The question of whether or not Bozeman has good barbeque is a hotly debated one. “Good” is subjective; it’s different from “authentic,” and we don’t all agree on which is more important. It’s like one’s taste for fish; if you grew up eating fresh seafood in or near a coastal community, your palate for marine life is probably going to be a little more particular than someone who has only ever eaten frozen fish sticks. The same goes for Southern fare, as evidenced by the impassioned arguments found on Bozeman’s online food forums.

For many of us, the answer lies in the backyard of an inconspicuous yellow house on West Mendenhall. Tucked between a rental house and what I still think of as Video Library (currently Eckroth Music), Yellow House is an unmarked, word-of-mouth underground restaurant of sorts, where chef and pitmaster Austin Brown offers up Texas-inspired small batch barbeque. Locals and tourists alike flock to the building when the “Open” sign ignites, and food is sold until it’s gone. It’s not a sit-down restaurant except in the warm months, when patrons can eat at the picnic tables in the backyard—mainly, it’s an order-in-person, grab-and-go situation. The other day I sat down with Brown and Marrow, his regal black Lab-Mastiff mix, and asked the questions that inquiring minds want to know.

Katie Thomas: How was Yellow House Barbeque conceptualized?

Austin Brown: I’m a private chef, and about eight years ago I picked up this building to use as my commercial kitchen. I got super lucky, because I only had like $5,000 to my name, but back then nobody wanted these little properties. I was driving home one day, saw the vent hood, and that the place was for rent, and leased it the next day. At first, I used it when I wasn’t traveling for chef gigs; we’d have pop-up dinners here where I collaborated with local chefs. I called it the Bozeman Supper Club and it was really fun. We did that for probably two to three years, to fill the times when we were slow.

KT: I wish you were still doing that! I love those.

AB: It was really a great time. But I started to focus more on my private chef business, and then I started to incorporate more time on my barbeque too.

KT: So what would you like people to experience when they walk through your doors?

AB: A unique, yet familiar vibe, where you feel welcomed and it’s not pretentious. Kind of a bare-bones, rustic feeling, where you feel like you stepped away from Bozeman for a second. I want people to maybe meet someone they’ve never met before, when sitting at the communal tables in summer, and to experience the different foods and flavors that we like to cook with.

KT: Tell me about your menu and what kinds of foods you offer.

AB: I call my food Texas-inspired small batch barbecue. So it’s all Texas at heart, the low and slow method of cooking on an offset fire pit. I’ll start with the meat, and we’ll figure out what flavors we want to use that week. We always have brisket, chicken, and sausage. We don’t mess with it—not too much seasoning, and we just kind of let the temperature of the pit dictate how things taste and feel. 

KT: What about sides?

AB: We have your traditional mac and cheese, an Asian-inspired macaroni salad, and we’ve done cheesy grits. I sometimes have fun with some more avant-garde options, like curry cabbage, Japanese-style Yaki Imo sweet potatoes, campana, smoked seafood. I try to use global flavors, like I do in my private chef business— I’ll use rice wine and soy on our brisket, or gochujang in the pimento cheese. When we do specials, I’ll play around with Indian, Mediterranean, Greek, all kinds of influences.

KT: I think you just partially answered this, but what would you say makes Yellow House unique in the Bozeman food scene?

AB: There’s not a lot of people doing open-fire cooking. With our low-and-slow method, nothing really happens fast out here. And I think the location’s kind of special. I call it my pirate ship, because there are not many places left like it in Bozeman. There’s no such thing as a hole-in-the-wall here anymore; they’re all brand new. This building has an old-world Bozeman vibe to it, and that makes it unique.

KT: What menu item do regulars keep coming back for?

AB: People always come back for the brisket. It’s our number one selling item. There’s a hominy casserole and a Texas-style baked black bean side that people love too.

KT: Do you have a favorite menu item?

AB: Probably the banana pudding that we have for dessert. Also, the King Ranch Casserole, and the biscuits.

KT: What’s in a King Ranch Casserole?

AB: It’s basically a chicken tortilla casserole.

KT: Oh, dear.

AB: Yeah. In Texas, everybody ate it when they were a kid. You went to grandma’s house and she had it going in the crockpot all day. We make it from scratch here, but the original recipe has canned cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup in it, and it comes from my grandma, Judy Brown… so do the biscuit and banana pudding recipes, actually.

KT: Talk more about your background.

AB: I’m from Lockhart, Texas, where barbecue was born. It’s a pretty special place to me; my great-grandfather was sheriff there for 25 years. My smoker was built there. The wood we use is shipped up from Lockhart, because not a lot of good hardwoods grow here for smoking. I use a mix of post oak and pecan. So it’s all nostalgic for me. I get to cook my grandmother’s food. The smell of oak burning reminds me of hanging out with my grandfather in the smoke room in Texas.

KT: Do you think that’s part of what makes your food so good, because you’re a Texan?

AB: I don’t know; I’d like to think so. I feel really strongly about being the only one to cook the food. There’s a lot of nuance to it, especially in open-fire cooking, and I’m kind of a perfectionist. That’s why they give you the name “pitmaster.” Brisket takes 16 hours on a smoker where I’m stoking a fire every 45 minutes, so it makes sense to keep my operation small. That’s not a testament to how good it is— it’s just my own dedication, or ego, or whatever you want to call it.

KT: What was your first restaurant job in Bozeman?

AB: In Bozeman, I was the sous chef at Saffron Table. But prior to that, I was a chef in Big Sky—I worked at Lone Mountain Ranch, Lotus Pad, and a little restaurant called Butter. I cooked there in exchange for rent. When I got offered the job at Saffron Table, I moved to Bozeman full-time and started my private chef company, which is called Rad Foods Montana.

KT: You’ve been all over. So what do you enjoy most about being part of the Bozeman community?

AB: Honestly, it’s the people who support me. Those who know that if they’re sick in bed, they could call me and I’d bring them food. Those people keep my doors open, and I’m forever grateful to them. And other people in the industry—the cashiers at Whole Foods and Town and Country, the people working at the bakeries, the people working in other restaurants are the best part of the community here for me. As the saying goes, it’s not about the bread you break, it’s who you break it with.

KT: Are there any local purveyors you’d like to shout out?

AB: Absolutely. We’ve used everybody from Gallatin Valley Botanical to Black Dog Farm to Highland Meat Company to Border Farm—anything I can get my hands on. That’s the only way to keep these businesses going, is to support each other. I can’t always purchase everything locally, because I want to keep my prices down for customers, and be able to pay my employees fairly. But I buy local as much as possible.

KT: Do you have any special events coming up?

AB: I don’t have the dates yet, but we’ve got something lined up with Tune Up, a couple events in the parking lot at Prime, and possibly Big Sky PBR. I’m also hoping to do something with Izakaya Three Fish this summer.

KT: So you must have a food truck?

AB: I do. My smoker is on a tandem trailer, and I’ve got all this open fire equipment that I can pick up and move anywhere.

KT: What’s the best way for people to follow your happenings and get information?

AB: Instagram, @yellowhousebarbeque. We have a website now and may add online ordering, but Instagram is always best.

KT: Anything else you’d like readers to know about Yellow House?

AB: My goal is to sell out every day, because that means my food is served as fresh as possible. You won’t see me reheating brisket or ribs or anything, so come down and help me sell out!

Sold! Prior to meeting Austin Brown, I had never made it over to Yellow House. It was always on my radar, but it’s now on my top 5 go-to list. I swear, you can taste the heart and soul that’s put into this food, and not just because I’m a sucker for small, independent food operations run out of ‘70s-style structures. I’m glad I went early; otherwise, I’d have been stuck getting ribs from some substandard cure for the barbeque craving. No judgment; one person’s Yellow House is probably another person’s Famous Dave’s. But not me—I prefer a personal touch, and that’s just what you get at Yellow House Barbeque.