Turkey legs rule at new barbecue restaurant between Fort Worth and Arlington
A new barbecue restaurant from south Dallas has reopened in a suburban location known 45 years for brisket and ribs.
Hump’s BBQ is the latest arrival at 2503 W. Pioneer Parkway in Pantego, a wood-paneled restaurant that used to be a Jambo’s before that Arlington mainstay moved to West Division Street.
Hump’s moved from south Dallas after that location burned, owner and gourmet sauce maker Antoinne Ivory said.
The menu features basic barbecue but also turkey legs stuffed with mac-and-cheese, pasta, sausage or the restaurant’s “filthy dirty” rice made with chicken and turkey.
“I know Arlington is a great city and this really has the look of a barbecue place,” he said this week, meeting customers in the opening days and explaining his three Hump’s Gourmet Sauces: regular, spicy and sweet.
Ivory, a Cedar Hill real estate broker, began bottling and selling sauces in 2018 at the Dallas Farmers Market.
“The more time went by, the more I wanted to try a restaurant,” he said.
The restaurant is named to honor his grandfather, Alton Humphrey Sr., nicknamed “Hump.”
Humphrey, a U.S. Army mess cook in Europe in World War II, came home and loved cooking big family meals, Ivory said.
Hump’s BBQ is very homestyle, with soft brisket, ribs, half-chickens and those turkey legs smoked over pecan and oak wood.
This is not a “craft” barbecue restaurant that serves prime beef or exotic sausage.
If you’re a Hurtado or Goldee’s customer, this isn’t the same. Nor is it an old-school commercial barbecue restaurant like nearby David’s.
But you can tell that meticulous effort goes into every dish, from the meats rubbed with Ivory’s custom blend to the house-made sausage (a pork and beef blend) and the side dishes such as green beans and collard greens.
Also, Hump’s BBQ is not cheap. Like many barbecue restaurants these days, it’s priced by the half-pound ($11.50-$20) or pound with side dishes $4-$5 each.
But if you’re looking for value, two can easily share the half-chicken ($13.50). There’s also a fried catfish platter for $15.75.
Ivory will draw support from his former classmates and friends from South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas and Grambling State University in Louisiana, where he played in the World Famed Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band.
Former Fort Worth pitmaster Patrick “Jube” Joubert of Jube’s Smokehouse recommended Hump’s, writing on Facebook that it’s “pretty doggone good.”
Hump’s is open for lunch and dinner Wednesdays through Saturdays, lunch Sundays; 469-203-0396, humpsbbq.com.
This story was originally published June 10, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
