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Weaver's BBQ

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

March 14, 2026 No Comments

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.

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Ann Criswell. Photo courtesy Houston Chronicle.

How Ann Criswell helped launch rodeo cook-off

February 26, 2026 No Comments

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.

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Space City BBQ - Logan Glenn

Space City BBQ serves great craft ‘Q to Baytown

February 23, 2026 No Comments

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.

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Roegels/ Bourdain Mortadella Sandwich

Anthony Bourdain’s favorite sandwich is a barbecue classic

January 31, 2026 No Comments

The late chef and food writer Anthony Bourdain is famously credited with the quote, “Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start – undoubtedly an accurate representation of his point of view on how food, and especially barbecue, can unite people and cultures. Another story attributed to Bourdain is his love for a particular sandwich made from a traditional deli meat and cheese. He first mentioned this sandwich in his 2016 cookbook, “Appetites.” Here, he provides a recipe inspired by a sandwich he encountered while travelling in Brazil, featuring a pile of fried mortadella (the Italian progenitor of American bologna) and melted Provolone cheese, with mayonnaise and mustard on a buttered and toasted roll. Undoubtedly a mouth-watering and crowd-pleasing dish.

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2026 Houston Barbecue Festival

Announcing the 2026 Houston Barbecue Festival

January 6, 2026 No Comments

The Houston Barbecue Festival returns on Sunday, April 12, 2026, for its 13th year, celebrating everything that makes Houston barbecue unlike anywhere else in the world. The festival is presented by Goodstock by Nolan Ryan. With its sheer number of barbecue joints and an unmatched diversity of styles, the greater Houston area has quietly become one of America’s great barbecue cities. The Houston Barbecue Festival is the only event that brings together the full spectrum of that scene – legendary institutions, neighborhood favorites, and the city’s most exciting rising stars – all in one place, at one time, for one price.

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Sonny Bryan's 24/7 barbecue

Why aren’t there more 24/7 barbecue joints in Texas?

January 3, 2026 No Comments

By many measures, barbecue joints should be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. After all, most joints have staff on site all day, either cooking, prepping or serving. Why not just keep the doors open continuously and if someone wanders in in the middle of the night, have the pit team do double duty and serve them a basic menu of chopped beef sandwiches or a rib or sausage plate. Genius business idea, right? Surprisingly, though, there are very few barbecue operations serving smoked meats around the clock.

You might include Buc-ee’s in the list, as there are some locations open 24 hours. But I’ve never been to a Buc-ee’s at 3 a.m. to check if they still have pre-wrapped chopped beef sandwiches in the warming cabinet.

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