TravelingHouston

BBQTOP 10GOLDEN FLIGHTCHECKED SEPTEMBER 2026

Barbecuelow and slow

Texas barbecue is post oak, salt, pepper and patience. Houston adds its own accents: boudin, Viet spices, Gulf seafood on the side. Get there early. Good brisket sells out.

  1. 01CorkScrew BBQOld Town Spring
  2. 02Truth BBQWashington Avenue / Heights
  3. 03Pinkerton's BarbecueThe Heights (Airline Drive)
  4. 04Brisket & RiceCopperfield (Highway 6 North)
  5. 05Blood Bros. BBQBellaire
  6. 06Killen's BBQPearland
  7. 07Rosemeyer Bar-B-QSpring
  8. 08The Pit RoomMontrose
  9. 09Gatlin's BBQGarden Oaks / Oak Forest
  10. 10Tejas Chocolate + BarbecueTomball

INTERACTIVEBBQ

The Pit

Hold to feed the firebox. Keep the smoker between 225 and 250 degrees and the smoke will carry the names.

The Pit: Hold to feed the firebox. Keep the smoker between 225 and 250 degrees and the smoke will carry the names.

01 / 10Old Town Spring22 mi from downtown

CorkScrew BBQ

The Michelin star that smells like red oak

Will and Nichole Buckman turned a catering side hustle into one of the first barbecue joints anywhere to earn a Michelin star. The brisket and beef ribs explain why.

CorkScrew started in May 2010 as a catering gig after Will Buckman's coworkers begged for more of his potluck brisket. A trailer on Budde Road followed in 2011, and the couple eventually moved into Old Town Spring, with a patio and a line that forms well before the doors open. Everything is cooked over red oak, from prime brisket to a beef rib with a dark, peppery crust and a clean, lingering smoke. Pulled pork is a quiet favorite, and a scoop of peach or apple cobbler is the right ending. In 2024 the Michelin Guide gave CorkScrew one star, and it kept that star in 2025. Will and Nichole still run the place themselves, which you can taste in how consistent the plates are.

What to expect

  • Order at the counter, then wait for your order to be called when the tray is ready.
  • The dining room is modest; most seats are in a larger, mostly covered outdoor area.
  • Dogs are allowed in the outdoor seating, not inside.
  • The small lots fill fast, so expect to park on the street in Old Town Spring.

Order

  1. Prime brisket, fatty and lean
  2. Beef rib
  3. Pulled pork
  4. Peach or apple cobbler
Price
$$
Hours
Wed-Sat 11am-4pm or until sold out; closed Sun-Tue
Reservations
recommended
  • 2010Since
  • Will and Nichole BuckmanOwners
  • Red oakWood

MICHELIN Guide Texas 2024 and 2025: One Star · Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025

Directions Official site Full field notes

02 / 10Washington Avenue / Heights1.8 mi from downtown

Truth BBQ

Brenham brisket and towering cakes off Washington

The highest-ranked Houston joint on Texas Monthly's 2025 Top 50, at No. 9, with brisket worth the wait and layer cakes worth saving room for.

Leonard Botello IV built Truth's reputation from a roadside spot in Brenham before bringing it to Houston in 2019, where it took over a big corner at Heights Boulevard and Washington Avenue. It is a big, busy counter-service room with a patio. The brisket is the draw: glossy, peppery, and cut thick enough to jiggle. Pork ribs and the house sausages hold their own, and on weekends the tea-brined pork chop, smoked and then fried, earns its cult following. Sides like tater tot casserole lean comfort food. Leave room for a slice of one of the tall layer cakes at the end of the line, banana caramel or coconut cream, which have become almost as famous as the meat.

What to expect

  • Meat is sold by weight at the cutting board, half-pound minimum; pay at the register.
  • Weekend lines of 30 to 45 minutes are common, and beer is sold while you wait.
  • A big dining room in a former auto shop, plus a covered patio where dogs are allowed.
  • The lot fills at lunch; there is an overflow gravel lot across Barnes St.
  • Curbside pickup can be ordered ahead online.

