{"id":110542,"date":"2025-08-01T15:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/110542\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T15:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:09:08","slug":"fort-worth-named-top-barbecue-city-by-southern-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/110542\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth Named Top Barbecue City by Southern Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not too long ago, if you asked where to find great Texas barbecue, Fort Worth wasn\u2019t the first name folks tossed out. It wasn\u2019t even the second. But that\u2019s changing fast. In Southern Living\u2019s latest roundup \u2014 “The 4 Hottest Barbecue Cities Worth Planning A Trip For This Year”<\/a> \u2014 Fort Worth landed squarely alongside Houston, Charleston, and Raleigh\/Durham as a city redefining what it means to serve serious smoke in the South.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just that Fort Worth is finally getting out from under Dallas\u2019s long culinary shadow \u2014 it\u2019s that it\u2019s doing so with a style all its own. The pitmasters here are both keepers of tradition and fearless innovators. And they\u2019ve built something real.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Goldee\u2019s Bar-B-Q<\/a>, you\u2019ll still find the foundation: salt-and-pepper brisket with the kind of bark that cracks like lacquer, ribs with just enough tug, and hand-cranked sausage that sings of oak and iron. That place \u2014 run by a young crew of barbecue obsessives \u2014 shocked the state when it took the top spot on Texas Monthly\u2019s vaunted 2021 Top 50 list. Now, it\u2019s not shocking at all. It\u2019s expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, just across town, Heim Barbecue<\/a> hums with a different energy. Travis and Emma Heim helped kick off this new Fort Worth movement with bacon burnt ends and perfectly rendered fatty brisket served in a laid-back, family-style space. They\u2019ve grown, expanded, and still managed to hang on to the essence of what made them stand out in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dayne\u2019s Craft Barbecue<\/a> is another standout \u2014 a backyard operation turned full-blown phenomenon, with pitmaster Dayne Weaver serving up smoked meats with a painter\u2019s touch and a chef\u2019s palate. Shoot, Dayne\u2019s is even expanding to an international market. And it\u2019s not just about brisket anymore, either. Fort Worth has found its stride in the places that push boundaries: Panther City BBQ<\/a>, nestled in the heart of Fort Worth\u2019s South Main district, delivers pork belly poppers and rotating specials that nod to both Mexican and Central Texas traditions. And Hurtado Barbecue<\/a>, whose original Arlington location drew early acclaim, has become a Fort Worth fixture thanks to menu items like Big Red-braised barbacoa tostadas. This Texas-Mex fusion\u00a0hits every note just right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t just about the food. It\u2019s about a shift. You feel it in the low hum of a Saturday crowd waiting outside a joint at 10 a.m., in the clink of Lone Star bottles echoing through the picnic tables, in the way folks here talk about \u201ctheir spot\u201d like it\u2019s sacred ground. Fort Worth\u2019s barbecue scene isn\u2019t some trend that popped up overnight. It\u2019s a slow burn \u2014 one that\u2019s been building over the past decade, fed by hard work, neighborhood pride, and smoke thick with purpose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Southern Living got it right. Fort Worth belongs in the conversation. What was once a city that barbecue fans skipped on the way to Lockhart or Austin has become a destination of its own \u2014 where old-school brisket holds court next to taco-truck creativity, and the only thing hotter than the pits is the momentum behind them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fort Worth doesn\u2019t need to chase anyone else\u2019s legacy. It\u2019s too busy building its own.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not too long ago, if you asked where to find great Texas barbecue, Fort Worth wasn\u2019t the first…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":110543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,26874,18719,70304,2105,7371,7372,70305,988,358,7453,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-110542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-barbecue","10":"tag-bbq","11":"tag-daynes-craft-barbecue","12":"tag-food-and-drink","13":"tag-fort-worth","14":"tag-fortworth","15":"tag-goldee","16":"tag-restaurants","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-top-story","19":"tag-tx","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114954145897160050","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}