- Coming up on "Austin InSight," a look inside the award-winning and innovative barbecue restaurant, LeRoy and Lewis, and the impact of the many major data center projects in the works in Central Texas.

"Austin InSight" starts right now.

- [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally & James Gavin, and also from Suerte, Este and Bar Toti restaurants, bringing Austin together around culinary excellence to celebrate creativity, conservation, and culture in Central Texas.

(inspiring music) (inspiring music) - Hello and thanks for joining us, I'm Laura Laughead.

Information, data, content.

We all want to know and see everything about anything instantly.

But meeting that demand takes enormous computing power, and that's driving a big boom in the construction of new data centers, including here in Central Texas.

We'll begin with a look at the projects in this area based on reporting from the "Austin Business Journal."

19 data center projects have emerged in the Greater Austin area in recent years.

They total at least $25 billion in capital investment, likely an undercount, and millions of square feet of office space.

All of that creating thousands of jobs primarily in construction.

We'll tick off a list of some of the larger projects you should know about.

In Temple, a $31 million project from Oppidan Investment Company is scheduled to be completed in October, 2026.

In Milam County, SB Energy Global is building a center as well.

In Jarrell, Prominent Property group announced an $850 million project.

Three projects are also coming to Round Rock from Switch Inc., Sabey Data Centers and Highland Resources.

This, while Skybox Datacenters has projects in Hutto.

Also in Hutto, a new data center from a company called Colovore is set to be built on a 30-acre site.

Blueprint Projects was also recently approved to build in Taylor amid opposition from residents concerned about noise and other issues.

- Noise is an issue, but not just noise.

Low frequency hums and vibrations that come from data centers are known to travel long distances.

- It's expected to consume millions of gallons of water annually, a deeply concerning figure for a region prone to drought.

- Amazon has a project in Pflugerville.

In Bastrop County, EdgeConneX is building a $1.3 billion center, and there are two new data center projects in Caldwell County from Prime Data Centers and from a developer company named Tract that has proposed a massive buildout that will take 10 years to complete.

And there are still even more projects further south.

Joining us now is "Austin Business Journal" senior staff writer Justin Sayers, who has done in-depth reporting on the growth of data centers.

Justin, thanks so much for being here.

- Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

- So Justin, first, why are there so many data centers right now?

- Yeah, that's a really multifaceted question.

But the reason for the growth in the Austin area comes down to land availability, but also power availability.

Historically, areas like Dallas are some of the biggest data center markets in the country.

But as those markets get built up, developers are looking for other places, you know, to find that space for data centers that will work based on utilities, land availability, costs, potential incentives, all the things like that.

I will say data centers are kind of proliferating everywhere right now, you know, just 'cause there's such a demand for it and every community in the country is grappling with these.

But Austin, which is actually looped in with the San Antonio data center market, is one of the fastest-growing data center markets in the country and in some cases, the world at the moment.

- Hmm.

And what's the economic impact of this burgeoning industry here in Texas?

Essentially these places are buildings full of servers or computers.

Do they really create that many permanent jobs after construction is completed?

- That's a really great question.

The one thing that I've been stressing about these data centers is that every project is different.

You can't really loop them all in together because they use different power sources or they create different amounts of jobs.

In general, data centers are not big job creators, but there are some exceptions.

Like the project that's headed to Caldwell County, that one could potentially create several hundred jobs.

But for the most part, they don't create a lot of permanent jobs.

They do create a lot of construction jobs.

So really once that's built out and done, you know, with the construction, the number of people that are working in their day-to-day on a permanent basis, it's not a big number.

- Are these projects getting state or local government incentives specifically like tax breaks?

- So it is really prevalent to see a lot of these projects go for incentives and get things on rebates for property taxes or, you know, like job creation, they'll get a grant for that.

I will say that starting to slow down, a lot of the recent data center projects are starting to come in without those.

But you know, I know that if developers had their choice, they would definitely, you know, request those.

- But the big concern here about data centers is in some cases, they require lots of electricity and water usage in addition to being expensive, and those two essential needs, they can be in short supply in Texas.

