Written by Luis Arjona, Jacqueline Gonzalez and Evelyn Martinez
A legacy built largely on smoke and lasting principles, no one does barbecue quite like South Texas. Here in the Coastal Bend, generations of pitmasters have honed their craft, blending regional styles and cherished family recipes. From Howard’s, a 76-year-old institution still serving brisket with the same simple rub that started it all, to newer spots redefining the scene with creative twists—and everything in between—there is no shortage of flavor to be found.
Though local barbecue joints might differ in technique or menu items, a dedication and genuine love for feeding the masses as if they’re family is evident when speaking to each. This feature takes readers on a taste-testing adventure through the area’s top spots, from Butter’s in Sinton to Stevie Lew’s in Rockport. Plus, we’re finally unveiling the results from the Battle for the Best BBQ online competition, where readers weighed in on who they think serves up the best ’cue around.
Butter’s BBQ
Pitmaster: Andrew Soto | Favorite Side: Elote
Sinton’s freshly famous Butter’s BBQ has earned quite a reputation for itself in less than a decade of operation. From persevering through a global pandemic to making the Texas Monthly yearly Top 50 Best BBQ list on two separate occasions, Andrew Soto’s tumultuous journey with his barbecue baby carries with it a lot of love. Love that finds itself burrowed beneath the bark of the state-famous brisket. Those lucky enough to find themselves with any of Butter’s specialties in hand will surely agree with its first-place ranking on our list, according to our online competition, Battle for the Best BBQ.
The idea of opening Butter’s—whose name is pulled from Soto’s childhood nickname, Butterball—brewed over 2017 after a visit to another Texas classic, Franklin’s BBQ. Waiting in the line snaking around the block proved more than worth it after his full platter, smoked to perfection, showed Soto how “barbecue could be the best kind of food in the world.”
Bringing the post oak smoke down from Central Texas pits to mix in alongside the TexMex flavors he grew up with, Butter’s signature meats and sides give us a new definition of South Texas barbecue—one serving barbacoa on Sunday mornings, at his father’s request and to much delight from his loyal customers.
Full Send BBQ
Pitmasters: Desirae Hill | Favorite Side: Mac N’ Cheese
Bred from sweat, smoke and a 120-degree pit room, Full Send BBQ has been flooring the gas pedal since inception. “Full Send” means all gas, no brakes, and that’s exactly how this team approaches the craft.
Andrew Peña began selling brisket orders on Facebook, then met and teamed up with Desirae Hill. They brought their love for good food and feeding people to Vernon’s to sell smoked birria tacos with consommé. As a former bartender at Vernon’s, Hill knew the locals, and with her rapport, word spread about Full Send’s food quickly. With the help of a friend-turned-investor, Hank Harrison, who saw the vision after just one bite, Full Send graduated to a permanent location in 2023.
Today, Hill runs the operation in Downtown Corpus Christi, with a 250-gallon offset smoker named “OG” fired by mesquite wood. Brisket remains the top seller, and the seasoning mix of salt, pepper and garlic is the perfect example of mastering fundamentals. The sausage—which has Oaxaca cheese and green chile inclusions—is a killer contribution from local meat market Boarri. The constant fan favorite, though, is the brisket mac and cheese bowl topped with house-made pickles and sauce. Aside from the bread, everything on the menu, down to the accoutrements, is housemade, and you can tell with every bite. At Full Send, the barbecue may be slow-cooked, but the lifestyle is full throttle, giving 110% to the art of barbecue.
Howard’s BBQ
Pitmaster: Chris DeAlejandro | Favorite Side: Potato Salad & Coleslaw | Top Seller Brisket & Sausage
As its motto so eloquently puts it, Howard’s BBQ has spent 76 years “serving the food Texans want to eat.” This family-owned and operated restaurant credits its longevity to its simple spice rub, mesquite wood pits and a heaping dose of Southern hospitality. Owned by Jim Mathews, apprentice and dear friend of original owner Norman Howard, the restaurant’s techniques and homegrown, homestyle barbecue methods remain unchanged since Howard’s opening day back in 1949.
The restaurant—an old garage turned barbecue haven decked out in full Southern kitsch and wooden fixings—opens weekdays for lunch. Sitting right on the edge of downtown, Howard’s often sees workers on their lunch breaks, blue and white collared alike. Besides the smoked meats, of which brisket and sausage sell best, the specialty sides come straight out of personal family recipe books. “My wife makes our carrot cake daily, and it’s an old family recipe from Meridian, Mississippi, over 100 years old,” said Mathews’s son-in-law and right-hand man, Tom Messner.
You can’t find these flavors anywhere else. Come in for all the fixings: on a platter, in a wrap or most recently, in a Chipotle-style mixed bowl. Whether a worker rushing through a 30-minute lunch break or a full-sized family making a stop between errands, the Howard’s way guarantees every order comes with the same amount of heart and commitment to quality.