Order

  1. Brisket
  2. Tea-brined smoked and fried pork chop (Fri-Sun)
  3. Pork ribs
  4. A slice of layer cake
Price
$$
Hours
Tue-Fri 11am-3pm and 5pm-8pm; Sat 11am-8pm; Sun 11am-4pm; closed Mon; all service until sold out
Reservations
walk-in
  • 2019Houston since
  • Leonard Botello IVPitmaster
  • Brenham, TXOriginal

Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025: No. 9 · MICHELIN Guide Texas 2025: Bib Gourmand

Directions Official site Full field notes

03 / 10The Heights (Airline Drive)2.7 mi from downtown

Pinkerton's Barbecue

Mesquite, oak and a duck jambalaya worth crossing town

Grant Pinkerton's original Airline Drive joint pairs a beef rib the size of a forearm with Gulf Coast sides that nobody else in town does as well.

Grant Pinkerton, a Houston native with Hill Country and Gulf Coast family roots, had no culinary training when he opened this low-slung place on Airline Drive in 2016. It feels like a hunting lodge that happens to own serious pits, with mounted deer heads on the walls and specials chalked on the back board. Brisket cooks over a mix of post oak and mesquite and comes out thick and smoky, while the St. Louis ribs wear a sweet, sticky glaze. The beef rib is the showpiece and goes fast. Sides are where the Gulf Coast shows: duck and sausage jambalaya is rich and deeply seasoned, and the mac and cheese is studded with rosemary bacon. There is now a second Houston location in Upper Kirby and one in San Antonio.

What to expect

  • Grab a tray, order meat and sides at the counter, then pay at the end of the line.
  • Communal picnic tables inside and a larger outdoor patio, where dogs are allowed.
  • A small bar pours cocktails, beer and wine to go with the meat.
  • Parking is tight: a small front lot, a few side spaces, and street parking on W. Patton.
  • Online ordering for pickup is on the official site.

Order

  1. Beef rib
  2. Brisket
  3. Glazed pork ribs
  4. Duck and sausage jambalaya
Price
$$
Hours
Tue-Thu 11am-9pm; Fri-Sat 11am-10pm; Sun 11am-9pm; closed Mon; until sold out
Reservations
walk-in
  • 2016Since
  • Grant PinkertonPitmaster
  • Post oak and mesquiteWood

Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025 · MICHELIN Guide Texas 2025: Bib Gourmand

Directions Official site Full field notes

04 / 10Copperfield (Highway 6 North)18 mi from downtown

Brisket & Rice

Vietnamese-Texan barbecue that outgrew a gas station

Two brothers with no restaurant experience put brisket on jasmine fried rice in a gas station, landed on Texas Monthly's 2025 Top 50, and now have a real dining room.

Brothers Hong and Phong Tran, with Hong's wife Michelle, pooled their savings to open Brisket & Rice in 2022 in a corner of a gas station on FM 529, cooking Central Texas style barbecue for the work crews nearby. The signature plate says everything about the place: slices of prime brisket over jasmine fried rice tossed with Chinese sausage and a fried egg, smoky and savory in the same bite. Pork ribs are tender and delicately smoked, and the jalapeño sausage has real snap. In September 2025 the family moved into a former Tex-Mex restaurant on Highway 6 North, with a covered patio about as big as the dining room and far more parking. More smokers were added to cut down on sellouts, but the line still moves at lunch.

What to expect

  • Order ahead online for pickup to skip the lunch line.
  • With the fried rice you'll be offered quick pickles and jalapeños; say yes.
  • The walls carry vintage Vietnamese and American shop signs, like the old gas-station spot.
  • Cards are accepted, and the dining room is air-conditioned.

