The popularity of Texas barbecue—and specifically Texas-style smoked brisket—has launched a frenzy of new activity. New joints pop up all the time, and relatively new pitmasters are hailed as masters of craft. Many of these places and people are deserving of considerable attention and high praise, but we shouldn’t lose sight of what came before. Let’s not forget the historic barbecue joints that built the foundation of Texas barbecue many decades ago. The places that began operating a century ago, before barbecue was cool.
Old barbecue joints can be overlooked or ignored in favor of the new generation, but they should never be dismissed. An article in the Wall Street Journal last year praised The New Barbecue, even going so far as to take historic barbecue joints to task. Author Josh Ozersky wrote that the old-timers had “become stagnant and so dogmatic that many pit masters haven’t changed their recipes or routines in decades.” Well, that’s kind of the point. Respecting tradition isn’t exactly disinterested stagnation.
The average age of the celebrated barbecue joint is getting younger. Earlier this year, two respected barbecue critics, Mike Sutter and Matthew Odam, ranked the top ten barbecue joints in Austin, and the most senior spot on either list was only eight years old. Even in the latest statewide Top 50 barbecue list from Texas Monthly (from the June 2013 issue), more than half of those listed—27—were opened this century. The average age was was just over 22 years old. As a point of comparison, the oldest barbecue joint in Texas, Southside Market in Elgin, is 132 years old.
Longevity isn’t the only appropriate measuring stick for a barbecue joint, but in a tough business, just staying open is something to laud. The Texas Historical Commission has even created an award to help recognize these storied businesses. It’s called the Texas Treasure Business Award, and any business that has been open continuously for fifty years is eligible. I first became aware of the award when I saw it displayed in the window of Prause Meat Market in LaGrange. New Braunfels Smokehouse is the only other barbecue joint with the designation. The potential members include familiar names like Southside Market and Kreuz Market, but also ones that might be new to you like Patillo’s in Beaumont or Lenox BBQ in Houston.
We’ve compiled a list of fifty-plus year old barbecue joints in Texas deserving of recognition for their storied smoked meat history.
1882 Southside Market in Elgin
1900 Kreuz Market in Lockhart
1904 Prause Meat Market in La Grange
1912 Patillo’s Bar-B-Q in Beaumont
1914 Bolner’s Meat Market in San Antonio
1915 Vitek’s BBQ in Waco (serving BBQ sine the 1950’s)
1918 Jasper’s Bar-B-Que in Waco
1925 Martin’s Place in Bryan
1925 Prine’s BBQ in Wichita Falls
1927 Neely’s in Marshall
1927 Riscky’s Bar-B-Q in Fort Worth
1931 Bailey’s Bar-B-Que in Fort Worth
1932 Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart
1935 Pizzitola’s in Houston
1941 City Meat Market in Giddings
1941 Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in Dallas
1943 House Park Bar-B-Que in Austin
1945 Underwood’s Bar-B-Q in Brownwood
1946 Sammie’s Bar-B-Q in Fort Worth
1946 Tony DeMaria’s Bar-B-Que in Waco
1948 Taylor Café in Taylor
1948 Ernie’s Pit BBQ in Greenville
1949 Lenox BBQ in Houston
1949 Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor
1950 Old Sutphen’s BBQ in Borger (current location since 1963)
1950 Stringer’s Lufkin Bar-B-Que in Lufkin
1952 Jack Jordan’s BBQ in Odessa
1952 New Braunfels Smokehouse in New Braunfels
1952 Tom & Bingo’s Bar-B-Que in Lubbock
1953 Bill Miller Bar-B-Q in San Antonio
1953 Cooper’s Bar-B-Q in Mason
1953 Sam’s Original Restaurant & BBQ in Fairfield
1955 Mac’s Bar-B-Que in Dallas
1956 Jerry Mikeska’s Bar-B-Q in Columbus
1956 Mikeska’s Bar-B-Q in El Campo
1956 Vance Godbey’s in Fort Worth
1957 City Market in Luling
1958 Angelo’s in Fort Worth
1958 Gonzales Food Market in Gonzales
1958 Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse in Dallas
1958 Tony’s The Pit Bar-B-Q in El Paso
1959 Davila’s BBQ in Seguin
1959 Hickory Pit Bar-B-Que in Bellaire
1959 Mesquite BBQ in Mesquite
1959 Stanley’s Famous Pit Barbecue in Tyler
1962 Wilhite’s BBQ in Creedmoor
1963 Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano
1964 Inman’s Ranch House Bar-B-Q in Marble Falls
1964 Smokey Denmark’s in Austin
We need your help. Ideally, each of the barbecue joints in the state that are older than fifty years old would be nominated to receive the Texas Treasure recognition from the Texas Historical Commission. We have a good list started, but we need your help to complete it. Please comment below if you know of a barbecue joint in Texas that has been continuously operated for the last fifty years that is not on the list above. We hope to see them all go at least another fifty.
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