Tootsie Tomanetz

Tomanetz was born on April 21, 1935.^[1] Tomanetz was raised on a farm outside of Lexington, Texas.^[2] She was the oldest of three children.^[3] She recalls growing and canning most of their own food and homesewn clothing.^[4]

Tomanetz is the pitmaster at Snow's BBQ in Lexington, Texas, which in 2008 was named the best barbecue in Texas by Texas Monthly.^[2][5] Her style of barbecue is a style originating in the Texas hill country.^[3]

Tomanetz began cooking barbecue in 1966 at City Meat Market in Giddings, Texas, when they were shorthanded.^[2][6] She learned from Orange Holloway.^[5] She became pitmaster at a second City Meat Market in Lexington, and she and her husband eventually bought it, selling it after her husband had a stroke in 1996.^[2] She got a job in the maintenance department for the local school district.^[2] In 2003 she started working Saturdays at Snow's; as of 2024 she was still working as pitmaster.^[2]

She was featured on 2020's Chef's Table: BBQ.^[5]

Tomanetz was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2018. She was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef:Southwest the same year.^[5][4]