Order

  1. Brisket fried rice
  2. Pork ribs
  3. Jalapeño sausage
  4. Poor man's macaroni
Price
$$
Hours
Tue-Sun 11am-7pm; closed Mon
Reservations
walk-in
  • 2022Since
  • Hong and Phong TranPitmasters
  • Opened Sept 6, 2025New home

Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025 · MICHELIN Guide Texas 2025: Recommended

Directions Official site Full field notes

05 / 10Bellaire7.3 mi from downtown

Blood Bros. BBQ

Alief friends smoking brisket with Chinatown spices

The joint that made Asian-Texan barbecue a Houston signature, with classic brisket next to gochujang ribs and pho-rubbed beef belly banh mi.

Quy Hoang and brothers Robin and Terry Wong grew up together in Alief and started throwing backyard barbecue pop-ups in 2013. By 2018 they had a brick-and-mortar room on Bellaire Boulevard, a casual counter with a patio and a menu that reads like a map of southwest Houston. The brisket is textbook Texas, black-crusted and juicy, but the fun lives in the specials: gochujang-glazed ribs, a banh mi stuffed with pho-rubbed smoked beef belly, smoked char siu, and brisket fried rice when it appears. The rubs borrow from the spice shelves of Chinatown, just down the road. It is one of the places that made the rest of Texas pay attention to Houston barbecue as its own style.

What to expect

  • Order sides, then meat by the pound at the cutting station; kitchen items come by number.
  • No saving tables while in line, and small tables are meant for groups of four or fewer.
  • There is a full bar with ten beers on tap.
  • Seating is indoors plus a small covered patio out front, where dogs are allowed.
  • The evening Happy Nhau-er has table service with servers; book it on Resy.

Order

  1. Brisket
  2. Gochujang-glazed pork ribs
  3. Pho-rubbed beef belly banh mi
  4. Whatever the daily special is
Price
$$
Hours
Tue-Sun 11am-3pm or until sold out; Happy "Nhau"-er Wed-Sat 5pm-9pm; closed Mon
Reservations
walk-in
  • 2013Pop-ups since
  • 2018Restaurant since
  • Quy Hoang, Robin Wong, Terry WongFounders

MICHELIN Guide Texas 2024 and 2025: Bib Gourmand · Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025: Honorable Mention · Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2021

Directions Official site Full field notes

06 / 10Pearland15 mi from downtown

Killen's BBQ

Ronnie Killen's beef ribs in an old school cafeteria

Houston's original destination barbecue line still forms every morning in Pearland for Ronnie Killen's peppery beef ribs and crème brûlée bread pudding.

Ronnie Killen was already known for his Pearland steakhouse when he turned a former school district cafeteria into a barbecue hall, and it quickly became the place that convinced Houston it could compete with Central Texas. The room is big and cheerful, with communal tables and a line snaking toward the cutting board. The beef rib is the reason to drive south: a slab of Snake River Farms beef with a salt and pepper bark and a silky, smoky interior. Brisket and the house all-beef sausage are strong, and pork belly burnt ends come glazed with pepper jelly. Sides like collard greens and brussels sprouts get real attention, and the crème brûlée bread pudding is a dessert people plan around.

What to expect

  • Grab a tray, order meat at the counter, then sides and dessert, and pay at checkout.
  • A covered patio adds seating beside the dining room, and dogs are allowed out there.
  • Beer and wine are sold.

Order

  1. Beef rib
  2. Brisket
  3. Pork belly burnt ends
  4. Crème brûlée bread pudding
Price
$$
Hours
Tue-Thu 11am-7pm; Fri-Sat 11am-8pm; Sun 11am-6pm; closed Mon; until sold out
Reservations
walk-in
  • Ronnie KillenOwner
  • Former Pearland school cafeteriaBuilding
  • Snake River FarmsBeef

MICHELIN Guide Texas 2025: Bib Gourmand · Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025: Honorable Mention

Directions Official site Full field notes

07 / 10Spring23 mi from downtown

Rosemeyer Bar-B-Q

A Spring trailer that runs on specials and friendship

Three days a week, two childhood friends serve some of the best brisket north of Houston from a trailer with picnic tables, plus specials worth following on social media.

