In Texas, barbecue is as hotly debated a subject as whether or not bluebonnets will be picked. Now, upstart media outlet Texas Barbecue On-line Journal is bucking towards Texas Month-to-month’s revered 50 Greatest Barbecue Joints checklist by releasing its personal rankings, vaulting three San Antonio-area spots onto the dignity roll.
Seguin’s Burnt Bean Co., named the very best barbecue joint within the state by Texas Month-to-month Barbecue Editor Daniel Vaughn, saved a prime 10 berth with a No. 3 spot. 2M Smokehouse (No. 14) and Double A’s BBQ (No. 27) additionally made the checklist, which appeared to favor small-town Texas custom over the new-generation pitmasters at Lockhart’s Barbs B Q and San Antonio’s personal Reese Bros Barbecue.
Working example was the No. 1 choose, Belton’s Schoepf’s BBQ. In 2025, Texas Month-to-month gave the stalwart an Honorable Point out, praising its “finest brisket ever” in a one-sentence assessment. Texas Barbecue’s write-up was close to rhapsodic, calling it a “soul-stirring expertise.”
What barbecue checklist one chooses to depend on in all probability has a bit to do with one’s tolerance for Texas’ arbiters of style. Vaughn has been producing the Texas Month-to-month checklist since 2013, beforehand making his identify by way of a Twitter account, @BBQSnob.
In distinction, Texas Barbecue has solely been rating spots since 2022, when it produced its inaugural prime 25 checklist. It says its leaderboard was created by 100 volunteer judges, who scored tons of of spots throughout the state. Boldly, it proclaimed its slate as “Texas Barbecue Independence Day.”
“This checklist represents a brand new period in Texas barbecue recognition, constructed on advantage, craftsmanship, consistency, and the standard of the cook dinner,” wrote Texas Barbecue proprietor Derik Strelsky. “No exterior affect. No agendas. Simply hearth, smoke, meat, and the women and men who dedicate their lives to mastering it.”
If barbecue fanatics need to know what to order, Vaughn delivers the products, riffing on particular seasonings, the rendering of fats, and the feel of accompaniments. Strelsky largely writes in generalities, hardly ever mentioning sides and typically not recommending any particular dishes.
Nonetheless, in a state the place barbecue debates burn brighter than Friday evening lights, Texas Barbecue retains the web chatter going — a minimum of till Vaughn publishes his subsequent prime 50 checklist in 2029.
Right here is Texas Barbecue’s prime 10:
No. 10 — Victorian’s Barbecue, MartNo. 9 — InterStellar BBQ, AustinNo. 8 — GW’s BBQ, San JuanNo. 7 — Mum Meals, AustinNo. 6 — Bar-A-BBQ, MontgomeryNo. 5 — Rollin Smoke BBQ, AustinNo. 4 — Panther Metropolis BBQ, Fort WorthNo. 3 — Burnt Bean Co., SeguinNo. 2 — Drew’s BBQ and Eatery, MaypearlNo. 1 — Schoepf’s BBQ, Belton
