No region of Texas has seen a larger increase in both the quality and quantity of good barbecue options the last few years than the Fort Worth area. While other cities have gotten plenty of rightful acclaim for their roster of BBQ spots, not as much focus has been placed on what has developed in North Texas. We were fortunate to be able to get together with some of the finest cooks and business owners in the region to help shine more light on this burgeoning scene. Note: there is some colorful l...
Aug 23, 2021•48 min•Season 2Ep. 161
Aaron and Christina Rejino grew up in West Texas enjoying family barbecues, but it was their first encounter with craft barbecue on a trip to Houston that started them along a path that would lead them to leave their day jobs to open a barbecue trailer in Olton, Texas. It took some time to start building their audience, but accolades would come their way in the form of positive reviews and a spot on the Texas Monthly Best New 25 BBQ Places list in 2019 helped give them the jolt they needed. Serv...
Aug 09, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 160
Dayne Weaver started his BBQ journey selling food from his front yard and in a few short years has built his business into one of the most exciting places for craft barbecue in all of Texas. After meeting and striking up a friendship with Thomas Loven, the leadership core of Dayne’s Craft Barbecue began to take shape. Every Friday through Sunday Dayne, his wife Ashley, and Thomas serve up delicious meats, sides and desserts at Lola’s Trailer Park bar in Fort Worth where the guests can have some ...
Jul 26, 2021•58 min•Season 2Ep. 159
Isaac Arellano never dreamed he’d one day turn his family’s full service gas station into a BBQ spot, but life has a funny way of working out. After delving into the competition cooking world a bit, Isaac got bit by the barbecue bug and quickly started down the path that has lead so many to retail BBQ in recent years. Along with his wife Ashley, Isaac began to explore the idea of selling the barbecue he was working so hard to produce in his backyard. This along with encouraging words from his da...
Jul 12, 2021•58 min•Season 2Ep. 158
To those that have followed the cooking careers of the Goldee’s BBQ crew it comes as no surprise that this Fort Worth joint has quickly ascended to “must visit” status on the Texas barbecue bucket list. After learning from some of the best in the business, this group of childhood friends built out their own restaurant and opened in early 2020 firing on all cylinders. Goldee’s persevered through a tumultuous 2020 and came out stronger. With a menu of Central Texas classic meats, sides and dessert...
Jun 28, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 157
Evie Mae’s Barbeque grew from humble beginnings in Arizona to a trailer outside of Lubbock, Texas and just recently celebrated five years in their brick and mortar location. Along the way came many accolades along with plenty of hurdles but Arnis, Mallory, and their dedicated team have kept working and continue to put out some of the best barbecue in the state. An opportunity arose in 2020 for Evie Mae’s to expand their business and they are about to open a second location inside of a United Sup...
Jun 14, 2021•55 min•Ep. 156
We’ve been hitting the BBQ trail hard in 2021, but no road trip was bigger than the one we had planned for May. With proper planning and a little help from friends we were able to cram in 20 BBQ meals over the course of five days. Traveling from Houston to Austin to Lubbock to Marfa to Fort Worth to Waco and back home, we were able to try some of the absolute best barbecue in Texas at the following places: Valentina’s BBQ, La Barbecue, Franklin Barbecue, LeRoy and Lewis BBQ, Interstellar BBQ, Ev...
May 28, 2021•48 min•Season 2Ep. 155
Ernest Servantes had made a name for himself in the competition barbecue circuit and on food television for years, earning the reputation of a smart, talented chef. Ernest and David Kirkland met and became fast friends during their competition days, and as both were ready to move away from the wild world of “one bite BBQ,” they turned their attention to retail barbecue. Ernest and David started doing pop ups in small town Seguin, Texas and quickly built a following. They began the process of bui...
May 17, 2021•51 min•Season 2Ep. 154
How many factors, and how important are those factors when comparing BBQ joints? Andrew and Bryan discuss sides, full menu strength, desserts, and the many elements that go into an experience factor. Is house made sausage a must, and does a strong protein menu with average sides outrank a joint with a larger selection of quality items? Years ago commercial pickles and generic sides were standard fare but the evolution of barbecue now includes everything from sides to desserts to pickles and even...
May 03, 2021•40 min•Season 2Ep. 153
Two years and a pandemic after our first interview we revisit Jacqueline Herrera and Brett Jackson at Brett's Barbecue Shop, one of the nation's smallest barbecue joints. We discuss introducing new meats to their customer base, managing a successful social media presence, future plans, and much more.
