A Barbecue Showdown contestant's guide to the best BBQ in Houston

Sloan Rinaldi became a BBQ master at 50 and made it to the top three in Season 3 of Netflix's Barbecue Showdown. Here are her top BBQ joints in her hometown of Houston.

For Sloan Rinaldi, a fourth-generation Houstonian pitmaster, Texas barbecue is serious business.

"I have a passion for it, for sure," says Rinaldi, who first pursued barbecue as a career at the age of 50. "Yeah; passion, or you're not doing it!"

Rinaldi rose swiftly in the Texas barbecue circuit, smashing barriers as a female pitmaster in a male-dominated field. This year, at age 60, her profile skyrocketed when she made it to the Top three in the latest season of Netflix's Barbecue Showdown, winning challenge after challenge with her perfectly executed craft barbecue recipes, and most importantly, representing her state and beloved hometown. "[I'm] very proud of Houston!" she says. "It's dynamic, diverse, booming. It offers something for everyone, really."

And Houston barbecue? "Overall, there are two kinds of Texas BBQ," explains Rinaldi. "Old-school barbecue and craft barbecue, meaning that everything is elevated… You're sourcing the best protein, all of the ingredients that go into your sides, everything handcrafted from scratch." 

Houston barbecue, specifically, draws hugely from the city's multicultural makeup. "We consider Louisiana to be more of East Texas," says Rinaldi. "They have a Creole cuisine that definitely is in our roots and our culture as well. So in Houston, it's going to be a fusion. Our barbecue scene has become very diverse with Asian influences – Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, Iranian – you name it. Truly, we have 30 incredible craft barbecue joints right now that you can go to any day of the week, and you would not be disappointed."

Here are the winners of Rinaldi's Houston Barbecue Showdown.

"Brisket is the king of all barbecue and Texas is best at brisket," proclaims Rinaldi.

Of the nine "primal cuts" of meat used in barbecue, brisket – beef breast meat smoked until fall-apart-tender – is undeniably elite. And Rinaldi's favourite comes from Truth Barbecue, an upscale joint in Houston's historic Heights Boulevard.

"It's run by Leo [Botello IV]," she says. "He's a young pitmaster; one of the most consistently good pitmasters I've ever come across."

Truth Barbecue began its life as what Rinaldi calls a "complete hole in the wall, dive on the side of the road" in the town of Brenham, roughly halfway between Houston and Austin. "[Now he's] opened up a joint on Heights Boulevard, which is a major location. It's been there since 2021 and every day there's a line around the building." 

And how's that brisket? "It's very beefy; very rich and succulent," she says. "Fat content is essential in rendering a melt-in-your-mouth bite of brisket. The salt and pepper rub is spot on. It's not too much of anything.

Rinaldi's respect for Truth Barbecue doesn't end at brisket; she calls it Houston's "best all-around joint", and home to its best desserts. 

"Turkey, ribs, house-made sausage," she says. "They do boudin at times; a Cajun sausage. They do limited sides, but they are all stellar. And Leo's mom makes a three-layer cake. You can take it home and eat it for three days. My favourite is the carrot cake. The best cakes in Texas barbecue."

Website: https://truthbbq.com/

Address: 110 S Heights Blvd, Houston, TX 77007

Phone: +1 832 835 0001

Instagram: @truth_bbq

Meat is the star at any barbecue; but Rinaldi points out, "It's one thing to have incredible meat. It takes it to another level when you have really amazing sides." 

Side dishes – from fried okra to baked beans to blackened, blistered greens – are the quiet heroes of any Texan barbecue showdown, rounding out the flamboyantly rich meat flavours with forkfuls of pure comfort.

"That's where the finesse and technique and skill come into play," says Rinaldi. "Obviously, being a woman, they don't expect you to be able to do barbecue, number one. I can smoke meat but then obviously I can do killer sides. And I love that. It gives me a little bit of an advantage."

Rinaldi loves the sides at Feges, a craft barbecue joint with locations in the underground level of the Greenway Plaza high rise – "All the office workers go there" – and the thriving Houston suburb of Spring Branch: "Upscale, so very nice aesthetic inside. You have a great visual on the pits." 

