This is my second annual “Best Of” series of year-end posts. Some, I assume, will be brief. Some longer. All, varying degrees of serious. I’ll try my best not to use the words or phrases “unprecedented,” “new normal,” or “unpresidented”, but I can’t make any promises.

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Lost in Waco is a non-profit, independent magazine that is the dream and brain-child of Adam Moore, a fellow Wacoan. Several years ago Adam took to his bike and began to photograph the often unseen, unglamorous corners in our city. He created an Instagram account to post the photos. Then he, along with others, started getting together several times a year to tell stories. Creative-types around this city found each other, and one of the current iterations of all his dreaming and scheming is Lost in Waco. The magazine is a stunning piece of retro-art. You can’t see it online. It’s intended to be held, and can only be found floating around town. All content is from local writers, photographers, and artists.

Earlier this year, Adam and Wendy Gragg, the managing editor, approached me about writing a piece on the Waco BBQ scene. I thought about it for about a quarter second and agreed to do it. Writing the piece was enjoyable. But researching the subject was one of the highlights of my life.

I ate a lot of Guess Family BBQ, which is my favorite in town. (One of the challenges of writing such a piece, which wasn’t intended as a review, was not ranking places, so as not to cause a war.) I spoke the owners of some of the restaurants that were part of my pre-pandemic rotation, like Tony Demaria’s and Vitek’s. One of the best parts of the project was discovering a wealth of black-owned BBQ joints in town, like the 310’s Kitchen truck, where I ate the best beef rib of my life, Papa Jacks’s, where I will become a regular diner when a potentially deadly virus is no longer raging through our city, and Mitch’s Corner Stop, which is just around the corner from my house. (I’m already a regular at Mitch’s, but had never had their BBQ.)

You can learn more about the magazine HERE, and if you are in Waco, you can pick up copies (if they haven’t all been taken) at Balcones Distillery, Brotherwell Brewing, Fabled Bookstore, Pinewood Coffee, Revival Eastside, Tru Jamaica, and Wildland Supply Co. (I’ve given away my copy, so if you find an extra, grab one for me as well.) And if you are interested in donating to keep the magazine putting out great, local content, you can do so HERE.