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The tiny town of Tool on the western side of Cedar Creek Lake 50 miles southeast of Dallas is one of the most important spots in the Texas barbecue scene. It’s not a restaurant with spectacular brisket or handcrafted sausage, and you won’t find it on some food writer’s best of list…

Long gone are the days when a barbecue joint could get by serving great smoked meats for a few lunches a week. Thanks to the skyrocketing cost of everything from rent to smokers to meat — not to mention an insatiable demand — many barbecue restaurants are open longer hours and offering more frills to separate themselves from the crowd…

Before I became the Observer’s food critic, my beat was barbecue. I’d occasionally cover other cuisines, but if a restaurant smoked protein over fire, chances are I would write about it…