DALLAS — The New York Times is highlighting some of the newest barbecue restaurants to come on the scene in Texas with a list of the "20 best Texas barbecue restaurants for the new generation" -- and three restaurants from the Dallas-Fort Worth area made the list.
All three of the restaurants come from Tarrant County. Dallas-Fort Worth was behind both Houston and Austin in the amount of barbecue spots highlighted, with both cities netting five spots each to DFW's three.
These were the DFW spots highlighted by the Times:
- Goldee's Barbecue in Fort Worth
- Vaqueros Bar-B-Q in Grapevine
- Smoke 'N Ash Barbecue in Arlington
Goldee's was highlighted by WFAA last October, not long after Texas Monthly named it the best barbecue joint in Texas. The restaurant opened in early 2020 just before the pandemic, and was able to stay in business due to a strong amount of curbside orders.
Vaqueros runs stands during FC Dallas games and got notoriety last year for its "monster tacos" -- a 12-inch crispy flour tortilla, filled with shredded barbacoa, shredded cheese, lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream and hot sauce. More notable, however is that fact that it's at the forefront of the North Texas "Mexicue" movement -- a trend WFAA covered in 2021 -- alongside Arlington's Hurtado Barebcue.
Smoke 'N Ash, meanwhile, is a barbecue spot with an Ethiopian twist that was highlighted by WFAA earlier this year in February. The New York Times also previously named Smoke 'N Ash one of the top 50 restaurants in America last year.
This latest listing from the New York Times took over two years of information gathering from the author, the article states. It's coupled with a piece talking about how Texas barbecue is in a new golden age.
"Texas barbecue today is no longer primarily associated with central European immigrants and white male pitmasters," journalist Brett Anderson writes. "It is a malleable cuisine, one that is open to newcomers and includes the traditions, notably Black and Mexican American styles, that have long thrived here."