Three years ago, Gregg and Casey Lee Ring watched as a building burned uncontrollably in Flatonia, a town about midway between Houston and San Antonio. Once the damage was cleared, the owner put the empty lot up for sale. Gregg, a budding barbecue cook at the time, saw the potential of the prominent location along Main Street and bought it to set up the trailer for Casey Lee’s Family Craft BBQ. Casey, noticing that locals had criticized the volunteer fire department online about the incident, joined Flatonia Fire & Rescue.

“That unfortunate day spurred on a lot of things in our life,” Gregg said. It also allowed Flatonia to get some remarkably good barbecue.

Don’t expect smoked brisket every time you visit the Saturdays-only joint. Gregg said Prime-grade brisket was $8.14 per pound raw w

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