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Texas Monthly 2021 Top 50 BBQ Joints

523,760 Views | 3339 Replies | Last: 10 days ago by lazuras_dc
jja79
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25 minutes from my house so I'll definitely be a regular. Arizona Iced Tea is a Cincinnati company. No idea why the name.
TXAG 05
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jja79 said:

25 minutes from my house so I'll definitely be a regular. Arizona Iced Tea is a Cincinnati company. No idea why the name.


Out of curiosity I looked it up. It's actually a New York company started to compete with Snapple and they were going to call it Santa Fe because the guy lived in an adobe style house but went with Arizona because it looked better on the can.

agfan2013
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Hit Bar-A-BBQ in Montgomery today for the first time, and I doubt it will be my last. Really good overall, and the pork ribs in particular were some of the best I've had in a long time. Brisket both lean and fatty were great, and the pork steak was good as well. Sides were good, we were big fans of the cheesy potatoes.

Definitely contenders to make the next top 50 list.
AggieDemocrats4Bevel
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Going to have to hit this place up before it becomes too crazy. Thanks for the review!
CDub06
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TXAG 05 said:

jja79 said:

25 minutes from my house so I'll definitely be a regular. Arizona Iced Tea is a Cincinnati company. No idea why the name.


Out of curiosity I looked it up. It's actually a New York company started to compete with Snapple and they were going to call it Santa Fe because the guy lived in an adobe style house but went with Arizona because it looked better on the can.


Well, regardless, that's the only kind of tea they have at Little Miss BBQ. I guess because of the name. Still, that's a mark off in my book.

Brewing tea isn't hard. 2M, I'm looking at you.
CDub06
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AggieDemocrats4Bevel said:

Going to have to hit this place up before it becomes too crazy. Thanks for the review!
We've gone to Bar A a few times. Always excellent. I've yet to try their breakfast though. It would be a nice stop on the way to an early Aggie football game.

I'd initially told my parents I needed to take them the next time they were in town visiting. It just so happened that they came into town right after the "Best New BBQ" TM issue featured them. I was expecting a crowd that Saturday, so we got there early... No one. Could've shown up at 11AM and been third in line.

That's normally how it is there. A top 50 mention might change that, but for now it's Great barbecue and a minimal wait.
jja79
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The importance of tea in Texas and Arizona is much different. I've been here going on 2 years now and I just don't order it anymore. Little Miss is legitimate though.
Jock 07
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TXAG 05 said:

DatTallArchitect said:

For those of us that don't have a subscription to TM, who is on the list and where are they from?


The Top 10
1. Palmira Barbecue, SC

2. Prime Barbecue, NC

3. Owens & Hull, GA

4. Moo's Craft Barbecue, CA

5. Heritage Barbecue, CA

6. Southern Junction, NY

7. Pica Rica BBQ, UT

8. Jon G's Barbecue, NC

9. Edge Craft Barbecue, OK

10. Golden Hour Barbecue, NE

Late to the party here but have had both moo's (at Monkish before they had a B&M) & heritage when I lived in Torrance for a couple years and both were great. Heritage reminded me so much of back home, they had Texas music on the radio and picnic tables out back to eat on. I actually emailed Daniel Vaughn after moving from Torrance to the central coast in 2021 and discovered Priedite, which was outstanding as well, suggesting he make a trip out there to check out all 3 of these spots. Honestly I'd probably put Priedite above Moos and on par with Heritage.
Jock 07
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Gonna try and swing by pit feind and pair with some OMF beers for lunch tomorrow, any suggestions?
agcrock2005
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Jock 07 said:

Gonna try and swing by pit feind and pair with some OMF beers for lunch tomorrow, any suggestions?
I might be old now because I have no clue what this means.
NColoradoAG
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agcrock2005 said:

Jock 07 said:

Gonna try and swing by pit feind and pair with some OMF beers for lunch tomorrow, any suggestions?
I might be old now because I have no clue what this means.

Going for BBQ in Denver and asking for beer pairings from Our Mutual Friend
Jock 07
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Ha yea what NCo said, sorry I could've provided a bit better context. They bbq and brewery are right next door to each other.
jetch17
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Meats & hazies
Jock 07
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Pit Fiend & OMF. Trying not to overdo it today like I usually do when I get BBQ especially since I plan on hitting a couple other breweries while I'm up here today. Need to give post oak another shot but as far as the places I've been to here and chuckwagon back in the springs are by far the top two spots in the state in my opinion.
CowtownAg06
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SA folks, I've got about 10-15 people from out of town (mostly out of state) next week in in SA. We are staying close to Pinkertons. How bad is the line on Thursday am?
Koldus131
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Sorry in advance for not directly answering your question, but your post reminded me of something I've noticed a lot recently and have been wanting to get others' opinions on.

The BBQ lines haven't been that bad for me lately, and I usually get my food pretty quick. Now the extremely well-known elite places (Franklin, Goldee's, Snows, Truth, etc.) still get consistent long lines, but I think the general huge increase in BBQ pricing has made folks eat it less.

Maybe it's just confirmation bias, but even at Cattleack I consistently have only been waiting 10-15 minutes in line. All that to say - I can't imagine Pinkerton's at lunch on a Thursday would be too bad, but I'm definitely not a San Antonio local, so take it with a huge grain of salt.
agcrock2005
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Heading from DFW to noth Houston tomorrow around lunch time to pick up a car for my wife. Any spots I must try? I'm never in Houston area.
CowtownAg06
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How far north Houston?
agcrock2005
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Near spring
TXAG 05
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Near Spring, I would say Corkscrew.
CowtownAg06
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Corkscrew or Tejas. If you are going to venture further south, Truth or Pinkertons.
Cowbird
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Moved to separate post.
CDub06
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I was in San Antonio last week. I tried walking over to Pinkertons for dinner at about 6PM on Wednesday night and was shocked at the line down the sidewalk.

