Boom of 2020: One of the busiest times ever in Houston barbecue – Houston Chronicle

Say what you will about 2020, but one things for sure: There has been no shortage of barbecue to consume, both as actual smoked meat and as entertainment.

To be sure, the restaurant industry is in dire straits because of the social and economic impact of the pandemic. Barbecue joints are not immune. Though Id say most in Houston are doing sales numbers similar to pre-pandemic levels, some are struggling.

Still, as someone whose job it is to keep up with the comings-and-goings in the barbecue business, I can say with confidence that 2020 has been one of the busiest times ever in Houston barbecue. Just in the past year, at least eight brick-and-mortar barbecue joints have opened: 3rd Coast BBQ, Bexar Barbecue, Big Bertha Barbeque, Fainmous BBQ (new location), Lonestar Sausage & BBQ, OMG Famous Barbque, Texas 202 Barbeque and Woodshed Smokehouse.

Barbecue trailers and pop-ups have been busy, too. Chef Sloan Rinaldi recently announced her partnership with Houston restaurateur Ken Bridges to open the Texas Q barbecue truck in Kingwood. And one of the highest-profile openings of 2020 is the Houston Sauce Pit barbecue trailer, which features, of all things, vegan barbecue.

On the pop-up side, longtime weekend warriors Eddie Os BBQ, JQs Tex Mex BBQ and Khoi Barbecue are still going strong. New additions to the pop-up scene include AM BBQ, MoCo Barbeque and Heights BBQ.

Two additional venues where Houston barbecue fanatics can get their fix are grocery stores and farmers markets. Both Burns Original BBQ and Tejas Chocolate & BBQ have partnered with Kroger to open weekly pop-ups at supermarket locations throughout the area.

Grocery stores and barbecue are a natural pairing. H-E-B continues to open its True Texas BBQ locations in many of its supermarkets, and the Tejas and Burns pop-ups at Kroger have been wildly successful. Check their corresponding Facebook pages for dates and times of future pop-ups.

Barbecue fans will also see smoked-meat offerings at local farmers markets. Feges BBQ has been a cautionary tale in the age of pandemic its brick-and-mortar location in a mostly deserted office-complex food hall has complicated the business model. But Erin and Patrick Feges have responded by upping their takeout service, as well as offering weekend pop-ups of their own.

Recently, theyve had a booth at the Urban Harvest Farmers Market and going forward will be selling their wares at the Heights Mercantile Farmers Market every second and fourth Sunday of the month.

And if eating barbecue isnt enough, there are other ways to consume smoked meats. The acclaimed Chefs Table series on Netflix recently featured Snows BBQ in Lexington, telling the foundational story of pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz and owner Kerry Bexley.

The current issue of Food & Wine magazine is cover-to-cover barbecue, with a solid list of the best barbecue in every state, among other diverse barbecue stories.

And coming in early October is a revised and expanded edition of the canonical history book Barbecue: The History of an American Institution by smoked-meat scholar Robert Moss.

One area of barbecue thats taken it on the-chin in the pandemic era is events and festivals. The Houston Rodeo Worlds Championship Bar-B-Que Contest was probably the last big event to take place in 2020. Other high-profile competitions such as Jack Daniels, Memphis in May and the American Royal all canceled or postponed.

Festivals including Windy City Smokeout, Red Dirt BBQ Festival and the Houston Barbecue Festival (which I co-founded) were all forced to cancel, though the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival is going virtual this year, selling an at-home BBQ Box to go with an online event hosted by barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn on Nov. 1.

It is certainly the best of times and the worst of times in the barbecue world. We take comfort where we can, and barbecue fits that bill nicely.

jcreid@jcreidtx.com

twitter.com/jcreidtx

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Boom of 2020: One of the busiest times ever in Houston barbecue - Houston Chronicle