27-05-2025
Barbecue's Kingmaker: Meet the man with the final say on BBQ's most important list
In Texas' state-designated BBQ capital, two legendary Lockhart families run the town's most iconic barbecue joints as a rising star joins the scene — and all vie for coveted spots on the Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ list. Explore our project online now and watch the documentary June 5 at 7 p.m. on the KXAN+ smart TV app.
KENNEDALE, Texas (KXAN) — A light November rain fell on the tired and hungry crowd gathered in the parking lot.
Some brought folding chairs, others ponchos and umbrellas, knowing it's better to be dry and comfortable than wet and sore when waiting hours for the doors to open.
At one point, a horse escaped from a nearby ranch and trotted between the dozens of cars in the lot. Those waiting merely looked on, unwilling to risk losing their spot in line attempting to corral it.
At 10:37 a.m. on that Friday morning, an employee stepped out of the front door of the small, red wooden building and started shouting out the lay of the land before opening. The crowd learned that meats were priced by the half pound, a Laotian sausage was the special, and banana pudding was the dessert.
Equine excitement aside, the morning played out like a typical start to a Friday at Goldee's BBQ, in Kennedale, Texas, a suburb south of Fort Worth.
Then Daniel Vaughn showed up.
The Texas Monthly's BBQ editor parked and headed toward the front of the line, meeting up with a friend who'd been saving his spot since 5:30 a.m.
A typical Friday no more.
Speaking from experience, Goldee's owners will tell you that when Vaughn arrives at your restaurant, you'd better pay attention. It may be the most important thing that ever happens to your business.
'It was life-changing,' recalled co-owner Jalen Heard.
Vaughn first stopped by the newly-opened restaurant in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, when the BBQ was sliced, wrapped and walked out to his car.
'I thought it was really good, but I didn't know what this was gonna taste like fresh,' he said.
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Vaughn returned when pandemic restrictions relaxed and he could eat inside. That's when he said he experienced a flavor palette unlike anything he'd had before, including mouth-watering ribs covered in an acidic and sweet simple syrup made from vinegar and sugar.
'That's when it really hit me, like, this place is special,' Vaughn said.
The following year Vaughn named Goldee's the number one restaurant on the Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints list.
A star was born seemingly overnight.
'The line was all the way down the street,' Heard said. 'There was no parking. It was wild, just like, 'Oh my goodness.''
The restaurant went from cooking as few as five briskets a day to 50. In the four years since, it hasn't looked back.
The coveted ranking only comes out once every four years, and if Vaughn visits a restaurant in the final few months, it's not because he was simply in the area and craving barbecue.
Preparation for the 2025 ranking began in August 2024 when Vaughn assembled a team of 25 Texas Monthly staffers to serve as tasters.
Each is assigned a territory in Texas. They're then given a list of barbecue joints to visit, and a list of those not to bother with.
Those are the joints where Vaughn's gone five times in a row and had a terrible meal each time.
'I've had a meal so bad I'd be embarrassed if they were on the Top 50 list,' he said. 'I don't want them to get bogged down in wasting their time.'
Instead, the focus is on finding new places and trying those tried-and-true places on their list.
There are an estimated 2,000 barbecue restaurants in Texas. This go around, Texas Monthly tasters expected to eat at roughly 400 of them.
When scores come back and there are new restaurants Vaughn hasn't tried, he will personally visit them.
The top 10 on the list receive even more scrutiny. In 2021, Vaughn recalls 26 or 27 places in contention. He will visit each at least three times, making sure their quality is consistent.
To get to this point, restaurants had to score highly on their brisket, ribs, turkey, sausage and sides.
'Really, what it comes down to as far as the meat goes: is it juicy, is it tender, and is it well seasoned?' Vaughn said.
Nearly all of the top 10 meet this criterion. At that point, Vaughn uses the quality of the sides as a tie-breaker.
Daniel Vaughn was not born a meat lover. Originally from Ohio, he went to college in New Orleans before moving to Dallas in 2001.
That's when he tried brisket for the first time, and ribs unlike anything he'd ever tasted at now-closed Peggy Sue's Market.
'(I) couldn't quite wrap my head around how you get this sort of texture out of a pork rib,' he said.
Vaughn was hooked.
'I just became enamored with it almost instantly,' he said.
