Fort Worth-area barbecue restaurant named No. 1 on Texas Monthly ’50 Best’ list
A barbecue restaurant on a winding south Tarrant County back road is ranked No. 1 in the state in the new Texas Monthly magazine, making Fort Worth and Arlington the new capitals of Texas brisket.
Goldee’s BBQ, which opened three weeks before the 2020 pandemic in a half-century-old rural location that had been dark for five years, now serves the state’s best pork ribs, spectacular brisket and “food that’s close to perfection,” the magazine reported Monday in listing its “50 Best Barbecue Joints.”
Five other local restaurants made the “50 Best” list, and six more earned honorable mention.
Panther City BBQ, 201 E. Pennsylvania Ave. near downtown Fort Worth, was ranked No. 10, praised for its “brisket elote,” a cup of creamed corn layered with brisket and sauces.
Also listed among the top 50:
▪ Hurtado Barbecue, 205 E. Front St., Arlington;
▪ Dayne’s Craft Barbecue, 2735 W. Fifth St., Fort Worth;
▪ Smoke-A-Holics BBQ, 1417 Evans Ave., Fort Worth;
▪ and Zavala’s Barbecue, 421 W. Main St., Grand Prairie.
The list is “like the Super Bowl of barbecue,” said Hurtado’s founder, Brandon Hurtado.
“To even be mentioned is an honor. The editors eat, sleep and breathe barbecue just like we do, so it means that much more to be mentioned among people who have barbecue in their blood and have been doing this for much longer than we have.”
Goldee’s, open only Fridays through Sundays, was launched when a team of Arlington friends who had worked in Central Texas decided to bring the flavor home.
They scouted Dallas locations but chose the former longtime home of Kenneth’s True Pit Barbecue, on a rural road among junkyards and landfills at 4645 Dick Price Road between Kennedale and Rendon.
The restaurant drew a long opening-day line but was outdrawn by Hurtado, which opened the same weekend in downtown Arlington.
The magazine reported that Goldee’s “barely hung on” through the coronavirus pandemic. For nearly a year, partners Jalen Heard, Nupohn Inthanousay, PJ Inthanousay, Lane Milne and Jonny White sold Austin-style meats for $18 to $24 a pound from behind a makeshift takeout counter in the parking lot.
The way the story goes, the restaurant is named for an old Ford F-250 truck.
In an April interview, White said he grew up eating at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in southwest Arlington. Milne and his family had gone to Kenneth’s, and many of the partners were classmates together at Boles Junior High.
White went to Austin and wound up cooking at Franklin Barbecue.
“I tried some other stuff, and said, ‘Whoa, this is a lot better,’ “ White said.
White compares the silky-smooth brisket to legendary Franklin’s. One of Goldee’s top sellers is a pre-brined, peppered smoked turkey that has its own cult following.
Side dishes include collards and cheese grits along with the standard slaw, beans and potato salad. The bread is house-baked.
In all, 29 new restaurants made the top 50, bumping familiar No. 1 restaurants such as Franklin or Snow’s in Lexington down the top 10 and knocking the Central Texas barbecue mecca of Lockhart completely off the list.
“Even we were shocked by some of the changes we felt compelled to make,” the magazine reported.
Goldee’s opens for lunch only Fridays through Sundays. It’s 3 miles from Loop 820 off Mansfield Highway south of Kennedale; 817-480-4131, goldeesbbq.com.
Panther City BBQ is open for lunch Wednesday through Sundays and breakfast Fridays and Saturdays. The address is also listed the old way as 201 E. Hattie St.; 682-499-5618, panthercitybbq.com.
A “Best of the Rest” honorable mention list included 407BBQ, Argyle; 225° BBQ, Arlington; Bare Barbecue, Cleburne; BBQ on the Brazos, Cresson; Derek Allan’s, Fort Worth; and Heim Barbecue, Fort Worth.
This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 8:19 AM.
