Want the quick rundown before you dig in?
BBQ Fandom is the weekly Texas BBQ newsletter from ExploringBBQ.com.
Quick rundown: Does convenience decide which Texas BBQ joints become part of your life? A nearby stop can satisfy a craving, but lasting loyalty still depends on what consistently earns the return trip. This week, Butter’s BBQ stops serving brisket as costs climb, Mad Jack’s sets its Johnson City opening date, and Bussin Q turns spectacle into a calling card. Pitmaster Picks pair Tuffy Stone’s pellet-grill brisket test with a day behind the scenes at Bird’s Barbecue.
Texas BBQ culture celebrates the destination meal.
We drive across the state, arrive early, wait in line, and build an entire day around a restaurant we have wanted to try. Those trips are part of what makes exploring Texas BBQ so much fun.
But the joint that becomes your favorite may not be the one that requires the biggest commitment.
It might be near home, along your commute, close to your children’s activities, or convenient to somewhere else you visit regularly. It may have dependable hours, easy parking, a manageable wait, and food you trust.
Convenience does not make the barbecue better. It gives a restaurant more opportunities to earn your loyalty. The food, consistency, hospitality, and complete experience determine whether it keeps that place in your routine.
Does Convenience Shape your Favorite Texas BBQ Joint?
The complete ExploringBBQ article looks at the difference between destination BBQ and everyday BBQ, why the closest restaurant is not always the most convenient, and how repeated visits can turn a good joint into one of your places.
Now it’s your turn
Think about the Texas BBQ joints you visit most often. One may be a special destination worth planning around. Another may have become part of your routine because it fits naturally into your life.
Which Texas BBQ joint became part of your regular routine because it fits your life, and what turned that convenience into real loyalty?
Have a take on this? Share Issue #28 on Facebook and see whether your BBQ crowd chooses the best joint, the closest joint, or the one that fits their routine.
Until next week, keep chasing the smoke,
Mike
BBQ Fandom | ExploringBBQ.com
This week’s Texas BBQ news moves from difficult menu decisions to a long-awaited Hill Country opening and the kind of oversized creativity that keeps barbecue interesting.
Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Spot Drops Brisket Amid Rising Costs
Butter’s BBQ in Sinton has removed brisket from its menu after the restaurant reported that the meat had grown to represent more than 70 percent of its grocery costs. The restaurant also said 2026 was on pace to become its lowest sales year.
The decision carries extra weight because brisket helped Butter’s earn places on the 2021 and 2025 Texas Monthly Top 50 lists. Butter’s plans to introduce a new menu while continuing to serve pork ribs, turkey, sausage, and Sunday barbacoa. It is a stark example of how rising beef costs and declining customer traffic can force even acclaimed BBQ joints to reconsider what their menus can sustain.
MySA | September 21, 2026 | Free
Mad Jack’s BBQ Targets November 7 Opening After City Council Win
Mad Jack’s Hill Country Barbecue has cleared another hurdle on its way to opening in Johnson City. The city council approved the restaurant’s neon sign, and owner James Jackson is now targeting November 7 for opening day.
Jackson, a Lockhart native who built a following with Mad Jack’s Mountaintop Barbecue in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, has spent nearly a year working through development delays. The November date could still shift, but the sign approval, completed utilities, and final furnishing work bring his Texas homecoming much closer to becoming a Hill Country BBQ destination.
MySA | September 16, 2026 | Free
This Former Food Truck Might Serve the Best Dino Ribs in San Antonio
One year after trading its food truck for a downtown San Antonio restaurant, Bussin Q BBQ is getting attention for a creation designed to be difficult to forget.
The $65 Dinoritto turns a whole beef rib, mac and cheese, queso, barbecue sauce, and waffle fries into a foot-long burrito finished with a cheddar cheese crust. MySA reviewer Peter L. Scamardo II found more than a social-media spectacle, praising the beef rib and noting that the enormous serving could feed a group or stretch across multiple meals. Dinosaur table numbers and a T-Rex skull at the entrance carry the playful identity through the complete restaurant experience.
MySA | September 19, 2026 | Free
If this week’s question made you think of the BBQ joint that fits naturally into your life, forward this issue to the friend who already knows where you are going when you say, “Let’s get barbecue.” Our favorite joints are not always the closest or most famous. They are the places that make it easy to return and give us a reason to keep choosing them.
This week’s picks pair a test of what modern cooking equipment can simplify with a look at the work, personality, and consistency behind a community favorite.
Tuffy Stone’s Backyard Brisket: Set It and Forget It?
