A New Surprise No. 1 Shakes Up Texas Monthly’s Top 50 Barbecue Rankings — It’s Goldee’s Time

So a passel of young upstarts in Fort Worth have bumped legendary Snow’s BBQ in Lexington and Franklin Barbecue in Austin from the top positions in Texas Monthly‘s prestigious list of The 50 Best Barbecue Joints in the Lone Star State, rankings those two held in both the 2013 and 2017 survey (it’s an every four year ranking). A quintet of twentysomethings opened Goldee’s Barbecue in Fort Worth in February of 2020 and survived the pandemic to emerge as the new surprise No. 1 in the just-released listings.

You can bet that Goldee’s pitmasters Lane Milne, 27; Jalen Heard, 27; Nupohn Inthanousay, 26; Jonny White, 26; and PJ Inthanousay, 23, are preparing for the crowds that this coveted ranking guarantees.

“So, what shot this modest joint into our top spot? Simply put, food that’s close to perfection,” notes Texas Monthly‘s barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn. “During repeated visits, we searched for weaknesses and inconsistencies, only to find, again and again, the state’s best spareribs and spectacular sausage and brisket.”

Rounding out the Top 10 spots in the sweepstakes of barbecue notoriety are Intersteller in Austin at No. 2; Houston’s Truth BBQ at No. 3; Burnt Bean Co. in Seguin at No. 4; LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue in Austin, at No. 5; Cattleack Barbeque in Dallas at No. 7; Austin’s Franklin Barbecue at No. 7; Evie Mae’s Pit Barbecue in Wolfforth at No. 8; Snow’s Barbecue in Lexington at No. 9; and Panther City BBQ in Fort Worth at No. 10.

Not only did Fort Worth take the No. 1  and the No. 10 top spots in the rankings, the city also boasts multiple  Top 50 mentions in addition with Dayne’s Craft Barbecue and Smoke-A-Holics BBQ.

Including Truth, the Houston area has five spots in the Top 50 — Feges BBQ, Blood Bros. BBQ in Bellaire, Brett’s BBQ Shop in Katy, Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland, Corkscrew Barbecue in Spring, and Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue in Tomball. Austin also earned five places among the 50 best besides LeRoy and Lewis and Franklin’s. Those are Distant Relatives, La Barbecue, Micklethwait’s Craft Meats and Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ.

Dallas joints earning Top 50 status are Smokey Joe’s BBQ and Terry Black’s Barbecue.

The selection process is an arduous one with Vaughn and 35 fellow taste testers zigzagging across the Lone Star’s 268,597 square miles, visiting 411 barbecue joints and revisiting those showing promise. Those with real promise are visited several times with Vaughn and Austin-based food writer Pat Sharpe digging in to select the Top 10.

The full listing of all 50 can be found here.