What does your reporting show about that?

- Again, just going back to that trope of every data center is different.

It's important to look at each data center differently based on their water needs, their utility needs, what their power sources and all that kind of thing.

But the big thing to remember is power is always going to be the biggest use of these.

But at the same time, some of these data centers are using like alternative sources of energy.

Some data centers are even using nuclear energy.

Some are putting their own on-site power generation, so they're not using, you know, stuff from the grid.

Some are even doing that to the point of if we have another winter storm, they can actually take themselves off the grid and onto their own power source, and they can also provide back to the grid.

So it's again, evaluating that from a different standpoint of each data center.

In terms of water use, a big thing for the reputable developers that they're really starting to do as the technology gets better is using circulated cooling.

So basically you fill the water source at the beginning of the opening of the data center, and then you never have to refill it again.

That water that you put into it at the beginning is cycled through throughout the lifecycle of the data center.

So, you know, like that limits the daily water use, which essentially comes down to bathrooms or a kitchen or showers or something you might have.

There are some that use natural gas, which I know there's been a lot of reporting nationwide about the dangers of that natural gas.

But yeah, like again, it really just depends on the project and looking at each one and the impacts based on that is really what cities, counties, you know, are considering now rather than looping them all into one bubble.

- It's hard to keep up with, it seems, just how many of these are in progress, and I'm sure we're likely to still see more data centers coming.

Justin Sayers with the "Austin Business Journal," thank you so much for helping us understand this important growing business sector.

- Yeah, thank you so much for having me and happy to talk about data centers all day.

(upbeat music) - Now, another segment about rapid growth but not in technology and much tastier.

For this year's list of the best barbecue joints in the state, "Texas Monthly" magazine considered more than 120 establishments, way more than pass lists.

The editors asked the question, is there such a thing as too much good barbecue?

Well, we'll get insight on the answer to that question from the barbecue editor at "Texas Monthly," Daniel Vaughn who joins us now from Dallas.

Daniel, thanks so much for joining us.

- Yeah, it's great to be with you.

- And talk about like what a great dream job.

And I mean of course, the answer to that earlier question is no, there is no such thing as too much barbecue, right?

- Yeah, that's right.

It is a great job.

I get to travel all over the state, eating the best barbecue in the state and telling stories about the people that do it.

- And these are iconic Texas stories too at each joint I'm sure you're finding.

And so what qualities do you look for when you're investigating the best barbecue in Texas, and how does a restaurant qualify?

- Yeah, we're looking for the top 50 barbecue joints.

Really what we're looking for is great barbecue up and down the board.

And that means not just great brisket, but you know, how are you doing with pork ribs and sausage, or pork steaks, turkey, chicken, you know, all of those smoked meats.

And we certainly look at the side items too and the desserts and the atmosphere and just all of those things.

But really it comes down to the barbecue.

And to put a list like this together, we put a big team together, we really canvas the state.

I'm doing that as my full-time job, you know, in those four years in between barbecue lists, out scouting the state, coming up with what our to-do list is for the actual search.

- I'm sure so much work goes into narrowing down that list.

How hard was it to decide?

The competition, we know was fierce this year.

- Yeah, it really was.

You know, we started with nearly 400 places when we started that search, you know, back in really, the 1st of September.

And then, you know, we narrowed that list down through our first round of tasting to about 120, as you said, about 120 different, one's up for contention for the top 50.

And then I visited as many of those as I could in the next two months.

So from January 1st 'til I think March 2nd was my last day of tasting.

I think I went to 109 barbecue joints myself in that time period, so it really is about the barbecue that they put in front of us.

- Wow.

What kind of trends are you seeing in the barbecue scene?

I know there's been a lot of talk about traditional barbecue versus innovative barbecue.

- Yeah, certainly lots of innovation.

I mean, I'll start with a place like LeRoy and Lewis.

And just their, not only focus on brisket, but the fact that they do this huge variety of different beef cuts.

And, you know, in Texas, we are the beef barbecue state.

That's really one of the things that sets us apart from other barbecue styles that usually are a lot more pork-heavy or even like lamb-heavy up in Kentucky.

But at places like LeRoy and Lewis that are looking at different beef cuts, like a beef cheek or, you know, sirloins or flanks, and mixing in all those different cuts along with the brisket, I think is part of the future of Texas barbecue, especially if you wanna be cooking with local beef.

You know, I think one of the other trends that we've seen is just a lot of different cuisines, a lot of different immigrant cuisines coming into Texas and really using barbecue as the backbone to really show off and highlight the flavors of cuisines from around the world.

And so we have, you know, on this list alone, we've got, you know, Egyptian barbecue, we've got, you know, Ethiopian barbecue, Vietnamese.

I mean, it really runs the gamut.

- It is really fascinating to see people both taking those amazing iconic Texas traditions we love and also putting their own spin on it, like you said, LeRoy and Lewis, and we have a story on them coming up next in the show.

And from this year's list, Central Texas seems to be holding onto its reputation as the best in the state.

Why did this region stand out and what regional trends are you noticing?

- Well, you know, Central Texas has long been really the heart of Texas barbecue, especially if you go back to the "Texas Monthly" barbecue list going back to 1997, you know, those places in Lockhart and Luling, you know, up in Taylor at Louie Mueller Barbecue.

So these places have been really the sort of heart and soul of Texas barbecue for a long, long time.

It's more recent that we've seen Austin really get into the conversation with the best barbecue, and Austin come into his own as a barbecue city and a barbecue destination.

I think when I started working on this list back in 2013 was the first one I was involved with, it was a lot harder to find really great barbecue all over the state, really.

And nowadays, finding really incredible spots in every corner of Texas.

We have GW's BBQ down in San Juan in our top 10.

LaVaca BBQ in Port LaVaca.

Redbird BBQ in Port Neches down near Port Arthur, so finding truly incredible barbecue in really every nook and cranny of Texas.

- Man, and I'm sure even more are gonna start popping up and the competition is probably gonna get even fiercer next time.

I know you got your work cut out for you, but fun work at that.

Well, Daniel, no one knows more about the business of barbecue in Texas.

Thank you so much for sharing your insight.

- Thanks for having me on.

(upbeat music) - Now we're taking a peek behind the barbecue curtain at one of "Texas Monthly's" top picks.

In fact, the highest ranked one here in Austin, LeRoy and Lewis at number two in Texas.

The restaurant takes traditional barbecue and adds their own twist, the perfect example for our next Authentically Austin.

In a state where everything is bigger, barbecue might just be the biggest thing around.

And now the toughest critics in the business are taking note.

I'm really glad I didn't wear white.

(energetic music) (energetic music) - [Evan] Barbecue's primal.

You know, you see a big tray of meat glistening with fat and juices and peppery bark and you can almost smell it and taste it.

- In the beginning, there was barbecue.

- [Speaker] Ooh!

- And then, there was Texas barbecue.

- Oh my god.

- That's good.

- I know no one trusts my food reviews, but trust this one.

This is really good.

- The things that are the most important in no particular order are probably religion, barbecue, football.

It's a cultural temple.

- Everyone has an opinion about barbecue if you're from Texas.

- [Laura] And barbecue is the business of LeRoy and Lewis in South Austin where folks line up even before doors open.

- To eat some brisket.

- [Laura] At the center of this meat mecca are Evan LeRoy.

- You guys doing all right?

- [Laura] The executive chef and co-owner Sawyer Lewis.

- Hey guys.

- [Laura] They're both from Texas so they got the bonafides.

- My dad and I used to kind of cook in the backyard.

- I'm from a very small town, right?

So again, we grew up with those like institutions, very old-school style barbecue.

- [Laura] The restaurant is celebrating a year and a half in this building after seven years as a food truck.

- Have you cut anything?

Did you grade the briskets yet?

- Yeah.

- The business partners and friends have worked in the restaurant world their whole careers.

Both ultimately decided to carve out their own path, and barbecue was what beckoned them.

- Woo!

Smokey.

- [Laura] But not at first.

It wasn't until LeRoy, who's from Austin, was working in a barbecue restaurant in New York City that he fell in love with cooking his hometown cuisine.

- The barbecue is pretty good for what I knew good barbecue to be back then.

- [Laura] But this really good barbecue isn't exactly typical.

It's got some Texas traditions with some twists.

- And I would say the flat iron here is the signature of the restaurant.

Certainly the thing that we sell the most, it's the L&L Burger.

- Ooh.

- They offer unique cuts along with a spectrum of scene-stealing sides, from kimchi to onion rings.

(food crunching) What's your favorite thing, if you could only pick one?

I know it's like Sophie's choice, but if you could only pick one, what is your like this is my baby?

- It's the Frito pie.

- This?

- All day, every day for me.

- Plot twist.

- It's the Frito pie.

You know, we don't have ribs or potato salad or a lot of the things that people expect when they come to a barbecue place, so there's a lot of expectations that are not met as soon as somebody walks through the door.

- [Laura] They call this new school barbecue.

Unusual cuts served up and cooked in the classic way on the kind of pits Texans have been using for generations.

- Barbecue is the perfectly imperfect art form, right?

Because every piece of meat's different, every stick of post oak is different.

- [Laura] Another key part of new school, sourcing everything from local ranchers and farmers with as little waste as possible.

- Our whole business is around selling meats.

It's nice to know who raised those animals and that those animals had a really good life.

- [Laura] And this approach has paid off.

This summer, LeRoy and Lewis earned the second spot on "Texas Monthly's" list of the best 50 barbecue joints in the state.

- Pretty incredible.

You know, we made number two by cooking our style of food, by sourcing locally, by having, you know, a different offering than that list has ever seen before.

- [Laura] But pushing the boundaries of barbecue has also paid off in ways they never imagined.

- With one Michelin star to (suspenseful music) LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue.

- [Laura] In 2024, LeRoy and Lewis was one of four barbecue restaurants to receive a Michelin star in Texas, the first time the Michelin Guide has ever recognized American-style barbecue.

- And we opened this restaurant preparing for the "Texas Monthly" list and along the way, we got a Michelin star.

It's kind of crazy.

- I remember when I left my last job, my boss was like, "What are you gonna do?

Why are you leaving this to go and open a food truck?"

And now I'm like, "Ha, ha, this is why we did it."

- [Laura] Now their eatery has become a national and international destination.

- First brisket in Texas.

Delicious, obviously.

- If you come to Texas and you don't try any barbecue, like real barbecue, you didn't come to Texas.

- [Laura] And of course, you can't forget the locals.

- It's a bit of a drive from downtown, but it's so worth it.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Highest price you could ask for.

It's a turning point in the culinary world.

While barbecue joints don't offer reservations, linen napkins or snob appeal, the respect for the National Food of Texas is long overdue.

- That work that they're doing on the pit is just as difficult as it is in a super fine dining kitchen.

- Really wonderful to get here.

- [Evan] Mm-hmm.

- And we're just getting started.

- Okay, and if you do go to LeRoy and Lewis after that story, you've gotta get the beef cheek and the Frito chili pie.

You will thank me later.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Congress resumes this week and one of their top priorities will be passing a funding bill to avoid a government shutdown.

But another budget bill passed earlier this summer is expected to have a major impact on everything, from healthcare to immigration.

As part of their community reporting project, the Decibel team looked at how the Big Beautiful Bill will impact people in Rundberg.

(stirring music) - First off, what is this thing?

Its government name is H.R.

1, but it goes by the Big Beautiful Bill Act.

It extends Trump's 2017 tax cuts, but it also changes rules around food stamps, Medicaid, and immigration enforcement.

- The yays are 218, the nays are 214.

The motion is adopted.

(gavel bangs) (people cheer) - [Blair] Lawmakers passed it just before the 4th of July.

- [Crowd] USA!

USA!

USA!

So how will it impact people in the Rundberg community?

Let's start with healthcare.

(intriguing music) The bill cuts about $1 trillion from Medicaid.

That's the program that offers government healthcare for children and adults with little income or resources.

It's estimated that about 770,000 Texans will lose healthcare coverage.

Roughly 22% of Rundberg residents are enrolled in Medicaid according to US Census data.

Another 22.9% of residents don't have any insurance.

That's more than double the rate of the rest of Austin.

The other program that's seen a lot of changes is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP.

(paper rustlings) Like the name says, the program helps people at or below the poverty line buy food.

The new bill changes a lot of the requirements to qualify for SNAP.

(apple thudding) Right now, people can be exempt from work requirements if they're 54 or older or have dependents.

This new bill ups that age to 64.

(children chattering) Parents would also have to show they're working if they have kids older than 14.

It's estimated that millions nationwide will lose SNAP benefits entirely.

Roughly 17% of residents in Rundberg receive SNAP benefits, or about one in six households.

As of May of this year, over 85,000 individuals in Travis County were eligible for SNAP benefits.

And these benefits were already not meeting the need.

Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap survey found that food insecurity rates have been rising.

But census data shows that SNAP recipient rates have been going down.

- We've seen the demand just going up and up every year.

There is an estimate from Feeding America that these changes, reductions and cuts that came out of this recent legislation equate to roughly 6 billion meals.

So you're looking at almost a doubling of the need and demand on that charitable network.

We pivot where we can, but we certainly cannot make up a doubling in the need and the demand for our services.

That's just not an option for food banks, you know, ours at Central Texas or really any across the country.

- Immigration policy is also about to change.

(somber music) 170 billion is going towards border security and immigration.

45 billion will be used to buy a hundred thousand more detention beds and additional money will be used to hire 10,000 more ICE agents.

This influx of funds now makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency by far.

(tense music) Legally immigrating to the US is also going to cost people.

H.R.

1 adds fees to many immigration applications.

For example, asylum seekers will have to pay a hundred dollars for their application and over $500 for work documents.

Rundberg has a large immigrant community with residents hailing from every corner of the globe, and ICE activity has been more visible in the area since Trump took office.

One family was detained just outside of Dobie Middle School.

One report showed that the number of people detained by ICE who have no criminal charges or convictions in the last few months has skyrocketed from 83 in January to 916 in June.

This comes just as the Texas legislature also passed new laws that require sheriff's departments to cooperate with ICE.

What about tax cuts?

There are some, but it's unclear how much money Rundberg residents are going to save.

(people chattering) For example, the child tax credit is now permanent and set at $2,200.

But low income families can't claim the full credit.

According to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, about 17 million children won't qualify for the full credit, and a disproportionate number are Black and Latino children.

Some families might not qualify at all.

Before, only the child had to have a Social Security card to qualify for the tax credit.

Now, at least one parent must also have a social security card.

That means families with undocumented parents, many of whom pay taxes using an individual tax payer ID number can't qualify for the credit.

(people chattering) Now, there are tax breaks on tips and overtime pay, but those are set to expire in 2028.

There's also a tax deduction for seniors that earn up to $75,000 a year, but that will also go away in 2028.

So how does it all add up?

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the wealthiest families will save about $12,000 per year.

With the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, lower income families will pay about $1,600 more each year.

In Rundberg, households may lose anywhere from 300 to $1,500.

When will people start feeling these changes?

It will vary.

Some items, like the tax breaks and funding for ICE start now.

Medicaid work requirements will start in 2026, but some funding changes won't kick in until 2028.

And we still don't know when SNAP changes will start.

It wasn't defined in the bill.

But spokespeople from the US Department of Agriculture have said there will be no delay in implementing these changes.

- Thank you to senior multimedia journalist Blair Waltman-Alexin for that report.

That's our show.

You can catch up on full episodes of "Austin InSight" in the PBS app or watch and share our segments on the Austin PBS YouTube channel.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you next time.

(inspiring music) (inspiring music) - [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally & James Gavin, and also from Suerte, Este and Bar Toti restaurants, bringing Austin together around culinary excellence to celebrate creativity, conservation, and culture in Central Texas.

(bright music)