Video | September 17, 2026 | YouTube, Tuffy Stone
Tuffy Stone cooks a 19-pound American Wagyu brisket on a Weber Searwood pellet grill, using a light trim, overnight seasoning, homemade beef tallow, an apple-juice spritz, butcher paper, and a long rest. It is a detailed test of whether a set-it-and-forget-it cooker can produce the kind of brisket he normally prepares on an offset smoker.
Why it fits this week: Convenience can reduce the time spent managing a fire, but it does not replace judgment. Tuffy still has to make the decisions that shape the finished brisket, from trimming and seasoning to wrapping, tenderness, and resting.
Inside The Texas BBQ Food Truck That Sells Out Daily
Video documentary | September 20, 2026 | YouTube, iChillzie
Filmmaker iChillzie spends a day with Jacob “Bird” Graham at Bird’s Barbecue in Bellville, beginning with a 1 a.m. start and continuing through service. Graham discusses his approach to brisket and ribs, the challenge of preparing enough food without creating costly waste, and the oil-and-gas opportunity he declined so he could remain close to his family and feed his community. The film also shows how distinctive items such as Texas Twinkie egg rolls help the food truck stand out.
Why it fits this week: A favorite BBQ joint does not have to be a distant destination. Bird’s story shows how consistency, hospitality, a memorable menu, and a connection to the surrounding community can turn a small local operation into a place people choose repeatedly.
October’s first three weekends offer very different reasons to get on the road: a scholarship cook-off in Seguin, Cuero’s small-town festival, a live-fire weekend in Austin, and a new West Texas competition supporting Special Olympics Texas.
23rd Annual Guadalupe County Fair Association Scholarship Benefit
October 2 to 3 | Seguin, Texas
This CBA-sanctioned cook-off supports the Guadalupe County Fair Association’s scholarship mission. Teams will compete in chicken, ribs, pork, brisket, beans, dessert, and cook’s choice. This is primarily a competition event, so confirm public activities and tasting availability before making the drive.
53rd Annual Cuero Turkeyfest and BBQ Cook-Off
October 9 to 11 | Cuero, Texas
Cuero Turkeyfest combines its barbecue cook-off with three days of live music, a carnival, arts and crafts, family activities, the Turkeyfest Parade, and the Great Gobbler Gallop. The BBQ competition runs October 9 to 10, while the broader festival continues through Sunday.
Hot Luck
October 16 to 17 | Austin, Texas
Hot Luck brings live-fire cooking and music together across two Austin events. Friday’s Giddy Up takes place at Franklin Barbecue, followed by Saturday’s larger House Party at Assembly Hall, where chefs from across the country will serve creative dishes in an indoor-outdoor festival setting.
Planning the Rest of October?
High Steaks in the Basin
October 9 to 10 | Midland-Odessa, Texas
High Steaks in the Basin is a new two-day steak and barbecue competition benefiting Special Olympics Texas. The event brings together competition teams, sponsors, public tasting opportunities, vendors, music, and an athlete victory celebration. With $100,000 in advertised payouts across steak, chicken, ribs, pork, brisket, and overall awards, it is positioned as one of the largest barbecue competitions in West Texas.
ExploringBBQ Is Better When You Take Part
This week, several readers took the time to email us with thoughtful suggestions, firsthand experience, and ideas for making ExploringBBQ better. We appreciate every message.
ExploringBBQ was not built to be a one-way list of restaurants and recipes. It should also reflect the cooks, road trips, questions, stories, and local knowledge of the people using it.
Here are a few ways you can take part.
BBQ Fans Showing Off Their Cooks
Brisket, ribs, steaks, chicken, sides, or something completely different, we want to see what came off your smoker or grill. Fan Cooks lets you share a photo, give your cook a title, and add a short note about what you made.
Contribute a Recipe or BBQ Story
Have a recipe other BBQ fans should try? Submit the ingredients, method, and details that make it work.
If you have a BBQ road-trip story, family tradition, cooking lesson, restaurant experience, or perspective worth sharing, you can also contribute a blog post for consideration.
Join the Conversation in The Pit
The Pit is where the community can trade restaurant recommendations, discuss hidden gems, ask cooking questions, compare gear, share road-trip advice, and continue the conversations that begin in BBQ Fandom.
Prefer email? We are always glad to receive thoughtful suggestions and firsthand BBQ knowledge from the people making these trips and cooking in their own backyards.
A free ExploringBBQ account is required to post a Fan Cook, submit a contribution, or participate in The Pit.
For the next BBQ run
Supporting Texas BBQ does not always mean ordering the biggest tray on the menu. Sometimes it means showing up, bringing someone with you, and keeping the places you care about in the rotation. Gear up for the next BBQ run.
Know about a BBQ event, new opening, road-trip stop, or story worth following? Send a note to [email protected].
We read every message and may feature reader tips in a future issue. BBQ Fandom follows the people, places, and moments that make barbecue worth following.
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