Feges is helmed by Erin and Patrick Feges, a culinary academy-trained husband-and-wife duo. "They're doing amazing things, and their side selection is deep," says Rinaldi. "Usually, a barbecue joint will have four, maybe five side selections. They, at times, will have 20 plus, and they're all stellar, a lot of finesse. They're doing spiced Moroccan carrots. They also do brussels sprouts. They're doing sweet potatoes. They do a hog fat cornbread. They're very creative, and they're killing it on sides." 

Website: https://fegesbbq.com

Address: 8217 Long Point Rd, Houston, TX 77055

Phone: +1 346 319 5339

Instagram: @fegesbbq

"For ribs, I'm going to go with Grant Pinkerton," says Rinaldi. "He has a lot of other good proteins and sides as well, but I think his ribs are really stellar."

Pinkerton's Texas Pit Barbecue in Greater Heights serves upscale craft barbecue – the meat is prepared gluten-free – and is famous for its excellent whole hog, which has landed the joint on the Travel Channel and Food Network.

"He has ribs he does two ways," says Rinaldi. "This is the only place in Texas that'll give you an option if you want sauce on them or not, because everything is sauce on the side in Texas. So you can get a dry rib rub, or you can get it wet. And my preference is dry, but both of them are stellar so you can't go wrong, even if you were to get it wet with sauce on them. It's incredible. It's a great smoke, great flavour. The rub is simple and great technique, so killer. Consistently good ribs." 

Website: http://www.pinkertonsbarbecue.com/

Address: 1504 Airline Dr, Houston, TX 77009

Phone: +1 713 802 2000

Instagram: @pinkertonsbbq

Houston's barbecue scene is constantly evolving, and Rinaldi has her eyes on the best new kids on the block. "I'm gonna shout these guys out big time; Bar-A BBQ," she says. 

Bar-A-BBQ – the A stands for Abercrombie – is run by brothers Caleb and Cooper Abercrombie in the rural northerly Houston suburb of Montgomery. "They're two brothers in their 20s that basically gave everything up and went all in on their barbecue joint and they're just killing it," says Rinaldi. "I think they'll be on the top 10 list very soon in Texas."

Bar-A-BBQ serves a vast array of proteins, from turkey to mammoth-sized dino ribs as well as fully loaded platters, but Rinaldi is partial to their breakfasts. "We cruised in, we had their breakfast, which was an incredible scratch-made brisket biscuit with brisket gravy," she says. "Oh my god, it was amazing. We drove around the little town, just a quaint old small Texas town, and came back and decided to pick up lunch and dinner to go."

"They have so much passion," she says. "I love it."

Website: https://barabbq.com/

Address: 21149 Eva St, Montgomery, TX 77356

Phone: +1 936 548 5658

Instagram: @bar_a_bbq

As exciting as the craft barbecue scene is, there would be no craft barbecue without old school Texas recipes and techniques. "Old school barbecue is critical," says Rinaldi. "That's what people have eaten for 100 years prior to craft barbecue becoming such a thing."

Rinaldi's own recipes – like her challenge-winning Texas Q Rodeo burger – owe much to the old guard, and when she wants something super traditional, she heads to Demeris Bar-B-Q. "Their style is very old school. There's not a lot of finesse, but it's just quality, and it's solid, it's tender, it's juicy. They know their technique, and I really enjoy their barbecue," she says. 

What does Rinaldi get at Demeris? "A brisket sandwich, oddly enough," she says. "I rarely eat a brisket sandwich anywhere, right? But their brisket sandwich, I had it in the early '90s and it's the same today… There's very few places that have that now, where you went 20 years ago, and you go back now, and the food is the same."

Demeris's brisket sandwich, like the rest of their dishes, is no frills. "The technique on their brisket, it's not over the top," says Rinaldi. "The flavour, the smoke, the tenderness, is just all perfect, and it tastes great on a sandwich. The bun is just a very traditional white bun. They griddle it just slightly, not too much, not too little. It's perfect. For me, the most important element of the bun is that it soaks up just the right amount of fat and grease, right? And then it all comes together." 

Website: https://demeris.com/

Address: 1702 W Loop N Fwy Ste A, Houston, TX 77008

Phone: +1 713 681 7204

Instagram: @demerisbbq

BBC Travel's The SpeciaList is a series of guides to popular and emerging destinations around the world, as seen through the eyes of local experts and tastemakers.

--

If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week. 

For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.