When I was a young kid and through my middle years I used to go fishing a lot in the highland lakes of Texas—up near the German settlements.
Alongside the roads you’d find bar-b-q pits that were really dug into the ground. They used native oak and mesquite for the smoking. There wasn’t any building other tham maybe a tin roofed shed with a wooden table or two.
The meat they used wasn’t brisket (that was considered too cheap/tough a cut) but big old porterhouse or T-bone steak cuts. Or you could get some German venison sausage or a half chicken. They made some damn fine sauce that they dabbed on it while cooking and it was wonderful stuff.
You pointed out your cut and it was served on a sheet of butcher paper. If you wanted ‘sides’ you got a whole Bermuda onion, a loaf of bread, and a huge Dill pickle. That was it for the food.
They had a washtub full of beer and and one for soft drinks for the kids.
The last stand like that that I saw was about 1972 in Mason Texas. God, I can taste that bar-b-q now and wish I was back in the German Hillcountry.