He started traveling around North Texas, trying barbecue, and writing about it in his blog titled 'Full Custom Gospel BBQ.'
His travels and writing didn't start out with the intention of being a review site, as much as it was his attempt to keep track of his personal favorite spots.
In 2012, Vaughn's hobby became more. After more than 500 reviews up and down the state, Texas Monthly reached out and asked Vaughn if he'd like to start writing articles for the publication. He, in turn, asked to be part of the magazine's 2013 Top 50 tasting team.
Both said yes.
This all happened at the same time Vaughn had just started a book deal with the late great food critic Anthony Bourdain. While writing and researching for the book, Vaughn had another idea, one that eventually allowed him to quit his job in architecture and pursue writing about barbecue full-time.
He asked the magazine to name him its BBQ editor. He's been getting paid to write about it ever since.
'There are a lot more bad meals that I eat. My mantra is, 'I eat the bad barbecue, so you don't have to,'' he said.
Vaughn said for every restaurant owner happy about being ranked on the list, there are many more who are angry about being left off.
Some question whether Vaughn favors new restaurants, emphasizes modern cooking techniques and flavors too much, and if joints that are only open one or two days a week have an unfair advantage.
'They can find a whole range of things to blame, whether it's personal preferences, or politics, or whatever they might call it,' Vaughn said. 'But the one thing they rarely consider is maybe it's their barbecue, and I can guarantee you, it's the barbecue.'
What none of them dispute is how influential the list is.
In Lockhart, the state-designated 'Barbecue Capital of Texas,' Black's and Terry Black's have both been on the list at one point or another. As have Kreuz (which graced the first cover in 1997) and Smitty's (which made the cover in 2003).
'It brings in a lot of people that are going around on the barbecue tour,' said Smitty's Market Owner Nina Sells. 'We were struggling, and three years after we opened, they put my son on the cover, and so we saw what it does to your business.'
Meanwhile, Kreuz most recently made the honorable mention in 2021.
'We were swamped for weeks after that first issue kicked off, owner Keith Schmidt said. 'I stopped worrying about it. I tried to get my dad to stop worrying. I don't care as long as we're still getting written about.'
While it was Terry Black's Austin location that made the Top 50 list in 2017 and its Dallas location in 2021, its other restaurants in Waco, Fort Worth and Lockhart also all benefit.
'There are 100 different top barbecue lists out there. Texas Monthly is the one that matters,' said Terry Black's Co-Owner Mike Black. 'That's the one that everyone wants to be in. If you make the Texas Monthly Top 50 List, you'll see an impact the following day.'
How did Lockhart become the Barbecue Capital of Texas?
Black's BBQ last made the list in 2013, something Owner Kent Black said doesn't bother him.
'We were already a king before Texas Monthly came around,' Black said. 'It's not frustrating. We're successful, been extremely successful, whether we're on the list or not on the list.'
Barb's B Q is the newcomer to Lockhart and made the Texas Monthly's 25 Best New and Improved BBQ Joints in Texas list in 2023, after opening earlier that year. Owner Chuck Charnichart is familiar with the experience, though. She worked at Franklin BBQ in Austin when it was named to the top spot in 2017, and at Goldee's in 2021.
'There's nothing like being at the number one barbecue restaurant,' she said. 'It changes the restaurant for that period of time. Yeah, that list carries a lot of weight.'
Texas Monthly's new 2025 list comes out May 27.
While the pressure has been off for a while, it's returned.
Owners dote on Vaughn when he shows up, offering him free food (he refuses and pays himself) and a spot at the front of the line. They gently nudge him to share what he plans to write about them.
'Everybody knows what season it is right now,' Vaughn said. 'The attitude does change a bit. In some people, you can see a nervousness.'
Vaughn shared a story from 2017 when he was working on that year's list. He said he showed up at Snow's BBQ in Lexington, only to see Wayne Mueller, the owner of Louis Mueller's in nearby Taylor, also stopping by for lunch.
Wayne stood up and told the owner of Snow's he had to go, knowing Vaughn was likely heading to his restaurant next.
'I think there is a greater meaning to being on the Texas Monthly Top 50,' Vaughn said. 'I think Texas has the best barbecue in the country. So if you're the best in Texas, then you're the best barbecue joint in the nation.'
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