Asian-Inspired Barbecue Restaurants Are Getting Their Shine

Texas restaurants like Curry Boys BBQ and Khói combine the state’s barbecue traditions with Asian ingredients and preparations, but don’t call it fusion. 

Sean Giggy of WFAA in Dallas has been traveling around the region looking for hidden barbecue gems. He found out about the new digs for Smoke Sessions Barbecue in Royse City, then felt the burn of a cherry bomb at 225 BBQ in Arlington. 

Thrillist asked pitmasters which barbecue joints they prefer, and here’s what they said about their favorites in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. 

Texas Country Reporter checked out Sunny Moberg’s welding shop:

Tim McLaughlin is opening a new barbecue joint. He’ll remain an owner at Lockhart Smokehouse, but will spend his time at Crossbuck BBQ, where he’ll be cooking from Texan and non-Texan traditions for a menu he describes as the “crossroads of American barbecue.”

A new Barbecue Hall of Fame class has been announced:

The Dallas Observer stopped by Harris Bar-B-Que in Cedar Hill to try the Texas trinity from Kelvin Harris. 

Brent and Juan Reaves of Smokey John’s Bar-B-Que in Dallas are joining forces with CW33 in a segment in which they show off their favorite lunch spots around town.

If you’re looking to get out of Dallas for a barbecue road trip:

The Washington Post ran a glowing profile of the Turkey Leg Hut in Houston, touching on its role as a “byproduct of Houston’s Black culture and ingenuity ” in the Third Ward. The article didn’t include reporting from the Houston Chronicle about the dispute over the restaurant’s smokers, which prompted a lawsuit from six residents who say the wood smoke poses a health risk to the surrounding community. Also, Eater Houston reported last week that Lyndell “Lynn” Price, who co-owns the operation with Nakia Price, is “facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,” in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred during an argument with a man at the couple’s soon-to-open Savoy Ice House. 

A College Station barbecue joint is calling it quits:

Larry Olmsted writes about the connection between American barbecue and American sports. 

Travel Texas, the state’s tourism cheerleader, is going all in on barbecue tourism this May and throughout the summer in a multi-pronged ad campaign. 

The restaurant scene is Waco is doing so well that Eater Dallas drove south for this list of the city’s eighteen essential restaurants, including three barbecue joints. 

Bar B Que Done Wright, a barbecue truck in San Antonio, is putting a Filipino spin on Texas barbecue. 

The Texas barbecue Italian beef sandwich was overdue:

Scientists measured levels of “meat disgust” in both omnivores and vegetarians. A new study suggests that inducing meat disgust in eaters may promote higher levels of vegetarianism. 

Farmer Kyle Jaster writes in the Washington Post that “rejecting meat outright is unlikely to bring anywhere near enough consumers on board to solve the underlying environmental problems plaguing our food system.”

Sean Winn shared a poem entitled “Bar-B-Que” about our beloved smoked meats in Texas. 

Two excellent and important barbecue books:

The Economist discussed Adrian Miller’s book Black Smoke along with the work of other Black authors, and notes that they all “argue, convincingly, that African influences and African-American contributions to the shared American menu have too often been overlooked and sidelined.” 

“More people ask me about being a barbecue judge than working in the White House,” Adrian Miller told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an article about his new book. 

The Memphis in May barbecue competition was missing one of its ‘cue icons this year:

J.C. Reid shows how Texas barbecue migrated away from cuts like the shoulder clod in favor of brisket, but thanks to soaring brisket prices, the clod is an option once again. 

Here’s a rule about barbecue joints that we can get behind today: