Houston Barbecue Events

Weaver’s BBQ offers destination-worthy barbecue in deep Southeast Texas

March 14, 2026

If you spent any time on the West Coast in the early 2010s, you may have crossed paths with Jesse Weaver. He may have been the guy on the street corner in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco busking (singing) for a donation, or hanging out with a troop of aspiring comedians selling jokes to passersby for a quarter (they were called the “Quarter Joke Crew” if that rings a bell). This is the story of how a Spring native went from traveling around the West Coast to making some of the best barbecue in Southeast Texas from a trailer in the parking lot of a gas station in the small town of Kenefick.

Ann Criswell. Photo courtesy Houston Chronicle.

How Ann Criswell helped launch rodeo cook-off

February 26, 2026

For many Houstonians, the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (aka cook-off) has been part of our early spring calendars for as long as we can remember.
The rodeo and livestock show debuted in 1932, but the first cook-off occurred in 1974. The beginnings were humble; only 17 teams participated. Fortunately, the judging team provided some much-needed star-power for the inaugural event. In addition to the obligatory local celebrities, a real-deal Hollywood star, Ben Johnson, was a judge. A veteran of many classic Western movies, Johnson had recently won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part in the film “The Last Picture Show.” Ann Criswell, the Houston Chronicle’s food editor from 1966 to 2000, also evaluated the smoked meat offerings.

Space City BBQ serves great craft ‘Q to Baytown

February 23, 2026

For barbecue entrepreneurs getting their start in a trailer, tending the coals and wrapping briskets in the 100-degree heat of a Texas summer is literally trial-by-fire. It’s the ultimate meritocracy – pitmasters who can make world-class barbecue in this extreme environment will often go on to open a successful brick-and-mortar restaurant where, if they’ve planned ahead, may include an air-conditioned pit room. Such is the trajectory of Logan Glenn, owner and pitmaster at the Space City BBQ trailer located on a dusty, sunbaked stretch of a farm-to-market road east of the Grand Parkway in Baytown. Glenn, 33, has been quietly building toward this moment for more than a decade.