Meet the Guy Who Went From a Three-Michelin-Star Restaurant in NYC to a Barbecue Food Trailer in Austin

Eater

2 days ago

A lot of people took up barbecue as a hobby during the peak of the COVID pandemic, and Eric Hastings was among them. But what separates Hastings from the rest of us mere mortals who perhaps bought a small smoker at Home Depot is that he has gone the distance, buying a food trailer, setting up shop as Fiasco BBQ, and opening in Eden, a food truck park in East Austin, in July 2025.
Fiasco's meat menu highlights Hastings's takes on smoked turkey, brisket, ribs, and pulled pork, all sold by the pound (or half pound, and even quarter pound if you like), on plates, and in sandwiches served on Martin's Potato Rolls. For sides, the chef wanted to emphasize lightness: There is a red potato salad made with yogurt and a selection of fresh herbs; fennel slaw with shaved cabbage, parsley, and an orange marmalade and apple cider vinegar vinaigrette (he dresses it on ordering); and a horiatiki salad with cucumber, bell peppers, tomato, onions, feta, kalamata olives, and oregano. Chicken wings, which come tossed in Hasting's barbecue sauce, a yellow mustard sauce, or white Alabama sauce, and a smoked burger that's an 80/20 chuck and brisket blend also made the cut on his tight menu.
The turkey plate at Fiasco. Fiasco BBQ
'I really became enthusiastic about barbecue in 2006,' Hastings tells Eater Austin. His curiosity took him to Frisco, Colorado, for a barbecue competition that impressed him so much, he began thinking about how cool it would be to be able to smoke meats. In 2008, he relocated to Houston, diving deeper into the Texas barbecue scene.
When Hastings and his partner had their first child, they decided to move back to Texas to be closer to her family. First, they landed in Houston again in 2018, and then found themselves in Austin one week before COVID shut down the hospitality industry, and the rest of the world.
'The Feges had opened up a barbecue joint in Greenway Plaza [in Houston], and I went and did a barbecue class with them,' Hastings says. '[In Austin] I was supposed to open Hotel Magedlana as the food and beverage director, which we eventually did, but at the time I got furloughed, because you obviously couldn't open a hotel during COVID.' He moved on from that gig and has been working as a restaurant consultant.
With his free time, Hastings says he bought himself a 14-inch Weber kettle charcoal grill and started watching YouTube videos about how to turn one into a smoker, then set up cooks on his sidewalk. 'It was about as good as you imagine,' he says with a wry smile. 'I remember the first pork shoulder I did, I think I had to use a knife to cut it.'
The smoked burger. Fiasco BBQ
Things escalated quickly for Hastings after that; he purchased an Oklahoma Joe's offset smoker to smoke meats on as many weekends as his partner would allow. There were cookouts for friends, family, and co-workers as he mastered smoked turkey and ribs. 'I wouldn't do brisket very often because it required me to start at 3 a.m. since I didn't have a warmer,' he says. But smoked wings and smoked burgers did get added to the rotation.
The big test came when Hastings decided to enter a barbecue contest at Buck's Backyard in Buda in 2020 and placed in the middle of the pack, much to his surprise. Flash forward to 2025, with a loan in his name, a food trailer from Facebook Marketplace (plus a good amount of refurbished kitchen equipment), a smoker trailer, a $2,000 tow vehicle to move them both around, his state-mandated licenses, and an inspection under his belt — and Hastings now has a barbecue trailer set up in Eden, where he is slinging all those meats and more. 'It is definitely cheaper than opening a restaurant, but it is not cheap to start a food truck,' Hastings says dryly.
Fiasco BBQ is open Friday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. or when it sells out. Hastings is still consulting for restaurants the rest of the week, but he didn't start the business as a hobby. 'I want this to be a profit-generating business, and I want to be part of the community in multiple ways,' he says. 'I love barbecue because of the camaraderie of it… I love the experience of people getting together, having a good time, and eating good food.'
Find Fiasco BBQ at 641 Allen Street in Austin, open Friday to Sunday.