The neon sign in front of the new location of Pinkerton’s Barbecue tells diners almost everything they need to know about the restaurant. Based on a drawing by pitmaster and owner Grant Pinkerton, the sign’s retro-inspired design and simple declaration of “Beef, Pork, Links” offers a simple summation of what the restaurant will serve when it opens to the public this Tuesday, January 20.

Located in the former home of 59 Diner at 3801 Farnham St., the new location is much larger than Pinkerton’s first Houston location in the Heights that opened nine years ago. It will be the restaurant's second Houston location and third overall, joining a San Antonio outpost that opened in 2020. All that extra room includes a larger kitchen that will serve more varieties of meat, sides, and desserts than its able to offer in the Heights, which brings us back to the sign.

“That’s my brainchild,” Pinkerton tells CultureMap. “It was a deliberate choice to choose 'beef, pork, and links.' A lot of people say 'brisket, ribs, and sausage,' but if you go back in time, it wasn’t brisket. It was just beef. If you start studying the history of barbecue, that’s what people said.”

We Have The Meats

Also, brisket isn't the only cut of beef that Pinkerton’s will serve. Its four, 1,000-gallon, offset smokers from Mill Scale Metalworks in Lockhart, TX will smoke brisket, beef ribs, and — in one of several new additions compared to the Heights — prime rib.

Pork, of course, refers to the pork ribs and pork shoulder that Pinkerton’s has always served, but the pitmaster has something new for pork lovers, too. Pinkerton plans to serve what he describes as Mississippi Delta-style whole hog. Cooked in three, double-wide Old Hickory smokers, the whole hog is prepared skin-off, which is one of the ways its distinct from Carolina-style whole hog. The flavor and serving style are different, too, Pinkerton explains.

“It’s still tangy, but it’s got some sweet to it. [In the Carolinas] they cook them flat and chop everything together. Here, you’ll be able to order different muscle groups,” he says. Later, he adds, “Texans love bark and smoke, so it lends itself very well to here.”

Pinkerton wants to ensure his team can, in his words, “play the hits,” by properly executing the restaurant’s core menu before he starts serving whole hog. Once the restaurant has had a week or two to get things dialed in, the hogs will go on the smokers. Keep an eye on the sign. When the words “Hot Whole Hog” are lit, it’s ready to go.

Which brings us to links. The new location will feature six sausages, all of which are made in-house.

“You can get six different types of sausage from original, a hot link, cheddar, jalapeno-cheese, and boudin,” Pinkerton says. “There will be an old school, meaty beef link — imagine East Texas met up with Luling. Not as big as a grease bomb as you’d get in Beaumont, but not as dry and crumbly as Lockhart.”

Familiar sides like Pinkerton's jalapeno cheese rice and duck-and-sausage jambalaya will be joined by a number of new options, including honey cole slaw, okra and tomatoes, a bourbon sweet potato, beef tallow fries, creamed spinach, and Brussels sprouts.

The in-house baking program has been dramatically expanded. Pinkerton will finally be able to serve the cheesecake that won the top prize in barbecue cook-off at the 2024 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It will also serve the biscuits that Pinkerton recently previewed on Instagram.

“It’s a very classic, super flaky biscuit that can be added to any order. We have a beef tallow butter it will be served with,” Pinkerton says. “I’ve tried a lot of rolls and white bread. My favorite bite was brisket and pimento cheese on a biscuit. Once I started eating them at home, I thought we needed to scale it for the restaurant.”

Retro Design

Like the sign, Pinkerton took inspiration from Houston’s past for the restaurant’s design. The Lamar HS grad name checks Blanco’s Bar & Grill, a casual bar and and restaurant near its campus that closed in 2013, as one inspiration. A wooden ceiling, wooden booths, and long wood tables contribute to the retro feel.

Visitors will notice one last thing about the sign out front. A little further down the pole it says “Air Conditioned,” which, obviously, so is every other restaurant in Houston, but the words are both a nod to the past when that wasn’t always the case and a statement of intent. Pinkerton says he upgraded the HVAC system with enough cooling power that it will be “comfortable in August” — which is good news for the crowds that will likely flock to the place year-round.

After all, Pinkerton’s is one of Houston’s most acclaimed barbecue joints. It’s one of only three Houston-area barbecue joints to stay in the Texas Monthly top 50 list each of the past three cycles: 2017, 2021, and 2025 (Truth BBQ and Corkscrew BBQ are the others). It’s also one of only seven Houston-area barbecue joins to earn a coveted Bib Gourmand designation in the Michelin Guide.

That acclaim, and the prominent new location, means Pinkerton’s will open with high expectations. Indeed, the pitmaster says people have been regularly poking their head in for a sneak peek and stopping him in public to inquire about his progress.

“I grew up in the neighborhood. I’ve been shopping in H-E-B and had people ask me, ‘when are you going to open?’ I don’t even know those people,” Pinkerton says.

“I think it’s great that people are excited about barbecue. It’s a really cool thing. Hopefully it’s a great addition to the food scene.”

Photo by Eric Sandler

The sign tells people what they need to know about the new Pinkerton's Barbecue.