Houston's settlers built their city on a barbecue bayou, and for decades their city sunk two feet per year into the smoky, tangy quagmire, until they found a solution: drain the swamps of the sauce and slather it on their ribs. Eat your way out of a hungermire with today's Groupon: for $6, you get $12 worth of food and drink at The Brisket House, located right off the 610, on the corner of Woodway and Augusta.

The Brisket House allows meataholics and barbecaddicts to satisfy smoky cravings with a menu of meaty favorites, all smoked with a combination of oak and pecan. Tear into the restaurant's signature "Brisket House Special," with your choice of meat (house sausage, hot sausage, brisket, pork ribs, turkey, or chicken) alongside a slab of cheddar cheese, a whole pickle, onion, and bread. Orders come in sizes of six ounces ($7.50 for one meat), eight ounces ($9 for choice of up to two meats), and one pound ($18 for choice of up to four meats). Guests can back the stomach truck right up to the counter and order smoked meat by the pound—1/3 pound ($4.50), 1/2 pound ($6.50), or one pound of juicy, flavor-dripping slow-fired goodness ($12). For people who want to rain sides on the meaty parade, The Brisket House slings up half-pints ($2.50–$2.75), full pints ($4.50–$4.95), or quarts ($6.95–$7.50) of appetizing accompaniments, with a three-meat plate ($11.50) and choice of two sides.

Cannon-shoot yourself toward The Brisket House, and land in front of its sports-spewing flat-screen televisions, as you prepare to partake in a bounty of barbecued flavor. Sharing a massive pile of meat is an option, but be prepared to punch your own reflection for the last slice.

Reviews

The Brisket House has been featured in the Houston Press, and it gets nearly a 4.5-star average from six Yelpers.

• …I went on my merry way, marveling that I'd just eaten a really good brisket in Houston, and in Woodway no less. Let's see if The Brisket House can keep it up and -- if the brisket stays moist and smoked to perfection -- take a place in the small but noble pantheon of great barbecue joints in Houston. – Katharine Shilcutt, Houston Press