The newest barbecue joint in Houston is vegan. Houston Sauce Pit’s signature item is a baked potato loaded with smoked “sausage” from Beyond Meat.

Steven Raichlen shared his predictions for barbecue in 2020, including the return of charcoal, and lots more vegetables on menus.

I bet they’ll be checking pockets for ribs at the Super Bowl:
https://twitter.com/realbbqsports/status/1218966818750115841?s=11

The matchup has already played out, but Sports Illustrated gathered a few experts to discuss the differences between the barbecue enjoyed by Kansas City Chiefs fans and Houston Texans fans. Did you know Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has been to fifty KC-area barbecue joints?

The Houston Chronicle wonders where all the cornbread went. The staple of Southern barbecue joints never really migrated into those in Texas.

Sad news out of Galveston:
https://twitter.com/htownfoodfinder/status/1217221516741488641?s=11

The Pit Room owner Michael Sambrooks opened Candente next door in Houston. It’s a Tex-Mex restaurant with plenty of smoked and mesquite-grilled meats on the menu, and the Houston Chronicle recently gave it a review.

Superica in Houston is teaming up with local pitmasters to host various barbecue taco nights in the restaurant. First up was a whole-hog taco from Roegels Barbecue earlier this week. Truth BBQ is next with smoked brisket on February 26.

Tickets are on sale for the Houston Barbecue Festival, on April 5, and ticket prices are reduced for early takers.

Evan LeRoy and his crew at LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue in Austin are selling spots in their New School BBQ U taking place in late February.

The myth of barbecue payola:
https://twitter.com/TexasStandard/status/1219718561641435137

Wright on Taco got a write-up in the local paper, in which they mentioned an upcoming East Bound and Down BBQ Throwdown coming to Harleton on April 18.

At Recio’s Smokehouse in Corpus Christi, they serve a breakfast taco with sausage, chorizo, brisket, eggs, and cheese that weighs in at 4.5 pounds.

The Penelope Coffee operation from the folks at Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton is getting attention from Roast magazine.

A musical about barbecue at a barbecue joint in Manhattan:
https://twitter.com/RMBouton/status/1219715073733746693

Sculptor Michael Rakowitz is coming to the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas to cook Iraqi dishes and Texas barbecue on February 8.

An Arlington native running a barbecue truck in Australia is raising money for the Australian firefighters battling the country’s wildfires.

The Texas Titans podcast interviewed Nick Pencis of Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q in Tyler, who revealed that he finally discovered when Stanley’s first opened. The joint will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary in September.

A pretty solid list of Austin BBQ joints:
https://twitter.com/CNTraveler/status/1217468384264302595

Cónde Nast Traveler also went to Charleston, South Carolina, to find the best restaurants in the city and determined that two barbecue joints belonged on the list.

Bradley Parmer spent 25 years in Austin. When he moved to Fairhope, Alabama, he had to make whatever Texas barbecue he was going to eat, so he opened a barbecue joint called TexarBama BBQ.

Ever hear of the Denver barbecue riot of 1898?
https://twitter.com/bybethrankin/status/1217899833450749952?s=11

Competition barbecue champion Myron Mixon is once again sworn in as the mayor of his hometown of Unadilla, Georgia.

The American Royal will leave Missouri for good once it completes a new complex in Wyandotte County, Kansas, that should be open by late 2021.

Maples Barbecue, a Texas-style joint in Oklahoma City, called it quits about a year after opening a brick-and-mortar.

Sometimes the smoker just needs tending to:
https://twitter.com/buckeyenut82/status/1219645392515715072?s=11