A Texas Legend Since 1967
Thurman and Hisako Roberts grabbed a yellow legal pad and wrote down 54 things the family could do to stay in Driftwood. The idea for The Salt Lick was 14th on the list…
Folks have been enjoying our family’s barbecue for six generations, but the roots of our Texas barbecue run all the way back to Mississippi in the mid-1800s.
Bettie Howard, great-grandmother of current Salt-Lick owner Scott Roberts, came to Texas aboard a wagon in 1867. Really, she and her husband James Howard came from Desoto, Mississippi on a raft across the Gulf of Mexico — their wagon transported in pieces on a boat from Biloxi to Indianola, Texas.
There, Bettie and James reassembled their wagon and headed West. On their wagon train journey to Driftwood, the group cooked meals over makeshift pits. Bettie barbecued meat by searing it and then slow-cooking it over coals – the exact same method our family still uses today.
When Bettie and James arrived in Central Texas, they set down their roots together, raising nine Howard children in their new hometown of Driftwood.
Scott’s father, Thurman, was raised in Driftwood by one of Bettie’s daughters, Roxanna. When Thurman was recruited by Uncle Sam for service in the Navy, the Texas boy wound up stationed in Kauai, HI. There he met Hisako: a lovely woman of Japanese descent on the island of Kauai. The two were a perfect match, and they were married and moved together to Texas.
In 1956, Thurman and Hisako moved with two young sons to Driftwood. Scott’s father loved Driftwood, but his work at a bridge construction outfit had him traveling constantly across the state. He dreamed of a way to let his family continue to grow in Driftwood — to spend more time with his loved ones and to put down roots in his hometown, generation after generation.
So he and Hisako grabbed a yellow legal pad. They ruminated and wrote down 54 different things that they could do as a family to support their dream and keep them in Driftwood permanently. The idea for the Salt Lick was 14th on their list. But they started at the top.
At first, they irrigated a field and truck farmed, selling produce to local grocery stores. They also made candies, raised pecan trees and had a shelling business.
But over the years, the tradition of barbecue (and some special family recipes) continued to resurface. Thurman was well-known for his delicious barbecue at family reunions, and in 1967, he and his sons built a huge barbecue pit together, stone by stone. Thurman would head to the pit on Thursday nights and begin cooking. He stayed there the whole weekend, tending to the pit and sleeping on a cot until all the meat was sold.
Thurman started coming home earlier and earlier every weekend. After a few months of success, the boys and Thurman decided to build a little screen porch around the pit. The Salt Lick has grown from there, on that very spot. And now, the Roberts family serves that same mouthwatering barbecue, and Hisako’s sides, to thousands of folks each and every week.
Donations
As a family run business with deep respect and love for the Texas Hill Country, we enjoy giving back to our community.
The Salt Lick provides direct support to the Hill Country Conservancy, The Paramount Theatre, and Friends of the Children – Austin. We give preference to charities that support land conservation and youth in Travis and Hays counties. As a general rule, we do not make charitable donations of any kind to fundraisers or individuals.