Franklin Barbecue's Giant Smoker; Casey Thompson Talks Sam's Club; Homesick Texan Cookbook Out

AUSTIN—Franklin Barbecue shows off their 10,000 pound smoker to Eater Austin, the Texas wildfires completely wipe out Roscar Bonbons in Bastrop and Parkside's Dan Wyman talks about why he never tweets about seeing celebrities in the restaurant. Also, here's a side-by-side view of an Austin restaurant's menu that looks eerily similar to Alinea's in Chicago. [EATX]

DALLAS—Top Chef alum Casey Thompson talks Sam's Club and new restaurants, a food blogger gives an A+ review to a restaurant she also happens to work for and Eater Dallas checks back in with a self-proclaimed food snob to see how his $12.50-per-meal budget is shaking out. [EDFW]

STATEWIDE—Sadly, statistics show that Texas is second to last when it comes to hungry families...in the entire nation, on a much perkier note, San Antonio looks forward to its first Twin Peaks opening (the mountain-themed breastaurant), that deep-fried bubblegum from the state fair isn't actually bubblegum and the much awaited cookbook from Texan-turned-New-Yorker Lisa Fain is finally available for purchase next week. [MySanAntonio, Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle]

The new Franklin Barbecue smoker. [Jasmin Sun/EATX]