Jordan Rosemeyer and Ben Maxwell have been friends since childhood, and they built Rosemeyer Bar-B-Q the hard way, working a trailer until the barbecue world noticed. Today it sits beside a gas station on Riley Fuzzel Road, with picnic tables and a pit you can smell from the parking lot. The brisket is beautifully rendered and deeply smoky, pork ribs pull clean from the bone, and the jalapeño-cheese sausage has a proper snap. What keeps regulars coming back is the rotating board of specials, which has included ostrich steak, along with house-made ice cream for dessert. It made Texas Monthly's 2025 Top 50 and holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, not bad for a place open only three days a week.

What to expect

  • It is a trailer sharing a gas station lot, with no indoor dining room.
  • Seating is a few weathered picnic tables outside, so dress for the weather.
  • Beer sits in coolers out front, and 2025 reviews describe it as free.
  • Dogs are welcome, since everything is outdoors.
  • People start lining up before opening.

Order

  1. Brisket
  2. Pork ribs
  3. Jalapeño-cheese sausage
  4. House-made ice cream
Price
$$
Hours
Thu-Sat 11am-3pm or until sold out; closed Sun-Wed
Reservations
walk-in
  • Jordan Rosemeyer and Ben MaxwellOwners
  • Trailer with picnic tablesFormat
  • Three days a weekOpen

Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025 · MICHELIN Guide Texas 2024 and 2025: Bib Gourmand

Directions Official site Full field notes

08 / 10Montrose2.3 mi from downtown

The Pit Room

Brisket tacos on tortillas made with brisket fat

The easiest great barbecue in the city: open every day from breakfast to 9pm in Montrose, with tortillas made from brisket fat and a bar next door.

Michael Sambrooks opened The Pit Room on Richmond Avenue in 2016 and proved that serious offset-smoker barbecue could work in the middle of Houston's dense inner loop. It is a small, always-busy room with limited indoor seating, a pickle and onion station, and The Patio bar next door for a cold beer or a full cocktail. The kitchen's smartest move is its flour tortillas, made with rendered brisket fat, which turn sliced brisket, sausage or smoked chicken into tacos you will remember. Brisket and beef ribs are pepper-forward and unsauced, the house sausages rotate daily, and the marinated tomato salad and charred beans cut through the richness. Mornings bring breakfast tacos on those same tortillas.

What to expect

  • Order meat from the cutters, add sides down the line, then pay at the end.
  • The dining room is small and always busy; have someone hold a table while you order.
  • Extra seating is next door at The Patio, which has indoor tables and a big patio.
  • Takeout, delivery and bulk to-go orders can be placed from the website.

Order

  1. Brisket tacos on brisket-fat flour tortillas
  2. Beef rib
  3. House-made sausage
  4. Breakfast tacos (7am-10:30am)
Price
$$
Hours
Daily: breakfast tacos 7am-10:30am, barbecue 11am-9pm
Reservations
walk-in
  • 2016Since
  • Michael SambrooksOwner
  • 10301 Katy Fwy (Memorial)Second location

MICHELIN Guide Texas 2024 and 2025: Bib Gourmand

Directions Official site Full field notes

09 / 10Garden Oaks / Oak Forest5.5 mi from downtown

Gatlin's BBQ

A family's Southern smokehouse, from breakfast on

Greg Gatlin and his family have been smoking ribs and serving dirty rice since 2010, and their Ella Boulevard kitchen is one of the pillars of Houston's Black barbecue tradition.

