The best thing since sliced bread? Naan, pita, and injera replacing it on barbecue platters across the Lone Star State. Once defined by its rigid rules, Texas barbecue is getting a shake-up thanks to a growing class of pitmasters telling stories of migration and global flavors through such dishes as seekh kebab sausage and smoky brisket tacos.
Tex-Japanese Barbecue: Kemuri Tatsu-Ya, Austin
“When people migrate, they take the flavors of their upbringing with them,” says Tatsu Aikawa, the prolific Tokyo-born chef behind Kemuri Tatsu-Ya in Austin. Combining Texas barbecue with Japanese izakaya bar food was a natural progression for him, stemming from cooking the food he wanted to eat: That means dishes like brisket dipping ramen (in which the noodles are served in a separate bowl and dunked in the broth before each bite) with yuzu zest, smoked jalapeño, and chili oil; smoked brisket with serrano-miso barbecue sauce; pork ribs with carrot-ginger glaze; and matcha-spiked banana pudding. “The flavors are all big, and fun,” says Aikawa, as illustrated by his fish-shaped taiyaki cornbread and smoked meat (or eggplant) presented as a build-your-own hand roll. But behind the scenes, he stays true to the depth and nuance of both traditions, preparing Texas-style dashi (stock) with smoked spiced snapper instead of the standard bonito flakes.
Tex-Ethiopian Barbecue: Smoke ‘N Ash BBQ, Arlington
At Smoke ‘N Ash BBQ, spongy injera bread makes an excellent base for smoked meats and heavily spiced vegetables.
Photo by Daniel Vaughn
He’s from Waco, she’s from Addis Ababa. When Patrick and Fasicka Hicks transitioned their barbecue truck to a brick-and-mortar spot west of Dallas called Smoke ’N Ash BBQ, they added a few Ethiopian dishes. Customers started using the African condiments on their barbecue—and the Hickses loved the fusion. The way Fasicka’s family cooked doro wat over a wood fire wasn’t so different from an outdoor chili cook-off, and she realized using smoked chicken in the stew captured much the same feeling. “Somehow hickory wood goes perfect with berbere spice.” Now, they glaze meat with awaze (a chili sauce) and fry pieces of injera flatbread to make nachos, too.
Tex-Mexican Barbecue: Jiménez y Friends Barbecue y Taquería, Lubbock
Jiménez y Friends Barbecue y Taqueria offers a cross-border mashup of Texas and Mexican flavors.
Photo by Daniel Vaughn
Mike Flores quit his job at a local barbecue shop in 2022, when his mom and brother opened a bakery and burrito place in Lubbock like those his family has run since 1969. He helped out at the restaurant during the week and held barbecue pop-ups there on weekends, serving his mom’s marranitos (pig-shaped gingerbread) for dessert. But soon, the brothers started to merge their concepts, and Jiménez y Friends Barbecue y Taquería was born. Now, they serve dishes like the Specialty Dawg (house-smoked sausage, beans, cheese, and a fried egg served as a Texas-sized taco) and pile smoked meats atop sweet Mexican concha rolls with Big Red barbecue sauce and apple-jicama slaw—Tex-Mex identity, on a plate.
Tex-Lebanese Barbecue: Habibi Barbecue, Arlington
Lebanese-inspired sides make a perfect match for smoked meats at Habibi Barbecue.
Photo by Thanin Viriyaki
When Marc Fadel competed on his high school’s barbecue team (only in Texas!), he hewed closely to the state’s traditions. Now in college, he runs his own food truck, Habibi Barbecue, where he showcases the flavors of his Lebanese American roots and his family’s hospitality—his parents help work the truck. “Barbecue is something that brings people together and makes people smile,” he says, and that motivates him. “To serve Texas Lebanese–spiced brisket with tabbouleh and batata kizbara [garlic potatoes] warms my heart and my stomach.”
Tex-Pakistani Barbecue: Sabar BBQ, Fort Worth
Pakistani flavors take center stage at the Sabar BBQ food truck.
Photo by Daniel Vaughn
Zain Shafi began thinking about adding the spices found in Pakistani seekh kebab to sausage while working at Goldee’s BBQ. According to Shafi, “It kind of spiraled from there.” At his Sabar BBQ in Forth Worth, he now pairs tandoori smoked turkey and burnt-ends nihari (meat stew) with dal. “Our form of beans are lentils,” Shafi says. For each of the typical Texas side dishes, he found its cousin from Pakistani cooking: Fruit chaat and kachumber salad offered a cooling crunch that mimics coleslaw, while raita’s herby yogurt functioned as barbecue sauce. “It’d kind of break the richness and fattiness of Texas barbecue,” he explains. “But also just be really delicious.”
Where to stay
Set yourself up for a beef-focused vacation in the Dallas–Fort Worth area by choosing a side: the cowboy-inspired Hotel Drover in Fort Worth’s Stockyards or Arlington’s outlaw-themed Rambler Inn. In Austin, the Heywood Hotel sits roughly equidistant from Kemuri Tatsu-Ya and longtime standard-bearer Franklin Barbecue—each a quick ride on the hotel’s free loaner bikes.
