“Sure, there are plenty of local places doing barbecue now, but no other place is sticking to the hard-core Texas thing we’re doing,” says Doug Pierce, proud pit master at Austin BBQ. Although he owned a pizza place, Pierce took a shine to barbecue in 2005 and began testing his own recipes on friends. After he trekked to the Lone Star State’s smokehouses, his pizza career officially went up in smoke. Today, Pierce emulates Hill Country smoking techniques from deep in the heart of Wheaton, serving oak-tinged meat sans sugary sauces and atop white bread or saltines (no wheat here, folks). 226 W. Front St., Wheaton; 630-690-0526.