– This blast from Jim Henson’s past may make you miss your mama’s barbecue:

 

– J C Reid of the Houston Chronicle samples the new-school barbecue at Pinkerton’s.

– Just in time for a Houston Super Bowl, a bunch of new restaurants are opening in downtown, including Bud’s BBQ Pitmaster.

– The Travel Channel’s Barbecue Bliss episode ranked the 8 best barbecue joints in the country, and they gave Corkscrew BBQ in Spring the #1 spot.

– A report from the annual TAMU BBQ Town Hall:

 

– The Smoky Rose will open in East Dallas later this month. The menu goes way beyond barbecue. The smoked meats, per the menu, will use Meat Church rubs. 

– Canadian writer S. K. Johannesen recalls his stint in Austin in 1953 when he took a job at the Pig Stand. 

– If you like old time country swing music, head to Kreuz Market in Lockhart every second Sunday to see Al Dressen and the BBQ Playboys perform live. 

– A new superbug:

 

– The Abilene Post loves the brisket, and just about everything else, at Stillwater Barbecue.

– KMOO reports on a wager between mayors that’ll be settled at a high school football state championship. There’s some barbecue on the line. Also, there’s a radio station called KMOO.

– An aggravated robbery occurred at Wiley’s Bar-B-Que & Burgers in Lubbock on Saturday night.

– A monster new smoker coming soon to Whitney, Texas:

 

– Stiles Switch BBQ in Austin continues to stack its pit room with talent. They’ve added Chris McGhee from Freedmen’s and Doug Diechmann from Smokey Denmark. 

– A butt dial to 911 foiled a potential robbery plot of a barbecue joint in Kentucky. 

– Amazing Ribs has put together a great holiday barbecue gift guide arranged by price. 

– The tool-kit of Ike Simas in Santa Maria, CA:

 

– Another barbecue joint is trying their hand at Vegas. Virgil’s Real Barbecue, straight outta Times Square, is opening a new location.

– Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque has opened a new location, but it’s a long way from the original. This one is in Manila, Philippines.

– “Before he started making an honest living with smoke and meat, Bottinelli was a thief, a high-living West Hills swell who admitted he paid for his expensive vacations, his pricey club memberships and big restaurant bills out of the $3 million he stole from the poor and disabled clients of his former life.”

– On barbecue and racism in South Carolina: