Pit crew

4 Houston-area spots heat up Texas Monthly's Best New Barbecue Joints list

Feges BBQ barbecue brisket and vegetable sides

Texas Monthly named Feges BBQ one of Texas' top new barbecue joints.

Photo by Robert Jacob Lerma

While Texas carnivores bide their time waiting for the next edition of Daniel Vaughn’s quadrennial Top 50 Barbecue Joints, which is due in 2021, Texas Monthly has delivered something new to chew on. On April 22, the barbecue editor fired up his midterm report on the state’s most promising newcomers.

The unranked list is the result of frequent trips to every corner of the state to taste dozens of spots, with every possible spelling iteration of the word "barbecue." Despite the title, the timeframe for openings is relative with one eatery: Charlie’s Bar-B-Que in Beaumont, which originally opened in 2012, but Vaughn explains he didn't discover until late 2017.

Otherwise Vaughn held fast to a set of rules, confining the list to only places with permanent addresses, food trucks included, and eliminating satellite locations like Truth Barbeque’s Houston location and Micklethwait Craft Meat’s new outpost in Smithville from consideration.

The Houston area racked up four nods, right after the Austin area, which earned six nods — more than a fifth of the entire list. Here, CultureMap Tastemaker Award-winning Blood Bros. BBQ leads the charge. As CultureMap food editor Eric Sandler notes, the Bellaire spot is beloved by Vaughn for its Central Texas-style classics mixed with Asian-inspired twists like a smoked turkey banh mi, Thai green curry boudin (one of several housemade sausages), and brisket fried rice. Folks west will love the nod to Harlem Road Texas BBQ, while Inner Loopers will regale in the selection of the Greenway Plaza joint Feges BBQ. And locals know that Revellie Barbecue Co. in Magnolia is Houston's new destination for good 'cue.

In Austin, Vaughn was especially taken by the innovators of the Capital City scene, shouting out LeRoy & Lewis Barbecue for being “ahead of the curve with barbecue trends,” Loro for being “unfamiliar and exhilarating,” and The Switch’s unique Cajun-Texan mix.

Vaughn found the Capital City suburbs just as promising. Pustka Family Barbeque in Hutto, Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue in Pflugerville, and unsurprisingly John Mueller Black Box Barbecue in Georgetown.

More remarkable was the inclusion of two new restaurants nearby in Waco, once scoffed at for being just a highway pitstop between Austin and Dallas. Helberg Barbecue won high praise for its pastrami beef cheeks and Guess Family Barbecue for “the ideal version of Texas spareribs.”

Though Central Texas shined, Vaughn’s report proves that superlative barbecue is never hard to find in the Lone Star State. The selections traversed the entire map, from the Panhandle to the Gulf coast, as follows:

Blood Bros. BBQ, Bellaire
Harlem Road Texas BBQ, Richmond
Feges BBQ, Houston
Reveille Barbecue Co., Magnolia
LJ’s BBQ, Brenham
1775 Texas Pit BBQ, College Station
Panther City BBQ, Fort Worth
Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue, Marathon
Butter’s BBQ, Mathis
Rejino Narbeque, Olton
Brett’s Backyard Bar-B-Que, Rockdale
Black Board Bar-B-Q, Sisterdale
Smokin’ Moon BBQ & Beer Garden, Pharr
Smoke Sessions Barbecue, Royse City
Pitforks and Smotherings BBQ, Slaton
Convenience West, Marfa

Read the full list of Vaughn's pro tips at Texas Monthly, then hit the road for a meaty adventure.

barbecue lists

the more things change

Houston's essential Jewish diner looks better than ever after refresh

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

It’s tricky to renovate a restaurant that’s as essential to its community as New York Deli. A staple of Houston’s Jewish community for almost 50 years, the tiny restaurant near Meyerland will serve as many as 400 people during a busy Sunday brunch.

Still, the time had come, as the tape on the deteriorating banquettes and peeling wallpaper illustrated. With the restaurant’s lease up for renewal, co-owner Michael Saghian saw an opportunity for some updates.

“I couldn’t be the new guy who ruined the place by moving it,” he tells CultureMap. “We worked out a deal with the landlord [to stay] and did a big refresh.”

The most noticeable change is the removal of the restaurant’s front door and vestibule. Instead, diners enter through the restaurant’s companion bagel shop. Separate entrances made sense when the bagel shop was certified kosher by local religious authorities, but now that designation only applies to the Bellaire location that opened in 2020. Not only is the new setup easier for people with mobility issues to navigate, it allows more light into the dining room, brightening the place considerably..

Saghian and co-owner Riana Sherman worked with interior designer Erin Hicks on the refresh. Tables, chairs, and banquettes are all new, but the color scheme remains the same. The process yielded 10 more seats, and the furniture is a little more durable, too.

“People have flipped chairs because they’re so lightweight,” Sherman says. “We got a sturdier chair.”

Behind the scenes, an expanded kitchen allows for the restaurant’s cooks to work faster and more efficiently. An additional egg cooker should cut down the amount of time people wait for their food to arrive.

“The kitchen had one of everything. Now we have two of everything. We can pump out a lot more food,” Saghian says.

Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers such as the “bagel girls,” a group of woman who’ve eaten breakfast at the restaurant since the ‘80s. A piece of old wallpaper has been framed and hung on the wall, too, as a nod to the space’s history.

New York Deli interior changes Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers.Photo by Sergio Trevino

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

Saghian says he suffered from sleepless nights as he worried about people’s reactions to the changes, but so far his customers have been effusive.

“It still feels like an old school diner,” Saghian says. “It has pieces you remember. Even the new stuff is old school.”

While the physical environment is new, the staff remains the same. To ensure he kept the same team of cooks and servers, Saghian paid their wages for the two weeks the restaurant was closed for renovations.

Even more importantly, the prices are the same. That’s something that will make even the oldest regulars happy.

news-you-can-eat openings