Apr 19, 2021•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 152
We recently were able to sit down with Joe and CJ from Zavala’s Barbecue and the Brisket and Main podcast for a fun and candid sit down about restaurant life and how they’ve navigated through the obstacles they face in the restaurant business. The most recent hurdle Zavala’s faced was extensive damage to their restaurant following the ice storm that hit Texas in February. Zavala’s is slated to reopen this coming weekend and will be back to slinging some of the best barbecue in Texas....
Apr 05, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 151
Andrew Castelan got bit by the BBQ bug while going to college, which started him down a path that is all too familiar to us fellow barbecue hounds. His interest in live fire cooking eventually lead to him building his own pit as well as purchasing a Mill Scale pit. But Andrew knew that if he was going to truly chase his dream, he would have to leave his desk job behind and try his hand at cooking large scale retail barbecue. With the tremendous support of his wife, Andrew began to chase his drea...
Mar 22, 2021•47 min•Season 2Ep. 150
We recently asked on Instagram which barbecue spot would you say is the best in Texas. It’s the age old debate amongst our fellow BBQ nerds and often spurs spirited back and forth. It’s the question Texas Monthly tries to answer every four years and with their new Texas Monthly list coming later in 2021, we felt it would be a good time to start the discussion as well. The submissions we received were varied and spanned much of the state. We decided to make it fun with the two of us flipping a co...
Mar 08, 2021•39 min•Season 2Ep. 149
The restaurant industry is never a smooth ride, and no one knows that better than Jim Buchanan. Jim’s tireless determination and no quit attitude has helped sustained him through a number of trials and tribulations in the hospitality industry. After Jim’s brick and mortar location in Galveston didn’t work out as he’d hoped, he received a call from the owners of Dozier’s BBQ, a 64 year old establishment in the growing city of Fulshear, Texas. Jim was given the opportunity to join Dozier’s and mod...
Feb 23, 2021•51 min•Season 2Ep. 148
Blue Broussard, a lifelong native of Southeast Texas, left the security of the family business to chase a dream and open up his own BBQ joint in Beaumont. This historic East Texas city has long been known for its distinct style of barbecue that varies greatly from the Central Texas flavor profiles that is prevalent throughout much of Texas these days. Taking a risk, Blue decided it was time to introduce Central Texas barbecue to Beaumont. Though the 1701 Barbecue menu has some nods to Beaumont’s...
Feb 08, 2021•48 min•Season 2Ep. 147
When we first visited Smokin’ Z’s BBQ, Zaid and Mallory Al-Jazrawi were serving up quality barbecue in the Galveston area in 2018-2019 when they were faced with a problem many growing barbecue businesses face: the need for pit expansion to keep up with demand. Unfortunately, following the arrival of their new 1,000 gallon pit, health department permitting issues threw a wrench into the plans for Smokin’ Z’s BBQ. While they were going through the back and forth to navigate the always muddy waters...
Jan 25, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 146
Cade Mercer grew up in the Seguin and New Braunfels area with cooking always as a major part of his life. After working in restaurants during high school, Cade started his cooking career at Rudy’s BBQ shortly after trying college. To grow his skills, Cade went to culinary school and then entered the fine dining world. Follow brief stints at restaurants near his hometown, a fateful call from Reid Guess, then head chef of Lambert’s, resulted in a job that would begin his path into modern barbecue....
Jan 10, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 145
This year has seen more than its share of challenges for everyone, the barbecue world included. In this episode we discuss some of the good things that have happened around barbecue this year that we’re thankful for. Tune in to hear about some of the new happenings in BBQ, some menu items and restaurants that continue to wow us, and more.
Nov 25, 2020•34 min•Season 2Ep. 144
After releasing an episode nearly every week for almost three years, we were ready for a bit of a break. But what 2020 had in store was not something we could have ever planned for or wanted. After a long period of staying mostly close to home, we're starting to venture out safely for one of our favorite activities, barbecue road trips. As it's been such a delay, we thought we might as well act like a podcast and call this the start of a new season! So, welcome to season two of Tales From The Pi...
Nov 17, 2020•30 min•Season 2Ep. 143
Having just completed our first BBQ road trip since the quarantine began, we discuss our experience going to four places, safety and social distancing measures we personally implemented as well as those we’ve seen at the places we’ve been to during the pandemic. One positive to come from the coronavirus situation from a customer standpoint is it has provided opportunities to get food from places that previously had been more difficult to dine at. There are number of ways to support your favorite...
Jun 08, 2020•46 min•Ep. 142
When we started this podcast three years ago we had no idea what the show would become or the places it would take us. We are incredibly grateful to all of the amazing people in the BBQ industry that have given us the gift of their time and their story. From our first episode breaking down the 2017 Texas Monthly top ten list to interviews with some of the top BBQ cooks and pit fabricators and everything in between, we’ve had the time of our lives helping to provide a platform for these talented ...
