Daniel Vaughn is the BBQ editor for Texas Monthly and apparently he was smitten with The Burnt Bean since his first visit back in early 2021. Here’s a review he wrote about them in April 2021. It’s a pretty good read and he goes into how the two business partners got started in the BBQ business, eventually opening The Burnt Bean. If you’re wondering how they got that name, it’s in the article as well….
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
From: 1) this list, 2) having eaten some bbq in Texas, and 3) conversations with various pitmasters at the places we’ve eaten,
It’s harder to find bad bbq in Texas than it is to find good bbq.
I mean, look at the numbers alone. They visited 319 restaurants… FIFTY got listed, and FIFTY got honorable mentions. So, ONE THIRD of the places that they visited got mentioned by name!
Now you might ask… “Mosca, this is all well and good, but Texas Monthly’s research is meticulous and thorough, isn’t it? I mean, if a restaurant is listed, it must be good, and if it isn’t listed, then why bother with it?”
I’m glad you asked. How many bbq restaurants do you think there are in Texas? Well, according to Texas Monthly…
1,931. Those are the independents. Not including Dickie’s etc.
So. What that means is that TM visited about 16% of those. Or, 1612 DID NOT get visited. At all.
When I see something like this, I think about it. And, I try to put myself in Daniel Vaughn’s shoes. There’s no way, right? Even with 26 tasters, and 4 years to cover the entire state of Texas. If you start the day after the 2025 list is released, by the time 2029 rolls around there will probably be some places that will have been gone for 3 years by then. There are places you can safely skip because they weren’t good in 2021, or 2017, or 2013. You can keep your ear to the ground; with 26 tasters, and their friends and neighbors, when a place gets a buzz going you can tag it and make time for it. But are you going to miss some places? Yeah, probably.
Consider this, though, too: Sid P and I ate at San Marcos BBQ in 2024, and it was pretty damn good. It’s not on the list. Was it in the 319 places reviewed? Idk. Possibly? Did it measure up to other places we visited? Well it beat the daylights out of Black’s Original San Marcos location, that’s for sure. It absolutely fell short of just about everywhere else on ambiance; I’d call the vibe “grade school cafeteria”. The sides were “eh” in my opinion. But the bbq was really good. It wasn’t distinctive; it was straightforward brisket, sausage, pork, etc. BUT IT WAS REALLY GOOD.
So this brings up other issues. Bbq tourism is a real thing. Lines don’t form outside of the Top 10 places (+ Franklin’s) because of locals. If I’m going to buy a plane ticket from PA, rent a car, and spend 4 nights in a hotel, you better damn well believe I’m going to Burnt Bean before I’m going to San Marcos BBQ. But what if I lived in San Marcos? Or, better yet, what if I lived in Seguin? How often would I stand in line at Burnt Bean? Or would I rather walk right in to Schultze’s Pit Room, or Davila’s, which have both had articles written about them in TM within the last year? I guess it would depend on how hungry I am, or if I’m showing off for out of town guests! We spoke at length with Scott at Tejas C&B about the effect being named to the list in 2024. (They’re now an honorable mention; did they get worse, or did they get passed?) He was fortunate enough to be able to expand very quickly. But Valentina’s, which was top 50 and climbing in 2021 (and according to John at Interstellar was THE place that other pitmasters were really impressed with) folded under the pressure. A group of us went there in ‘24. It was BAD. (I still want my $30 back.)
Which brings me back around. It’s harder to find BAD bbq in Texas than it is to find good bbq. Not that you can’t do it; Sid and I found bad bbq pretty quickly. And a bunch of us found it at Valentina’s, TM list notwithstanding.
The list is a guide. If you’re on a tour, and you’re spending serious vacation money (and for me, that trip is serious vacation money), the list is what you got. And (surprise!) bbq is expensive! Even if you’re local, you might pay attention to that list. But y’know what? We were at Tejas C&BBQ on Friday. We got there early, to avoid a line, and yeah, there was a line. But I was there on Sunday because I forgot to get my souvenir shirt. At 1PM Sunday I walked right in, there were maybe a dozen folks and no line at all. And they weren’t sold out of anything, either. So even if you’re going by the list, because it’s all you got, maybe plan away from the tourism days.
But the list isn’t The Gospel, either. There’s great BBQ off the list; there’s just not a reliable way to find it. But it’s there.
