Hurtado Barbecue in Arlington goes north for new second location in Denton County
Hurtado Barbecue, one of the first North Texas restaurants to gain statewide renown for craft barbecue, will open a second location next spring off Lewisville Lake in Denton County, owner Brandon Hurtado said Tuesday.
The newest Hurtado Barbecue will replace a Japanese steakhouse at 100 Hardwicke Lane, Suite 100, in the lakeside suburb of Little Elm.
“This opens up Hurtado to people who can’t drive to Arlington for lunch,” Hurtado said. “People in Frisco, McKinney, even coming over from Argyle,” where he lives.
The new location is 42 miles north of the current Hurtado, 205 E. Front St. in Arlington.
It will open three years after Hurtado, a marketing professional, first started selling barbecue regularly from a food truck open weekends in the Urban Union development. In February 2020, Hurtado moved into a century-old structure that had been a rock-music bar.
By then, Hurtado was known across Texas as a must-stop on any barbecue tour along with Pecan Lodge in Dallas.
Hurtado’s “Mexi-cue” features traditional Texas prime brisket and ribs, but also house-made sausage and specialty items with a Tex-Mex touch such as barbacoa tostadas, birria tacos, “street corn” and Hatch chile mac-and-cheese.
When Hurtado’s restaurant opened, Texas Monthly magazine barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn prasied the “spiced-up half-chickens, smoked quail, and ridiculously juicy turkey breast .... alongside thick slices of decadent brisket and sweet-glazed spareribs. ... The smoked barbacoa tostada was an adventure in flavor combinations and texture variation. “
The new location will seat about 130 people with a bar, compared to the Arlington location’s seating for 30, he said.
The current location has customers waiting outside at the 11 a.m. opening time almost every day, Wednesdays through Sundays.
“I don’t want to see people waiting in line, even when it’s 100 degrees outside, but in barbecue, that’s the name of the game,” he said.
The new location will have a full bar and more room to sit while waiting, he said.
Hurtado praised Little Elm’s public beach, water park, boat slips and attractions. “There’s a lot more to Little Elm than people know,” he said.
The Arlington restaurant is open from lunch until it’s all gone Wednesday through Sunday; 682=323-5141, hurtadobbq.com.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
