Best Restaurants in Fort Lauderdale | Restaurants : Food Network | Food Network

At nine years old, Will Banks started smoking meat at his grandfather’s Elgin, Texas, butcher shop and barbecue joint. When Banks was 15, his grandfather sold the business and the family relocated to New York City, but neighbors could still smell wood-smoked brisket aromas wafting from their Queens backyard. After a long stint in the corporate world, Banks has followed in his grandfather’s footsteps, opening an old-school Texas barbecue joint in Oakland Park. Juicy brisket, chewy spare ribs and bold Kreuz Market Texas jalapeno-cheese sausages are served on butcher paper just as you’d find in the Lone Star State. Lines of patrons snake well beyond the door nearly every day of the week, but the crowds are particularly large on Thursdays, when Banks makes peppercorn-crusted smoked pastrami, piled high on a onion bun with coleslaw and a side of grainy mustard.