May 26, 2020•39 min•Ep. 141
The world, and more recently the United States, has begun to deal with the effects of novel coronavirus (COVID-19). As large events cancel, corporations and school districts suspend operations, and people begin to stay home in large numbers, the inevitable decline in sales that small businesses will experience is frightening for many Americans. Barbecue restaurants operate on tight budgets and slim profit margins and have begun to prepare for a slow down in business as best they can. In addition...
Mar 14, 2020•39 min•Ep. 140
In August of 2015 Leonard Botello and family opened up a tiny BBQ joint just outside of Brenham, Texas. There was no big grand opening, there was no meeting of the #BBQFam or podcasts, and no social media campaign. That is precisely how Leonard wanted to launch. Bryan noticed the name change from "J's BBQ" (not to be confused with LJ's which was to open later) to "Truth Barbeque" as he drove back and forth from Austin to Houston. Gone were the old school rectangular pits and in their place was a...
Mar 09, 2020•49 min•Ep. 139
On our way back from a recent road trip we came up with five of our favorite things happening in BBQ right now. We discussed the following topics: What's old is new again Breaking away from the brisket bubble Accessibility of great BBQ Expansion of quality BBQ joints The full meal experience Take a listen and if you like our show please make sure to tell others, and if you visit a BBQ joint or buy a pit from someone you found out about on the show, please let them know!...
Feb 24, 2020•40 min•Ep. 138
The DFW barbecue scene is blowing up, and popups, food trailers, and brick and mortars are opening around town. Brandon Hurtado has progressed through popups and food trailer into a retail store front, bringing his spin on Hispanic influenced Texas Barbecue to the game. The brick and mortar retail establishment is having the grand opening Sat Feb 22, 2020 at 205 East Front Street, Arlington, TX - go check it out! In our episode we talk about his background, what Tex Mex influence means to him, a...
Feb 17, 2020•35 min•Ep. 137
Texas BBQ has seen massive growth in the last 10 years and many of us have been lucky to witness it firsthand. The epicenter has shifted and morphed from Central Texas; top tier BBQ is available in every major city and most towns. With the popularity, the supply and demand economics of the growing world of BBQ have altered the price of a BBQ meal from a modest blue collar staple to a luxury - but is this a bad thing? BBQ has also embraced more cultural influences of Texas, growing beyond the ori...
Feb 10, 2020•44 min•Ep. 136
When Justin Earley and Steven Bailey began fine tuning their barbecue skills they did what many in the current generation of pitmasters did, they turned to books and videos. While knowledge requires both learning and practice, the wealth of information available today provides a great starting point. Their chimichurri, made by Justin's mother, helped them land a spot in Texas Monthly's Best Texas BBQ Bites of 2019 and Daniel Vaughn wrote a positive review of their menu in January of 2020. Their ...
Jan 20, 2020•39 min•Ep. 135
We answer listener submitted questions to kick off 2020 Our prediction of BBQ trends for the year Tips on cooking pork steaks BBQ Pit recommendations And more! Mentioned in this episode: Butcher saw - Weston 47-1601 Butcher and Bone Saw with 16 Inch Stainless Steel Blade (47-1601), 16 Inch, Stainless Steel https://www.amazon.com/Weston-Butcher-Stainless-Steel-47-1601/dp/B001BQAQ88 Cut Resistant Gloves - Premium Cut Resistant Gloves - Food Grade - Level 5 Protection, High Performance Kitchen Work...
Jan 13, 2020•38 min•Ep. 134
2019 was another whirlwind adventure for your hosts and we had an amazing time interviewing, eating, and cooking BBQ. In this episode we recap our year including some of our favorite bites and even our worst ones too. We hope 2020 will be as fun, rewarding, and challenging as 2019 was. Some of the events we had the pleasure to attend: Charleston Wine+Food Sausage Wars Red Dirt BBQ and Music Festival Windy City Smokeout Smoked Dallas The Butcher's Ball Houston Vs Austin HOU BBQ Throwdown We descr...
Dec 30, 2019•48 min•Ep. 133
Ben Lambert started cooking meat over fire at an early age, hunting and cooking animals with his dad. After a varied career that included everything from working as a tattoo artist to a slaughterhouse job to being a meat cutter at an old school joint, Ben eventually made his way to Austin where he’d meet his wife Sarah. It was in Austin that his professional cooking career began to take shape. Ben worked at a well regarded place for its time, Blue Ox BBQ, and when a job opened up at Franklin Bar...
Dec 16, 2019•29 min•Ep. 132
