2017 Top 50 BBQ Map

I volunteer for the HOUBBQ festival in Houston and am friends with the organizers. I’m glad to see some of our Houston pitmasters making the top 10 in the 2017 list. I’ve only gotten through half of the TMBBQ 2013 list, so more work for me now. I’ll share two anecdotes. First, I coined a phrase “When I see mesquite, I must retreat.” because I noticed that brisket smoked with mesquite or hickory tends to cause me to have awful heartburn (although perhaps the experience of the pitmaster at controlling the smoke production to limit the production of creosote might be the main issue). Second, the guest mentioned that often the great BBQ joints may have just mediocre sides. One sign that Opie’s butterbeans were going to be sublime is that I saw signs saying “No butterbeans for takeout” and then I saw people pretending to buy iced tea but actually filling their Styrofoam cup with butterbeans instead. There are some great sides worthy of calling attention to such as Tejas (carrot soufflé), Two Brothers (homemade pickles), Granary Brew & Cue (homemade bread), Corkscrew (pineapple cobbler), Pit Room (grilled okra and tomatoes), and Louie Mueller Barbecue (BBQ sauce = my grandmother’s goulash).