I agree with Mosca. We went as a group to Old 300 BBQ in Blanco for one of the meat ups, it will never make the Top 50 but we all enjoyed it very much. I remember fondly a little place in Temple near where I lived in the early 1990s called Pea Ridge BBQ. Wasn't great but it was a good lunch or dinner when I was too lazy to make something
One positive has come out of the horrible experience at Valentina's. My bride now uses them as a case study in her training of commercial loan representatives at various banks she contracts to. It's a boatload of negatives that have lots of red flags to beware of that apply to many different business formats.
Smokin-It 3D
Weber Kettle with an SNS
Masterbuilt kettle that I call the $30 wonder grill
Bullet by Bull Grills gasser
Anova WiFi sous vide machine
Thermoworks Thermapen and Chef Alarm
When we held the first MeatUp back in May of 2021 in Rockdale, it was with the intention of Snow’s BBQ being the main attraction for us. At the time it was a Friday thru Sunday event…..After getting to Rockdale and finding out about the horrendous lines at Snow’s, beginning at 3-4 in the morning 😳 most of us switched gears to find other spots instead. Several members of the Texas crew relied upon Texas Monthly for guidance, along with talking among ourselves and each other’s past experiences of BBQ spots within driving distance. Before each and every MeatUp since, I know that myself and several of the members from here, have relied upon Texas Monthly’s Top 50 list as a reference for top spots to visit. In addition…..of course we also relied upon word of mouth recommendations between ourselves.
Not trying to sound like a cheerleader for TM and their list, but I will say that they have been extremely accurate in their selections. Most of our Texas attendees at the MeatUps have visited Burnt Bean on 2 or 3 occasions, I’ve eaten there twice. Almost everyone I’ve spoke to that’s been to Burnt Bean, has declared it to be their favorite BBQ spot that we’ve visited. There’s numerous other places on the list in Austin and Houston we’ve visited and almost all have been a pretty big hit with our crowd. We all know by now the lone exception was Valentina’s, but bad business decisions by them were no fault of TM. There’s a place called The Pit Room here in Houston which I’ve visited before, it gets a lot of good buzz online and in the press. While it had pretty good BBQ in my opinion, they didn’t make the Top 50 or Honorable Mention. IMO I think they made the right decision leaving them off, I’ve eaten at many places on the list that were much better. I’ve also eaten at Redbird BBQ in Pt. Neches twice with 58limited and I think they’re very deserving of their #4 ranking. Anyway, I guess my point is that I think TM does a damn good job with their list and is surprisingly accurate for finding great BBQ.
I agree completely. I ain’t spending serious vacation money and throwing a dart! But 1,831 bbq restaurants are successful in the face of the top 100 list. And they survive on a local, loyal customer base. It’s hard to find bad bbq in Texas! A successful restaurant is either thriving on tourism, or on a loyal customer base, or both.
A few days before The Burnt Bean found out they were named the #1 BBQ Joint in Texas, The Texas Country Reporter made a visit to interview the owners, Ernest Servantes and Dave Kirkland. Interesting with great food shots, especially of their Sunday breakfast tacos….😳😋 Some truly mouthwatering food video!
One more thing about the owners at Burnt Bean that I’ll never forget…..they were both so friendly, humble and just downright pleasurable to be around. During our meal there last October, Ernest walked around the place and checked on his customers, asking how their food was and making sure we were satisfied. Several of us went back to the pits after lunch and David, the other owner, spent a good 20 minutes! talking with us, answering our questions and telling us about their cookers and methods of cooking. All this was during their lunch time rush! Great guys!
On our first visit there, in Spring ‘24, Sid P and I were in line, ordering. Completely unprompted, Ernesto looked at us and cut a couple nice hunks of burnt end, and handed one to each us with a smile. I won’t ever forget that.
Wanna go to The Burnt Bean? You might have a little bit of a wait….The List came out last Tuesday morning. 2 days later, this was the line at 1:00 Thursday. 😳 They said it stretched around the block!
As much as I love the Burnt Bean, my next visit will be when they are no longer #1. When Goldee’s became #1 their website recommended getting there at 8:30am in line if you wanted an opportunity to get food. MY son said some friends went the 1st day at 8:45 and they were sold out. They went to #10, Panther City, and had no problem. I remember the line at Snow’s when they were # 1.
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