Greg Gatlin opened Gatlin's in 2010 with his family behind the counter, and it helped kick off Houston's craft barbecue revival by going back to wood-fired offset pits at a time when many kitchens relied on push-button smokers. The style blends East Texas and Central Texas: salt and pepper brisket, spare and baby back ribs, and Southern sides that taste like Sunday dinner. The dirty rice is the one people talk about, along with mac and cheese, baked beans and fried okra. The current home on Ella Boulevard is a comfortable, busy spot that opens for breakfast, and daily features like smoked bologna sandwiches and fried catfish give regulars a reason to come back midweek.

What to expect

  • Order and pay at the register, take a buzzer, and pick up your food when it goes off.
  • Drinks are self-serve.
  • A medium-size dining room at the end of a strip center, with a private room for groups.
  • Delivery covers several parts of Houston, and online orders earn rewards points.

Order

  1. Pork ribs
  2. Dirty rice
  3. Salt and pepper brisket
  4. Smoked bologna sandwich (when featured)
Price
$$
Hours
Mon-Sat 7am-6pm; closed Sun
Reservations
walk-in
  • 2010Since
  • Greg GatlinFounder
  • East Texas meets Central TexasStyle

Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025: Honorable Mention

Directions Official site Full field notes

10 / 10Tomball28 mi from downtown

Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue

Brisket and bean-to-bar chocolate in Tomball's oldest house

A chocolate maker that became one of the area's best barbecue joints, serving brisket and chile relleno sausage in Tomball's oldest known house, with truffles for dessert.

Michelle Holland and brothers Scott and Greg Moore started Tejas in 2015 as a bean-to-bar chocolate shop, and the barbecue grew out of the same obsessive craft. It lives in what the owners describe as the oldest known residential home in Tomball, restored with porches and a yard that fills up on weekends. Brisket comes off the pit juicy and well barked, the chile relleno sausage is a house original, and the pork belly burnt ends go fast. The Brisket and Blues sandwich, with blue cheese and red onion on a potato bun, is a fine way in. Save room for dessert, since the chocolate is the other half of the name: chocolate bread pudding, panna cotta and house truffles.

What to expect

  • Line up on the porch, order and pay, then listen for your number to be called.
  • Seating is two indoor rooms, a side porch and picnic tables in the front yard.
  • Dogs are allowed on the porch and in the yard, not inside.
  • Park in the shared lot across Elm Street, or on the street along Elm and Commerce.
  • A kids menu offers grilled cheese and quesadillas.

Order

  1. Brisket
  2. Chile relleno sausage
  3. Brisket and Blues sandwich
  4. Chocolate bread pudding or truffles
Price
$$
Hours
Tue-Sat 11am-9pm; Sun-Mon 11am-5pm; breakfast tacos Thu-Sun 8am-11am
Reservations
walk-in
  • 2015Since
  • Michelle Holland, Scott Moore, Greg MooreOwners
  • Oldest known residential home in TomballBuilding

MICHELIN Guide Texas 2025: Bib Gourmand · Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints 2025: Honorable Mention

Directions Official site Full field notes

THE WHOLE ROUTE

Ten stops, one flight plan.

Save the ones you want with the star, then open My Plan to see them grouped into days.

Map of the Barbecue Top 10: 1. CorkScrew BBQ, 2. Truth BBQ, 3. Pinkerton's Barbecue, 4. Brisket & Rice, 5. Blood Bros. BBQ, 6. Killen's BBQ, 7. Rosemeyer Bar-B-Q, 8. The Pit Room, 9. Gatlin's BBQ, 10. Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue1CorkScrew BBQ2Truth BBQ3Pinkerton's Barbecue4Brisket & Rice5Blood Bros. BBQ6Killen's BBQ7Rosemeyer Bar-B-Q8The Pit Room9Gatlin's BBQ10Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue20 km · 12 miN
BBQ · FLIGHT PLAN · 10 STOPS · DRAWN FROM OPENSTREETMAP

NEXT DEPARTURE

TMXTacos & Tex-Mexwhere fajitas went famous

Then: Sweets · or see my plan