And a new No. 1

7 Houston-area barbecue joints make Texas Monthly's new top 50 list

Burnt Bean Co. in Seguin ranks No. 1.

Burnt Bean Co./ Facebook

The state of Texas has a new best barbecue joint. Burnt Bean Co. in Seguin, a small town east of San Antonio, has taken the top spot in Texas Monthly’s new list of the 50 Best Barbecue Joints in Texas.

Here’s the new top 10, in order:

1. Burnt Bean Co. (Seguin)
2. LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue (Austin)
3. Goldee’s Barbecue (Fort Worth)
4. Redbird BBQ* (Port Neches, near Beaumont)
5. GW’s BBQ* (San Juan Texas in the Rio Grande Valley)
6. InterStellar BBQ (Austin)
7. Dayne’s Craft Barbecue* (Aledo, near Fort Worth)
8. LaVaca BBQ* (Port Lavaca)
9. Truth BBQ (Houston)
10. Evie Mae’s Pit Barbeque (Wolfforth, near Lubbock)

Published Tuesday, May 27, Texas Monthly’s new list is the latest update to its quadrennial ranking of Texas’ best places for barbecue. Texas Monthly presents the list as a ranked top 10 with the remaining 40 restaurant listed alphabetically by city. An additional 50 restaurants earn honorable mentions.

To compile the list, the magazine visited 319 restaurants, including more than 100 personally visited by barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn in January and February, he writes in the list’s introductory essay.

The four newcomers to the top 10 are marked with an asterisk to make them a little easier to spot. Compared to 2021, Burnt Bean Co. moves up from No. 4 to No. 1, followed by LeRoy & Lewis, which ranked No. 5 in 2021. Goldee’s, ranked No. 1 in 2021, drops two spots, and InterStellar moves from No. 2 to No. 6. Truth and Evie Mae’s are the only restaurants to make the top 10 in 2017, 2021, and 2025, a nod to their consistent excellence.

Conversely, both Snow’s BBQ (Lexington) and Franklin Barbecue (Austin) drop from the top 10 to the second 40 for the first time. In 2021, Snow’s ranked No. 9 and Franklin ranked No. 7. Both restaurants have ranked No. 1 previously, Snow’s in 2008 and 2017 and Franklin in 2013. Cattleack Barbecue (Dallas) and Panther City BBQ (Fort Worth) also drop out of the top 10 but remain in the top 50.

Notably, only two of the barbecue restaurants to receive a Michelin star — LeRoy & Lewis and InterStellar — make the top 10, but CorkScrew BBQ (Spring) and La Barbecue (Austin) are both in the top 50.

While the overall state of Texas barbecue has never been stronger, the Houston area has lost some status since the 2021 edition of the list. Of the seven restaurants to make the list last time, only Truth, CorkScrew BBQ in Spring, and Pinkerton’s BBQ in the Heights return (Pinkerton’s was recognized for its San Antonio location in 2021). They’re joined by four newcomers: Bar-A BBQ and Jennings & Co. BBQ in Montgomery, Brisket and Rice in Cypress, and Rosemeyer BBQ in Spring,

The remaining Houston-area restaurants that made the top 50 in 2021 — Blood Bros. BBQ in Bellaire, Brett’s BBQ Shop in Katy, Feges BBQ in Spring Branch, Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland, and Tejas Chocolate in Tomball — all move to the honorable mentions list. They’re joined by Gatlin’s BBQ, J-Bar-M Barbecue, Roegels Barbecue Co., Harlem Road Texas BBQ (Richmond), and Space City B-B-Q (Baytown).

As for CultureMap’s predictions, we accurately identified seven of the top 10, and all 13 restaurants we spotlighted made the top 50. We’ll take it.

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What's Eric Eating Episodes 518 and 519

Meet the men behind River Oaks' new destination for bowls and broth

Photo by Becca Wright

Find Honest Mary's in the River Oaks Shopping Center.

On this week’s episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” Honest Mary’s founder Nelson Monteith and COO Andrew Wiseman joined CultureMap editor Eric Sandler to discuss the Austin-based restaurant that just opened its first Houston location in the River Oaks Shopping Center (2047-A West Gray St).

Monteith shares that he started the restaurant in 2017 in order to fulfill his vision of a restaurant which could serve food that’s fast, fresh, and affordable. A trained chef who operated pioneering Austin restaurant Contigo, Wiseman joined the group to bring both culinary expertise and operational acumen to the grouping company.

Part of what sets Honest Mary’s apart is that diners can add cooked vegetables to the rice and proteins at the heart of every bowl. The “Market Sides” section includes an array of roasted vegetables — including sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, and Brussels sprouts — as well as black beans, maple-glazed carrots, and green lentils. Bowls can be further enhanced with toppings such as Texas pecans, crispy chickpeas, goat cheese, avocado, and apples as well as sauces such as creamy poblano, cashew lime crema, sesame vinaigrette, spicy peanut, chimichurri and apple cider vinaigrette

Monteith explains that looking at the ingredients on display usually inspires him when he’s deciding what to eat at Honest Mary’s.

“I will almost always look at the line and see what looks fresh and good,” Monteith says. “Today, I got the salted kale with white rice. Then, I got garlic-pepper steak. I added on lentils — they’re my go-to in the winter. They blend everything together, and I love it Then Brussels sprouts looked green. I got some jalapenos. Avocados, cause that’s healthy. Then I got the chimichurri sauce.”

Honest Mary’s is also known for its hearty broths, a classic chicken and a vegetarian option made with seaweed and mushroom. Sandler raves about the chicken broth to Wiseheart, who shares how it’s made.

“We spent six or seven months testing recipes and drinking it ourselves to see if it’s a good idea,” Wiseman says. “I talk about it as a great complement to the menu. It’s healthy. It’s really simple. Most of the kitchens I came up with were rooted in French cuisine. This is just chicken stock with salt in it.”

Listen to the full episode to hear more about Honest Mary’s plans for additional locations in Houston and Dallas. Then Monteith asks a Sandler a few questions about the Houston dining scene.

In this week’s other episode, Sandler and co-host Mary Clarkson discuss the news of the week. Their topics include Home Slice Pizza opening a new location in the Heights; the closures of Brett’s BBQ Shop in Katy and Killen’s Barbecue in The Woodlands; and Esquire including ChòpnBlok on its list of America’s best new restaurants.

In the restaurant of the week segment, the two friends discuss their recent meal at Hypsi, the Italian restaurant in the newly-opened Hotel Daphne. Listen to the episode to hear their favorite dishes and other thoughts on the meal.

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Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hear it Sunday at 9 am on ESPN 97.5.

Photo by Becca Wright

Find Honest Mary's in the River Oaks Shopping Center.

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