Five Dallas barbecue joints worth planning a day around, from a limited-hours pit in a Farmers Branch office park to the beef ribs that made Deep Ellum famous.
The Short Answer
Cattleack Barbeque is the best barbecue in Dallas, but it is only open a few days a week. For a sure thing any day, go to Pecan Lodge in Deep Ellum for beef ribs or Terry Black's a few blocks away. Slow Bone and Hurtado round out the five worth driving for.
Farmers Branch · $$
Known for Brisket, and the fact that you cannot get it most days
Todd David runs a barbecue joint out of an office park in Farmers Branch and opens it for only a handful of hours a week. That sounds like a gimmick until you eat the brisket. The fat renders to the point of collapse, the bark is heavy on black pepper, and the beef itself tastes like beef rather than like smoke.
It has been a fixture of Texas Monthly's Top 50 list and holds a spot in the Michelin Guide's Texas selection, which is unusual company for a place with a folding-table dining room.
Go-to order or tip: Go early. The line forms before opening and popular items sell out. If the Wagyu beef rib is on, get it.
Deep Ellum · $$-$$$
Known for The beef rib, and the Trough for a table of four
Pecan Lodge started in a stall at the Dallas Farmers Market and moved to Deep Ellum when the lines got out of hand. It is the most reliable great barbecue in the city, which is a real distinction in a category full of places that are excellent on a Saturday and ordinary on a Tuesday.
The beef rib is the order. It is enormous, it is not cheap, and it is the single most photographed piece of meat in Dallas for a reason. The Trough, a shared platter that runs roughly $30 to $60 depending on configuration, is the efficient way to feed a group that cannot agree.
Go-to order or tip: The line is shortest in the first thirty minutes after opening and in the last hour before close.
Deep Ellum · $$-$$$
Known for Beef ribs and a dining room that seats a crowd
The Black family has been in Texas barbecue since 1932 in Lockhart, and the Dallas outpost brings that lineage to Deep Ellum in a much larger room than most barbecue joints can manage. The brisket is consistent, the sausage is good, and the sides are better than the genre average.
What makes it useful is the hours. When Cattleack is closed and Pecan Lodge has a line down the block, Terry Black's is open, has seats, and will not disappoint you.
Go-to order or tip: Sit down with the beef rib and a side of creamed corn. Order at the counter, pay by the pound.
Design District · $$
Known for Lunch-only barbecue and fried chicken on Wednesdays
Slow Bone is Tim Byres's lunch-only room in the Design District, and it is the most chef-driven barbecue on this list without being precious about it. The brisket is prime grade, the sides get real attention, and the whole operation is built around getting you fed and back to work.
It is also the easiest place on this list to get into. Lunch-only means no dinner rush, and the Design District has parking, which Deep Ellum does not.
Go-to order or tip: Wednesday is fried chicken day and it sells out. Plan accordingly.
Near the Dallas Farmers Market · $$
Known for Barbecue crossed with Tex-Mex, including brisket tacos and smoked birria
Brandon Hurtado built his reputation in Arlington and expanded into Dallas with a full bar, a big patio, and a menu that runs Central Texas smoke through a Tex-Mex filter. The brisket holds up on its own, which matters, because plenty of fusion barbecue leans on the sauce.
Order the brisket tacos or the smoked birria if you want to understand what the place is actually about. This is the pick when half your group wants barbecue and the other half wants tacos.
Go-to order or tip: The patio is the reason to come in spring and fall. It fills up fast on Rangers game days.
We started from the joints that show up repeatedly in credible Texas barbecue coverage, then cut anything we could not confirm is currently open and operating on the schedule it advertises. From there the ranking is about the brisket, because brisket is how Texas barbecue is judged and it is the hardest thing on the menu to fake.
We weighted consistency heavily. A place that is spectacular on the day a reviewer visits and merely fine the following Tuesday is not a recommendation, it is a coin flip. Every joint here has a track record long enough to be a pattern rather than a lucky visit.
We did not rank on line length. A long line means a place is popular, not that it is good, and some of the best barbecue in Dallas is served at lunch counters with no wait at all.
Barbecue is the one restaurant category where showing up at the wrong hour means going home hungry. A few things worth internalizing:
| Joint | Best time to arrive | Risk of selling out |
|---|---|---|
| Cattleack | Right at opening, on an open day | High. This is the point of the place. |
| Pecan Lodge | Opening, or the last hour | Moderate on beef ribs |
| Terry Black's | Anytime | Low |
| Slow Bone | Early lunch | Moderate on fried chicken Wednesdays |
| Hurtado | Anytime except a game day | Low |
Call or check the site before you go. Barbecue hours change more than any other category we cover. Cattleack in particular runs a limited schedule that shifts, and a wasted drive to Farmers Branch is a bad afternoon.
Order by weight, not by plate. A half pound of brisket per adult is a reasonable starting point if you are also getting ribs or sausage. A full pound is a commitment.
Moist over lean, almost always. If you are new to this, ask for moist brisket. Lean is for people who have already decided they prefer it.
Fair question, and the honest answer is that some of the best barbecue in North Texas is not in Dallas. Goldee's in Fort Worth has ranked at the very top of Texas Monthly's statewide list, and it is roughly a forty-minute drive from downtown Dallas on a good day.
Lockhart, three hours south, was named the Barbecue Capital of Texas by the state legislature and has several legendary pits inside a few square blocks. If you are building a trip around barbecue rather than fitting barbecue into a trip, that is where to point the car.
But if you are in Dallas this week and want to eat well, the five above will do it.
Pick based on your schedule rather than the ranking. If you have a free Thursday or Friday morning, go to Cattleack, because that is the one you cannot do on a whim. If you have a Saturday afternoon and a group, go to Pecan Lodge or Terry Black's in Deep Ellum and make a day of the neighborhood. If you have a Wednesday lunch hour, Slow Bone.
Hungry for more of the state? We are working through the best barbecue across Texas city by city, and there is plenty more worth eating in Dallas.
Hours, prices, and menus change. Call ahead before you drive.
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