Eats Beat

Fort Worth barbecue pitmasters make ‘Food & Wine’ list of best new chefs in America

Goldee’s BBQ pitmasters Jonny White, Jalen Heard and Lane Milne have been named to “Food & Wine” magazine’s 36th annual list of the Best New Chefs in America, the latest honor for the top-ranked restaurant on a country road south of Kennedale.

Goldee’s, 4645 Dick Price Road, is a “stellar” barbecue joint that’s worth the wait, the magazine writes in the October issue.

The magazine nails the location — a “ramshackle building ... down a bumpy road from a busy Texas-size landfill” — and praises the “awe-inspiring” masterpieces on the plate.

A customer takes a photo of a large tray of barbecue stacked with Lao sausage, pork ribs, beef ribs and freshly baked sliced bread at Goldee’s BBQ south of Fort Worth on Friday, June 28, 2024.
A customer takes a photo of a large tray of barbecue stacked with Lao sausage, pork ribs, beef ribs and freshly baked sliced bread at Goldee’s BBQ south of Fort Worth on Friday, June 28, 2024. Chris Torres ctorres@star-telegram.com

The article at foodandwine.com also suggests the “perfect order”: ribs, house beef sausage, oak-smoked brisket, house-baked bread, mustardy potato salad and kale slaw.

The magazine also mentions their newer ribs-and-chicken takeout stand, Ribbee’s, 923 E. Seminary Drive.

Food & Wine retells how White, Heard and Milne are old Arlington elementary school friends who learned the craft at Austin landmarks such as Franklin Barbecue and La Barbecue.

In 2020, when they rustled up enough money for their own restaurant and rented the old Kenneth’s True Pit Barbecue, they managed to open three weeks before the pandemic closed businesses.

While other craft barbecue restaurants have opened more locations, more days or longer hours — often at the expense of consistency — Goldee’s has stuck firmly to its Friday-through-Sunday schedule.

“The better you treat your employees,” White told the magazine, “the easier it is for you to run the restaurant.”

Nupohn Inthanousay, one of the co-owners of Goldee’s Barbecue, speaks with Chris Dupree, Matt Mueller, Jeff McDonald, and Lindsay Dupree as they eat their tray of barbecue in the Goldee’s dining room at Fort Worth on Friday, June 28, 2024.
Nupohn Inthanousay, one of the co-owners of Goldee’s Barbecue, speaks with Chris Dupree, Matt Mueller, Jeff McDonald, and Lindsay Dupree as they eat their tray of barbecue in the Goldee’s dining room at Fort Worth on Friday, June 28, 2024. Chris Torres ctorres@star-telegram.com

This story was originally published September 10, 2024 at 10:09 AM.

Bud Kennedy’s Eats Beat
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Bud Kennedy is celebrating his 40th year writing about restaurants in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has written the “Eats Beat” dining column in print since 1985 and online since 1992 — that’s more than 3,000 columns about Texas cafes, barbecue, burgers and where to eat. Support my work with a digital subscription
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