The Best Barbecue Near Zaranda, by the Record

Four custom-built smokers anchor this sprawling East End barbecue joint, which runs a Tex-Mex menu alongside the classic Texas lineup so you can follow brisket enchiladas with a meat plate and call it research. There's a beer garden and live music too, which means an afternoon here has a way of becoming an evening. The Michelin Guide has it selected, and the Houston Chronicle put it on its top 100 list. Come with a plan, then abandon it at the counter.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
3. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

The tater tot casserole with fried onions has its own reputation at this Houston Heights BBQ shop, which is saying something given the brisket. Pitmaster Leonard Botello IV runs a slick, polished counter operation that somehow still cooks like a roadside shack in the best possible sense. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand. Arrive early; the sausages sell out, and the line is serious before the doors even open.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Texas Monthly #9 · The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
3. Houston Chronicle #10 · Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

The deer heads on the walls outnumber the menu items, which is saying something at this Houston BBQ shop where the beef rib routinely sells out before noon. Pitmaster Grant Pinkerton earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a spot on Texas Monthly's 50 Best list, and Bill Gates has reportedly made the pilgrimage. You queue past the slicing station, grab a tray, and try not to overthink it. The smoked bread pudding is not a joke.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
3. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

The flour tortillas at this Montrose smokehouse are made with smoked brisket fat, which tells you what kind of place The Pit Room is. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and earns it on the basics: prime brisket, beef ribs, and sides that actually have opinions, like charred beans with real heat. Breakfast tacos run until mid-morning. In a city where great barbecue often requires a calendar, the fact that the line moves and seating exists feels almost radical.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

The general store shelves stocked with local goods are the first thing you notice, and then the smell hits you. Henderson & Kane is a barbecue joint embedded inside a working grocery, slinging peppery brisket, smoked boudin, pulled pork, and ribs alongside Frito pie and loaded potatoes. The Pitmaster Plate exists for the indecisive, which in a lineup this long describes most people. Cash-and-tray Texas barbecue, done in a room full of surprises.

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

The banana pudding has its own billing, which tells you something about the confidence level at this old-school Houston barbecue joint. Brisket shows up in everything from enchiladas to queso to mac and cheese, which is either inspired or a hint that someone really, really loves brisket. The room has been around forever, passed through several hands, and still draws the kind of crowd that doesn't need to see a menu.

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

East Texas-style barbecue joint that also does breakfast, which tells you something about how seriously Houston takes its mornings. The smoker runs through brisket, ribs, sausage, turkey, and chicken, and the sides, dirty rice and baked beans among them, hold their own. The chef was a James Beard semifinalist in 2023. Been a neighborhood staple long enough that ordering without looking at the menu is a point of local pride.

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Greg Gatlin

Gochujang-glazed ribs sit a few trays down from the brisket at this Bellaire BBQ shop, which is pretty much the thesis statement. The three childhood friends behind Blood Bros. grew up in Alief absorbing Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and Mexican flavors alongside Texas smoke, and the menu shows it. The daily specials change constantly, so the table next to yours will almost always have something you didn't order. A Michelin Bib Gourmand and a James Beard nominee.

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Quy Hoang
2. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
3. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants

1. Texas Monthly Dishes We Wanted Seconds Of: Churro French Toast Brisket Sandwich · The Best Things in Texas
2. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

The hogfat cornbread alone tells you something about how seriously this Spring Branch barbecue spot takes its sides. Smoked meats are the main event, but the menu stretches into smoked wings, a cheeseburger that gets its own devoted following, and unconventional sides like sweet-and-spicy Brussels sprouts and pimento mac and cheese. There's a full bar and a small outdoor play area, which makes Wednesday's kids-eat-free, half-off-wine deal feel almost too well-considered.

1. Eater The 38 Essential Houston Restaurants
2. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
3. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

The line forms before the doors open at eleven, and the crowd moves fast through what was once Pearland's first school cafeteria. This is a serious Texas barbecue joint with a Michelin Bib Gourmand, where the beef rib comes off the smoker out back with a crust of salt and pepper and a give that a spoon could handle. The pork belly burnt ends in pepper jelly sauce are the kind of thing your cardiologist would prefer you not know about.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

Red oak smoke colors the brisket a distinct hue that regulars clock before they even pick up a tray. This Michelin-starred barbecue spot in Spring runs Tuesday through Saturday until sellout, so the line forms before the doors open at eleven, and regulars order ahead. Creekstone Farms prime cuts and beef ribs that somehow justify a forty-minute drive from Houston are why Texas Monthly put it on their list of the state's fifty best BBQ joints.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
3. Houstonia Houston’s Best Restaurants

The sauce arrives on the side at this Houston barbecue joint, which tells you something about the confidence in the pit. Brisket, jalapeño cheddar sausage, and smoked turkey anchor the menu, but a "Something Different" section runs brisket mac and cheese and loaded fries that could pass for a full meal. The rotating sandwich specials are worth checking before you order anything else, especially the pastrami Reuben.

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

Anthony Bourdain ate here, which tells you more than a star ever could. Burns Original BBQ is an old-school Houston institution serving smoked ribs, links, chicken, and sides in portions sized for people who skipped lunch and possibly breakfast. The 10-pound baked potato feeds 15, which is either absurd or inspired depending on your group. Multiple locations around the city, and somehow you can also grab it at Kroger.

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

Jasmine fried rice loaded with fried egg and Chinese sausage arrives under two thick slabs of smoked brisket, which is the entire thesis of this family-run barbecue spot on Highway 6. The chef turned a backyard hobby into a line that wraps around the parking lot, and the crowd moves through faster than you'd expect. Pork ribs get the same patient smoke treatment. This is the kind of place where ordering anything else feels like a distraction.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A trailer parked beside a gas station on the highway, picnic tables only, no dining room in sight. That's the full setup at this BBQ shop in Spring, and Texas Monthly put it on their list of the state's 50 best joints anyway. The Michelin Guide added a Bib Gourmand, which is the kind of thing that happens when the brisket is smoked right. Check their social before you go; the daily specials move fast.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
3. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants

1. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

1. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston

The pitmaster here started as a chocolatier, which is either the strangest origin story in Texas barbecue or proof that obsessive patience translates across crafts. This Tomball smokehouse draws lines out the door before it opens, with prime brisket and chile relleno sausage coming off pits stacked beside a cord of wood. The carrot soufflé, improbably, holds its own alongside everything else. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and pre-orders are available if you'd rather not wait on the porch.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Houston Chronicle Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants
3. Houstonia The Best Barbecue Restaurants in Houston