Made it out to Reese Bros on Friday for lunch though. I think I've found my new favorite spot in SA. The brisket is better at 2M, but I think Reese Bros gets the nod on everything else. I wanted to try the whole menu, but ended up with Brisket, Ribs, Queso Fundido Sausage, and Carnitas. Okra beans and some tortillas on the side.

The meats were top notch. I was a big fan of the carnitas. I will certainly be back.

LCE
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Castroville last Saturday. Used to be 2M out of SA and now named Blu Lacy. Brisket underneath all of that. Everything was great.


AustinAgChef
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Thoughts on the hit piece on Gardner BBQ in Lexington that Vaughn published a couple of days ago?

It's behind the TM paywall so linking to the article will do no good except for those that subscribe.

Basically, DV shows up to Gardners, who proudly displays a big Trump flag on one of his trailers. It's obvious he is triggered which prompts him to dig up tweets from 10 years ago of Devon and his buddies (of both colors) using the slang N word ending in "a" and not "er" to refer to each other.

Cancel culture at its finest and even though we all know TM has become nothing more than a leftist rag, I'm pretty shocked that DV wrote such an article in an attempt to ruin Gardners reputation and livelihood.
agcrock2005
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AustinAgChef said:

Thoughts on the hit piece on Gardner BBQ in Lexington that Vaughn published a couple of days ago?

It's behind the TM paywall so linking to the article will do no good except for those that subscribe.

Basically, DV shows up to Gardners, who proudly displays a big Trump flag on one of his trailers. It's obvious he is triggered which prompts him to dig up tweets from 10 years ago of Devon and his buddies (of both colors) using the slang N word ending in "a" and not "er" to refer to each other.

Cancel culture at its finest and even though we all know TM has become nothing more than a leftist rag, I'm pretty shocked that DV wrote such an article in an attempt to ruin Gardners reputation and livelihood.
What a condescending dick. He had it out for him as soon as he saw the flag.
Quote:

It's uncommon in my travels to see candidate flags hanging at barbecue joints. Most owners heed the advice of Kerry Bexley. "You cannot voice political comments in any form or fashion in business. You just can't do it," he told me. I hadn't planned to delve this deep into the subject until I saw a post on X from Devon Gardner, who is a white man, using the N-word recently. From his [url=https://x.com/devonrgardner]@DevonRGardner[[/url] account, he was comfortable using it, with an -a ending, at least fifteen times so far this year. Some, but not all, of the posts have been deleted since I asked him about his use of racist language. One deleted post read, "Happy black history month, na," to a man who describes himself as "3% black" in his X bio and also routinely uses the N-word with an -a ending in his X posts. Another from Gardner, posted in 2014, reads, "If you sit at home and collect a check then you are defined as a nr. Doesn't matter if you're white or black."

"It's a thing on X. It's nothing racial or discriminatory," Devon told me when I asked him why he was comfortable using such language on an account with his name and photo clearly displayed. "This is the first time I've ever heard it where it's a problem, but . . . I got Black friends and Black family members, and I don't call them the N-word or anything like that, because I'm not a racist person." He added, "I can see how it comes off if you see it on X, but like I said, no, there's not a racist bone in my body. We've got plenty of Black customers. . . . I've never refused the right to service to anybody. That's not who I am, and that's not what I do. . . . And if I was gonna be the kind of person to do that, then I have no right being in business."

I began researching this story hoping to share a fun Saturday itinerary in a small-but-mighty barbecue town in Texas. After reading the racist language used by Gardner, I can't imagine returning to his business or recommending it.

There is room for political discourse in the barbecue community, and I've witnessed plenty. Like many others, though, I would rather focus on food and friends. In Lexington, there are two such barbecue joints, Pop's and Snow's, where you can do just that every Saturday morning.
Mathguy64
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Ugh. He's there to eat and report on the BBQ. Sometimes you have to know to stay in your lane.
AustinAgChef
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And interestingly, he mentions about heeding the advice of Bexley about leaving political beliefs out of business but in 2015 and 2017 it apparently wasn't a problem for DV.

And the circled comment is coming from another well known and respected man in the bbq world.

Also, DV should take his own advice and focus on the food and not his political differences with others.
chap
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This isn't the first time DV has done something like this.
CDub06
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Even worse. There are some spots in Central Texas that call themselves "Blacks Barbecue."

And get this, they're all white...
AustinAgChef
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Shameful. You don't need a magazine, bbq editor or list to be successful.

Unfortunately, that's the name of the game for most nowadays and that's their ultimate goal.

Me, I don't need the recognition. Been there done that in a previous life when I was in the upscale/fine dining game.

I just aim to provide great food and great service to the best of my abilities. I'm much more concerned with making people happy than I am with getting on a list.
RC_57
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Just sat down at my go to spot. Tejas Chocolate & BBQ in Tomball

Dangerous part ( for my health and wallet) is we bought our retirement house less than 3 blocks from here.
JCRiley09
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Yeah but also maybe don't use the N-word
NColoradoAG
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Drove over from Wellborn to Bar A this morning. Got there at 1030. Not much of a line. Had food before 11am. Free beer in line and the staff was very nice. Ordered the Texan Platter plus a beef rib and got all the sides. They say it feeds 3-4, would easily feed 6 people if you add a 3rd side. After tip it was $230.

Lean brisket and the jalapeño cheddar sausage were my favorites. The brisket dirty rice, tater tot casserole, and Mac and cheese were great. Choclate Cornbread Pudding was out of this world. Ribs were a bit different than I'm used to down here. They were cooked really well but maybe a little sweet for my tastes.

Overall highly recommend.

jja79
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Where is this?
 
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