Eric Hansen has been passionate about barbecue for years, but his new barbecue food truck, Not Just Q, started smoking last April. If Hansen’s name is familiar, it might be because it was included in most every announcement relating to the Slow Bone’s opening in Dallas. His stint as the pitmaster there
It was twenty years ago that Ivy Chambers moved his budding sausage business out of his home and into a bona fide restaurant in Fort Worth. Over the years he added more barbecue items to the menu – brisket, ribs, bologna – and continued to operate the business until handing
The menu was also pretty sparse at the beginning with just sandwiches and chips. Now they have a full barbecue menu bolstered by an array of homemade sides. Yes, the smoked meat is of utmost importance, but sides and desserts can tell you plenty about how much care a barbecue joint
Call it the Snow’s BBQ of West Texas.
Popular restaurants all over the world have signature dishes, some even have just one item that makes them a dining destination. You go to Katz’s Deli in New York for pastrami, Mary’s Cafe in Strawn, Texas for chicken fried steak, and nobody complains about the fish at House of Prime Rib in
There aren’t any canned items here. He’s even growing some of his own vegetables in a garden at his house a couple blocks away. A chunky potato salad was a classic and the cabbage cooked down with pork made it easy to eat something green. The beans couldn’t figure out
Each bite of the tender and meaty rib pulled away from the bone with ease. They were a competition barbecuer’s dream, complete with a glaze so sweet and buttery it was hard to know if it was meant for a cake or meat.
With the rising cost of meat, specifically beef brisket, inexpensive barbecue is becoming rare today.
“The good smell in Evadale” is the tag line painted on a wooden fence beside Chuck’s Bar-B-Q and Burgers which sits about thirty minutes north of Beaumont. Folks say the local paper mill produces a stench, and the smoke from owner Chuck Howard’s pit is sometimes the only relief. I
In a restaurant where links and ribs are so popular, brisket can be an afterthought. None of the great seasoning found on the other meats was present on the dull beef. A half chicken was also dry and under-seasoned, and a swim in the sauce was badly needed to liven
It’s not exactly new, it’s not flashy, and it’s not dogmatic about the barbecue style it serves, but Off the Bone Barbeque in Dallas’s Cedars neighborhood is just good.
Spring, Texas is evidently large enough for more than one great food truck. This town of 50,000 just north of Houston has been home to Corkscrew BBQ, a Texas Monthly Top 50 selection, since 2011. Now, just five minutes east is a new food truck park where BBQ Godfather sits
Meat U Anywhere BBQ feels like a neighborhood barbecue spot despite the valet stand.
Finding a road trip stop with real character always feels like an accomplishment.
Inside, a huge chalkboard menu covers the wall next to the register. The usual suspects are there along with a half dozen sandwich creations. Being so close to the border, there’s also some smoked boudin to be had. The Susie Q sandwich is denoted as the best seller, so of
Twins Mark and Michael Black jumped into the barbecue business with their father, Terry, three years ago just south of downtown Austin. It didn’t take long for them to get out of the shadow of Lockhart (Terry’s brother, Kent, runs the Black’s in that city as well as two other
The “Working People Special” was too well named to pass on, and at $3.99 for two pieces of smoked chicken and a side, it was a heck of a value. At least it would have been a good value if the chicken had been edible.
Avoid the brisket, but grab the boudin.
Larry Lavine has been an accomplished restaurateur in Dallas for decades, but he’s best known for founding the Chili’s chain in the seventies. He sold the business thirty years ago, even before baby back ribs ever made it to the menu, and now he’s in the brisket game.
The star of the menu were the spare ribs.
At David’s, pitmaster Jimmy Harris has all the family secrets to work with, including the barbecue sauce recipe.
In a strip center just south of the University of Houston campus you’ll find some of the best fried catfish you’ll ever eat, and some great barbecue to go along with it.
The care and attention that Darby Neaves and his team put into the food at Naaman’s is evident, and it mostly pays off.
Two of the most famous barbecue joints in the state, Kreuz Market and Smitty’s, had put aside their differences. In a show of family unity, they partnered and created a bright, new, shiny barbecue joint in Bee Cave, just west of Austin.
The brisket may be a wild card and the fried corn falls flat, but you can eat consistently well with the rest of the menu.
This cabbage will make you happy to eat your vegetables, but please don’t skip the brisket.
You could make meal out of sides, but that’s not really the point.
Ed's might be a contender for San Antonio’s best pulled pork.
KB’s brisket is wildly smoky.
It is hard to pick a favorite, but the pulled pork is about as good as you can get. A bad bite couldn’t be found.
The highlight of the morning: homemade sausage, all pork, fairly coarse textured, quite firm, and simply seasoned; the flavor reminded us of breakfast sausage links.
Get here on a Wednesday, order any two meats, and for your sides get a double order of collard greens.
This is a fusion food we can get on board with – Korean ingredients and a Texas style cooking method.
It may no longer be one of the fifty best in the state, but it’s the best option for brisket and ribs within a hundred miles.
Havens is already serving some of the better barbecue in the Pandhandle, and my guess is it will just keep getting better.
Restaurant doesn’t quite describe it. The place is more like an entertainment complex.
Their crisp smoked chicken thighs have a salty crunch of the skin that is addictive, and the moist meat beneath is incredible.
Lenox Bar-B-Q has been around since 1946, and it's still worth a visit.
After a bite of the smoky and lusciously moist brisket, you might feel compelled to order it by the pound.
It is respectable, but not anything that would make you return.
There's a reason this barbecue joint has been around for over 40 years.
If you live in Austin, chances are you wouldn’t pass by Larrie’s Smokehouse in Bastrop.
Back in 1978 Joycelyn and her then-husband Joel Kubesch were smoking meat at area parking lots on the weekends.
The link is smoky, salty and juicy. There isn’t much more you can ask for in a good sausage.
Owner Nathan Winklemann promises, “When the day is done my ribs are going to be right.”
Harris says his barbecue is done “on the pit, straight stick, no gas, no electric.”
The Smoliks are no doubt an important family in the history of Texas barbecue.
This white-tablecloth stalwart in the Travis Walk
For now Jambo’s is a great barbecue joint in the Fort Worth area with an impressive sandwich and great ribs.
Make the drive, and you won’t be disappointed.
