A city construction crew destroyed a barbecue artifact at historic Martin’s Place in Bryan. See a photo of the original bricks in our interview with owner Steve Kapchinskie.

Cort McMurray calls barbecue lines “shameful” in the Houston Chronicle, then he spends a few hours standing in one.

“Nowadays, barbecue is as much a performance as it is a cuisine.” – J C Reid for the Houston Chronicle.

Get your barbecue in a boat in Austin:

 

Eater named their best new restaurants for 2017, and Kemuri Tatsu-ya made the list. We’re big fans of the smoked fish collar, and just about everything else at Kemuri. Eater Austin suggests the addition of smoked brisket into their ramen.

The Smoking Ho is trying to get to all of the Texas Monthly Top 50 barbecue joints this year, and posted the first of many write-ups during the journey.

San Antonio’s KENS5 headed over to King’s Hwy Brew & Q for taste of barbecue from Emilio and Christy Soliz.

KSAT talks to rising star pitmaster Laura Loomis from Two Bros. BBQ Market.

Watch out Austin? One of the guys making Charleston’s barbecue scene relevant came from Austin:

 

Dallas Cowboy Dez Bryant threw a party for his hometown of Lufkin, and spent $16,000 on barbecue from Houston’s Pinkerton’s BBQ for his guests.

Marcus Ryan choked on some brisket from the Salt Lick at the Austin airport. Chicago Bears linebacker Jerrell Freeman saved his life with the Heimlich maneuver. Ryan got a photo with his hero, then finished the rest of his brisket.

Garden & Gun’s tour though Memphis with Marcus Samuelsson includes a great description of the food and atmosphere at Payne’s Bar-B-Q.

Here’s how they do ribs in NYC:

 

Sammie’s Bar-B-Q, a Fort Worth institution since 1946, has closed. The building was sold to the owners of the Smoke Pit in Fort Worth, and will become their second location.

There are still plenty of barbecue joints opening in Fort Worth, and the Star-Telegram has a solid list of new spots to check out.

The barbecue capital of Illinois is not in Chicago:

 

Former Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ joint, Hashknife on the Chisholm in Peadenville, has closed for good.

Dwayne Clanton worked at Tom & Bingo’s BBQ in Lubbock since he was eight years old, and eventually took over for his father and co-founder Tom Clanton. He passed away at 62 last week.

It’s always barbecue season in Texas: