restaurant and the acres of grapevines.
But it's the food that keeps bringing people back.
On the menu are beef brisket, ribs, and sausage, turkey, and chicken with sides of beans, cole slaw, or potato salad. Enjoy pecan pie, blackberry or peach cobbler for desert. Want a little bit of everything? Order up the Family Style meal.
And you have your choice of their regular barbecue sauce or their special, spicy habañero sauce. Extra sauce is on each table so may indulge to your tastebuds' content.
The Salt Lick cooks their meat directly over oak wood hot coals, smoking it for as many as 20 hours using a traditional family sauce recipe that's vinegar-based. "A tomato-based sauce would burn if you cooked it that way," Scott says.
Their barbecue is so good, it routinely takes top honors in area polls and was recently named one of the 10 best in the country in an Internet poll.
Scott and Maile have a vision to expand Salt Lick Cellars and Salt Lick Bar-B-Que to new locations.
"Texas has a good reputation for its wines, so the Cellars will feature Texas wines and local beers," Scott explains. "We'll have wood-fired ovens and wood grills and everything offered will be local, including vegetables and even Gulf seafood."
The first location for the satellite Cellars and Bar-B-Que will be in Grapevine, in the Metroplex area of North Texas.
Running such a busy enterprise, creating a winery, and expanding all over Texas might be a daunting task, but not for the Roberts clan.
"I see myself doing this at Dad's age," Maile smiles.
For More Information
• The original Salt Lick is located at 18001 FM 1826, Driftwood TX 78619, 512-858-4959. Note that the Driftwood location accepts cash only, but they have ATM machines. Round Rock location is at 3350 East Palm Valley Road, RR 78665, adjacent to the Dell Diamond, 512-386-1044. Web site for both is saltlickbbq.com.
• Salt Lick Cellars, 18300-C FM 1826 Driftwood TX 78619, 512-829-4013, saltlickcellars.com.
