The Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is this weekend! Eater Austin shared some of their tips for the fest, as well as a few from Pat Sharpe and me.

Austinot breaks down the specialties of all thirty barbecue joints that will be in attendance at this Sunday’s BBQ Fest.

You’ve read about Blood Bros. BBQ before, but not like this:

Valentina’s Tex-Mex BBQ in Austin was featured in the third episode of the new United Tacos of America show. The episode will re-air on the El Rey network several times in the coming days (Mando Rayo and Jarod Neece also appear in our podcast this week).

Denver-based food historian Adrian Miller is writing about black pitmasters for an upcoming book, Black Smoke. He “intends to redirect the current barbecue narrative” away from one obsessed with “craft” barbecue.

New isn’t always better:

BBQ on the Brazos moved out of Cresson and just opened a new brick-and-mortar in Fort Worth.

Smiley’s BBQ has left their spot in Ponder, north of Fort Worth, and will open in Soul Fire Brewing in Roanoke.

The Fox brothers in Atlanta have Fort Worth roots, and they’re about to open a second location of their popular Fox Bros. BBQ next year.

Four of the fifty are barbecue, and one is a newcomer:

Kerlin BBQ in Austin has moved from its original location to the East Side Food Park on Cesar Chavez.

Queue has just opened in South Austin, and presumably it’s expecting a line.

The new H-E-B planned for Lake Austin will include a location of True Texas BBQ.

Care for a flute of champagne with your brisket?

Reveille Barbecue Co. is opening back up in Magnolia. They’ve teamed up with Lone Pint Brewery to serve in the beer garden Thursday-Sunday starting in December.

Harris Bar-B-Que, a Top 50 joint in Waxahachie, is moving. Saturday is their last day at the current location, and they’ll open in Cedar Hill late next week.

It’s Austin pitmasters versus Houston pitmasters in this BBQ Throwdown scheduled for November 17 at Saint Arnold Brewing in Houston.

Because of course there’s a barbecue-themed football trophy in Texas:

Houstonia magazine reported from Roegels Barbecue Co. on the new whole hog special they’re adding to their line-up.

El Burro and the Bull is moving to Houston’s East End, and its last day at the Conservancy in downtown will be October 30. It will remain open at Henderson & Kane General Store.

A barbecue joint isn’t number one, but Houston has plenty of great barbecue:

Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Que in Tyler caused a stir in Norfolk, Virginia, when they served their brisket to the hungry masses who showed up for their pop-up. The local paper thought it wise to cover the other Texas-style barbecue joints in the area.

The Lockhart Post-Register gives the full backstory of the Kreuz and Schmidt families, and how much we owe to them for so many great Texas barbecue joints today.

Dickey’s Barbecue is planning 100 new locations in Brazil and is working on adding food delivery in the US.

Localish says Corkscrew in Spring is worth the wait:

Rusted Silo Southern BBQ in Indiana is offering free barbecue for life to anyone who can help them catch the thieves who broke into their barbecue joint.

Robert Moss of Southern Living shared a list (slideshow warning) of his favorite barbecue joints in Memphis.

Slap’s BBQ in Kansas City serve what they call “Texas Fatty” which they’ll introduce in November in response to demand for Texas style brisket in KC.

Cheap meat comes at a cost to some:

“[R]esearchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have grown rabbit and cow muscle cells on edible gelatin scaffolds that mimic the texture and consistency of meat.” – The Harvard Gazette.

“I used to print out a picture of a Boston butt and take it to the butcher shops,” – Martin Goffin on the challenges of opening Red Gum BBQ in Australia.

We’re too far from April, so I guess I’ll believe it. The 4 Rivers Smokehouse chain, based in Florida, will begin serving burnt ends using Beyond Meat’s plant-based protein product.

Corporate America will not stop until they’ve desecrated everything we hold dear: