Atlanta barbecue: Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q opens on Upper Westside

An early example of a successful pop-up, twin brothers Jonathan and Justin Fox first started serving their Texas-style smoked brisket and sides at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta in 2005.

But by 2007, the barbecue award-winning brothers decided the demand was great enough that they needed a place of their own. And with partner Beau Nolen, they opened the now iconic Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q on DeKalb Avenue in Candler Park.

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Credit: Chris Hunt

Since then, Fox Bros. has become a recognized Atlanta brand, with a catering commissary and takeout kiosk at Armor Yards, and satellite locations at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Truist Park.

With all that, though, last week’s grand opening of the second full-service outpost of Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q is perhaps the brothers’ greatest accomplishment to date.

Located in a sprawling 9,300-square-foot space at The Works on Atlanta’s Upper Westside, the build-out features a two-sided indoor-outdoor bar, multifaceted dining areas, including two covered patios, a private dining room and event space, and a market with a walk-up takeout window.

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One afternoon before lunch, Justin Fox conducted a tour of the restaurant, including the wood-fired smokehouse, which is equipped with four custom J&R Oyler smokers and twin Moberg smokers, all built in Texas.

“This is the smokehouse we’ve been working on for years,” he said. “We’re using hickory and oak, and smoking CAB Prime brisket, pulled pork, sausage, chicken, turkey and spare ribs. We’ll have pre-packaged meats and sides in the market, as well, so you can just walk up to get a to-go order.

“The Camp is a little park across the street, and they have concerts and stuff over there. This whole property is open container, so you can just walk around with a drink. We’ll be pushing some drinks out of here, and people can come over, get a sandwich, and take it back.”

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Though much of the menu is the same as the DeKalb Avenue Fox Bros., there are more salads, and several new sandwiches at the Westside location.

“The only difference on the meat here is that we have turkey on the menu full time,” Justin Fox said. “It’s just featured a couple of days over at DeKalb. A lot of these new items here are items we’ve run as specials at DeKalb, but here we have the kitchen capacity to do them all the time.

“The Texas Turkey Sandwich was our Wednesday special for a while. It’s smoked turkey breast with lettuce, tomato, bacon, and a mayonnaise that we make from rendered brisket fat. Our Foxy Melt burger is a patty melt with two ground Prime CAB brisket patties, griddled with white American cheese, caramelized onions and sauteed poblanos on rye with beef fat dijonnaise.”

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Lest you think that’s too much meat, the menu also features a new vegetarian option. It’s a pulled oyster mushroom sandwich that’s gridded, topped with barbecue sauce and red cabbage, and served on a brioche roll. And with a switch to sourdough bread, it’s vegan.

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Though the bar wasn’t quite ready to open last week, look for lots of new Upper Westside cocktails, including an iteration of the popular Watermelon Margarita, and an expanded draft beer menu.

“At DeKalb, we’re so tightly confined that people just come and go, but we wanted to make this a place where people could just stretch out a little bit more, and relax, and have a good time and a good drink, and eat some good food,” Justin Fox said.

Emerging from the kitchen, Jonathan Fox sat down at the bar and joined the discussion, offering his perspective on finally opening on the Westside.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “We’ve been looking over on the Westside for a new home for six, seven or eight years now. This is the fourth or fifth location that we’ve looked at. But this was the right time, and a great fit, and we have room to do whatever we want to do.

“We have the big smokehouse, the big kitchen, and we can focus on to-go, which these days is a big part of what we do. A lot of things that we learned during the pandemic are here for people now.”

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