SAN ANTONIO – The friendly pink pig on the outside of Augie's Barbed Wire Smokehouse is a bright visual of what's inside: smoked meats of all kinds.
Saturday, it wasn't a customer but a thief who walked into the restaurant in the 2700 block of St. Mary's Street with no intention of placing an order.
"He walked out of here with 13 briskets, (a) couple of pans of pulled pork, 10 to 15 cases of beer and a couple of skinny kegs," said Augustine Cortez, the owner of Augie's.
The haul was worth more than $2,000. What may prove to be the most priceless part of the nearly hour-long heist: the crime was captured by the restaurant's surveillance cameras.
"We got a really good video of his van that he was driving and his license plate and he looked right into the camera," Cortez said. "We got good footage. Hopefully he will get caught."
The so-called "Brisket Bandit" has struck at least three other barbecue restaurants in the last few weeks.
Cortez said the the crime happened on one of the busiest times of the week.
"Saturdays are busy days for us and we had some events, had big caterings that afternoon, so I called the guys and said how many did he leave left over?" Cortez said.
The thief didn't empty them out: 47 Briskets and 480 leg quarters were still there.
"The guy's ripping off briskets. What are you going to do," Cortez said. "Cold beer, barbecue -- they're just having a good weekend."