Hungry For Great BBQ? Just Hit The Nearest Gas Station! Well, in Houston Maybe.

[Panhead John]

I don’t know about y’all but when I’m in the mood for great BBQ, I always try the local gas station first… Here’s the deal, back in 2022, brothers Hong and Phong Tran, along with Hong’s wife Michelle, opened up Brisket and Rice BBQ inside a Philips 66 gas station. The space had previously been a Church’s Chicken and a Chinese restaurant before that. Their BBQ has been going gang busters ever since. In homage to their Vietnamese roots, one of their more popular dishes is a BBQ fried rice…😳 Trust me, it works my friends!

58limited met me there this morning, we both really wanted to try this place out! It’s been getting great reviews from Texas Monthly and all over the Internet. We arrived about 10:30, ahead of their 11:00 opening time. After checking out their pits in the back, David and I chatted with some other folks in line, one group of guys was all the way from California. How was the food? Well, let’s just say we weren’t disappointed.

Fill up your tummy and your tank!….[how stupid was that?! 🙄😂]





2 of their smokers, 1,000 gallon pits from Primitive Pits




It’s a pretty cozy place…


The menu…


I ordered brisket, pork ribs and 2 types of their house-made sausage. Sides were Mac n cheese and the street corn.


My sausage was their jalapeno sausage and their “house” sausage…




Pork ribs…





We were surprised at how tough the brisket was…


I gotta say, the food was very good to excellent. Their sausage was absolutely some of the best I’ve ever had, probably in my top 2 or 3 ever! The pork and beef jalapeño sausage had just the right spiciness, and the texture and juiciness was top notch. The house sausage was almost every bit as good…and that’s a compliment! Their home made pickles and onions were a perfect accompaniment to the meats, as well as their own “very good” BBQ sauce, which I used sparingly because the meat certainly didn’t need any. Their brisket was very good, on par with the best BBQ joints. I had 3 little burnt ends on my plate, gone in about 30 seconds. The pork ribs were “pretty good” also…a little too tender for me, but still passable in any respectable joint. They had a nice bark, but could have benefited from a little more seasoning IMO.

The sides were very respectable. The Mac n cheese wasn’t anything fancy, but was still pretty good! The street corn I had was good as well, but tasted kind of under seasoned and needing, I don’t know, something else added to it. 🤷♂️ With the right spices added, it could have been very good! All in all, David and I were pretty impressed with the place. He ordered entirely different items than me, so he’ll be along soon to fill you in on the rest…
My Grades were:

Brisket: A
Pork Ribs: A-
Sausage: A++
Mac n Cheese: B+
Street corn: C+

[JCBBQ]

Damn it!! I’m so jealous.

[58limited]

If you thought Panhead John was joking about going to a gas station for BBQ, you are wrong! There are quite a few gas stations in Texas that sell good BBQ but today we went to one of the best!

PJ shared his brisket and sausage. I agree with his scores; the brisket was excellent and the sausage is some of the best I've had anywhere: perfect seasoning and very moist.

I ordered the chicken leg quarter and the BBQ Fried Rice. For sides I got the street corn, BBQ beans, and a bowl of chili (mostly out of curiosity). Total cost: $46.01 plus tip. I knew I wasn't going to eat all of this so I ordered it to go.



The BBQ beans were rather plain, needed seasoning including salt and pepper. Not anything like what I call BBQ beans, just regular pinto beans. If the menu would have said 'Pinto Beans' I wouldn't have been as disappointed in them. The street corn was good but not a show stopper. The chili, no beans, was also good but I would prefer more chili powder to really give it that Texas Red flavor.

The chicken was perfectly cooked and tender. It was truly finger lickin' good because the sauce was so sticky that you have to work at licking it off your fingers. The sauce also absorbed a lot of smoke flavor. It might not be the best BBQ chicken I've had but it makes my top 5 list, maybe top 3.

The BBQ Fried Rice. Basically it tastes like fried rice but since I really like fried rice I really enjoyed it. There was brisket and Asian style sausage in it. This style of sausage is dried/firm, a little sweet, and seasoned with five spice. This is a good take on fried rice and I can see why it is popular. I tried it with and without their BBQ sauce, I personally like it without mainly because adding BBQ sauce to fried rice seems a little weird to me. Adding some extra soy sauce on the other hand would be nice but it really doesn't need it.

My grades:

BBQ Fried Rice A
BBQ Chicken A+
Street Corn B-
Beans C
Chili B

I agree with PJ:

Brisket A
Sausage A++

I wasn't thinking when I ordered, I should have tried their banana pudding too.

[58limited]

Panhead John Across the street from Brisket and Rice I saw a place called JBL Eatery. I looked it up and it is a burger and sandwich place with homemade buns and bread. They have several locations, you might see if there is one near you.

[Panhead John]

l’ll check em out, thanks.

[Donw]

Not surprised at all that you discovered great food at the gas station. Kathy and I were traveling in NC when we stopped in this mountain town. Asked the front desk clerk where to eat and she said at the gas station. I remember we both laughed on our way to the gas station. Ended up enjoying a memorable first class meal there. Apparently the chef had lost his restaurant during Katrina and decided to permanently move to higher ground in the NC mountains. Great food can be found in the most unlikely places. Also glad you two had some good BBQ.

[Panhead John]

Sometimes the out of the way, hole in the wall places are the best.

[Michael_in_TX]

I remember this place being mentioned in the Michelin thing we had awhile back. What is cool is if you do the Google street view and "walk around" the building, it will change from the old Chinese restaurant to the BBQ place and back.

[btuckertx]

If you thought Panhead John was joking about going to a gas station for BBQ, you are wrong! There are quite a few gas stations in Texas that sell good BBQ but today we went to one of the best!

PJ shared his brisket and sausage. I agree with his scores; the brisket was excellent and the sausage is some of the best I've had anywhere: perfect seasoning and very moist.

I ordered the chicken leg quarter and the BBQ Fried Rice. For sides I got the street corn, BBQ beans, and a bowl of chili (mostly out of curiosity). Total cost: $46.01 plus tip. I knew I wasn't going to eat all of this so I ordered it to go.



The BBQ beans were rather plain, needed seasoning including salt and pepper. Not anything like what I call BBQ beans, just regular pinto beans. If the menu would have said 'Pinto Beans' I wouldn't have been as disappointed in them. The street corn was good but not a show stopper. The chili, no beans, was also good but I would prefer more chili powder to really give it that Texas Red flavor.

The chicken was perfectly cooked and tender. It was truly finger lickin' good because the sauce was so sticky that you have to work at licking it off your fingers. The sauce also absorbed a lot of smoke flavor. It might not be the best BBQ chicken I've had but it makes my top 5 list, maybe top 3.

The BBQ Fried Rice. Basically it tastes like fried rice but since I really like fried rice I really enjoyed it. There was brisket and Asian style sausage in it. This style of sausage is dried/firm, a little sweet, and seasoned with five spice. This is a good take on fried rice and I can see why it is popular. I tried it with and without their BBQ sauce, I personally like it without mainly because adding BBQ sauce to fried rice seems a little weird to me. Adding some extra soy sauce on the other hand would be nice but it really doesn't need it.

My grades:

BBQ Fried Rice A
BBQ Chicken A+
Street Corn B-
Beans C
Chili B

I agree with PJ:

Brisket A
Sausage A++

I wasn't thinking when I ordered, I should have tried their banana pudding too.

Always make room for the banana pudding... lol

[acorgihouse]

Reminds me of a place an old workplace frequented. Here, gas station food, and gas station food trucks, are common. Honduran to Asian to Carribbean. The work fav for lunch was a place everyone called "the BP", and has the best Cubanos. Was an Amoco when I first learned about it, now is an Exxon, but still known as 'the BP', and still great Cubanos.

[Mosca]

Reminds me of a place an old workplace frequented. Here, gas station food, and gas station food trucks, are common. Honduran to Asian to Carribbean. The work fav for lunch was a place everyone called "the BP", and has the best Cubanos. Was an Amoco when I first learned about it, now is an Exxon, but still known as 'the BP', and still great Cubanos.

This is NOT common around here!

About 15-20 years ago I was a member of the Roadfood forum, which had a vibe much like we have here. It was dedicated to finding alternatives to corporate and franchise restaurants. You might have heard of the series of guides by Jane and Michael Stern? Idk. Jane wrote a really good book, Ambulance Girl, which was made into a movie starring Kathy Bates. The Roadfood website got sold, Michael cashed out. There is still a Facebook group, though, with a lot of the old members.


But I digress; back to the point. Anyhow, it came up that someone found, completely randomly and by accident, a Nepalese restaurant in a gas station in Tannersville PA, along I-80 near the New Jersey border! They’d stopped for gas and went in for snacks, and there it was, like cafeteria style. Well, Tannersville is about an hour or so away from me, so I did what anyone would do; I got in the car and drove to Tannersville, for one of the most interesting and wonderful lunches I can remember! The family owned the gas station, some cousins or such emigrated and opened the restaurant there.

The next time I went back, it was gone. Probably something about health codes; the food wasn’t cooked on premises, it was in steam tables and served like a buffet. But I won’t forget. Yeah, gas station food.

Edit: It’s this place. They have a small Burger King in there now.

[CaptainMike]

And here I thought the only food worth eating at a gas station was the sushi.

This is a great writeup, thanks for sharing your experiences! I too have experimented with different ingredients for fried rice. It's a great foundation to build from and gives us a lot of directions to go.

[Purc]

yes, sushi and an energy drink.

[Panhead John]

Ain’t nuttin’ better than some good ol’ sushi from the Texaco!

[btuckertx]

There's a little convenience store in Snyder, OK, not far from us. I like to get the fried catfish and/or pizza - just the idea of buying gas station fried fish makes my wife gag... lol

[TripleB]

Very cool. It would be great to fill up the car and grab some BBQ to take home. That would be great in LA, but alas, you will never, ever see it

[Steve R.]

I'll be in Spring again this summer, and we always end up going to Katy at some point. Might have to make a slight detour on that trip. It's going to be a tough sell though, because my wife has this irrational dislike of restaurants that are in or connected to gas stations. 🤣

[Panhead John]

Good deal Steve! Also, depending on where you are in Katy, this place is only, maybe, 15-20 minutes away?….🤓 Oh, and the wait in line should be MUCH shorter.

[btuckertx]

So, it's the 9th of March and I see I have a notification. My heart jumps a little, and I start thinking I really need a new gasser, wonder if that notification is telling me I won the 1st prize in the Giveaway....?!

Nah, it's just Panhead John and Steve R. talking about gas station BBQ [sigh]. Not only did I not win a prize, but I absolutely need to take a road trip to Houston to sample some BBQ. Win some, and you win some... lol

[Panhead John]

Come to the Houston MeatUp in April btuckertx 👍