Mike Cotten’s BBQ
Pitmaster: Mike Cotten | Favorite Side: Beans & Potato Salad | Top Seller: Brisket
Barbecue runs in Mike Cotten’s blood. His grandfather, Joe Cotten, opened the family’s first pit in 1947, building notoriety through word of mouth and delicious brisket. Throughout the history of the Cotten barbecue, celebrities, athletes and even presidents made the pilgrimage to Robstown for a slice of brisket. “He was the Aaron Franklin of the ’80s and ’90s,” Mike said of his grandfather, who was a regular fixture in Texas Monthly.
With such a legacy to uphold, Mike started at a young age. From bussing tables at age 7 to working catering jobs as he grew older, he always knew he would carry the torch. After earning a degree in restaurant management from Texas Tech, he stepped into the roles of running the business and pitmaster. Today, the restaurant operates with two massive Primitive Pits offset smokers, fueled by post oak hauled in from Central Texas. The switch from mesquite came two years ago, and Mike swears by the way it elevates flavor.
The menu is traditional and pure to the art of barbecue: Brisket by the pound, ribs, turkey, chicken and a pork sausage, whose recipe is a family-kept secret, that is Cotten’s personal favorite. Brisket is still the magnum opus of the menu, with 35-40 smoked daily during the week and up to 60 on weekends, but Cotten admitted the ribs are the crowd-pleaser.
However, no meal is complete without sides. Mike Cotten’s features scratch-made sides such as mac and cheese and coleslaw, but his favorites are the beans and potato salad.
When you come to try some of Cotten’s magic, you will experience a form of barbecue where quality is tied to honoring tradition, as passed down from his grandfather’s lessons.
Garrett’s Barbecue
Pitmaster: Cosam J. Jaramillo | Top Seller: Brisket
Garrett’s Barbecue was built on more than smoke and spice and everything nice. What began as a deep appreciation for slow-cooked and flavorful meats led to piqued curiosity, then to a passion for discovering the rich history and cultural significance of barbecue. Garrett’s is a restaurant, sure, but at the heart of its name is a memorial to a friend whom the team will forever keep in their hearts.
At the helm is pitmaster Cosam E. Jaramillo. Jaramillo is a family man, a professional boxer and a lifelong advocate for providing people with good food. As a kid, he watched his parents cook for those in need after Sunday church. That early example of food as service still fuels his work today.
The menu stays intentionally small. Garrett’s Barbecue focuses on perfection among a small array of items to serve its customers best. The restaurant does not aim for quantity, but rather to make each dish reflect a belief that barbecue is both an art form and a way to connect people. Brisket leads as the top seller, smoked over mesquite to build a bold flavor and signature smoke ring. Another standout item is a combination of brisket and sausage sandwiches. The popular menu item encapsulates Garrett’s approach: simple, balanced and made with care.
Mr. G’s BBQ
Pitmaster: Julie Gonzalez | Top Seller: Sausage & Mollejas
Mr. G’s BBQ has been part of the Corpus Christi community for 14 years, but its roots stretch back to an unexpected moment. When Joe Cotten’s Barbecue in Robstown burned down, Mr. G was neighbors with one of the managers and saw several skilled pitmen suddenly out of work. He opened his building to them, and from their guidance, a new barbecue tradition was born. A simple initiative to assist friends has transformed into a lasting legacy, now carried forward by his daughter, Julie Gonzalez.
Gonzalez learned barbecue the hard way, working her way up from dishes to mastering the pits. Today, she’s the pitmaster at Mr. G’s, known for in-house sausage making and a specialty that keeps customers coming back: mollejas. Smoked long and slow over raw mesquite, her brisket, sausages and mollejas represent the heart of South Texas barbecue.
The menu reflects tradition while also bringing in unique flavors, from brisket sausage and jalapeño habanero sausage to one-of-a-kind brisket enchiladas. For locals, Mr. G’s is a gathering place shaped by history, family legacy and the kind of cooking that can only come from passion.
Nueces Brewing and Barbecuing
Pitmaster: Will Starns | Favorite Side: Pinto Beans
What started as a passion for home brewing between friends has grown into one of Corpus Christi’s most popular breweries, and later, a brewery-barbecue hybrid. Co-owners Cale Moore and Brandon Harper first dreamed of opening a brewery back in 2010, but it wasn’t until 2017 that the timing felt right. By 2019, Nueces Brewing opened its doors with the intention of being a beer factory. Then came COVID, and with new restrictions, food became essential.
Harper had a smoker and a few utensils, so they added barbecue to the mix, and the pairing stuck. Today, it’s hard to imagine Nueces without the smoke drifting out of the pits.
The barbecue here is rooted in simplicity that lets the meat shine. Smoked low and slow over post oak in a 1,000-gallon offset pit, brisket spends close to 20 hours on the pit with just salt and pepper, creating a rich, classic bark.
Pit duties are handled daily by Will Starns, with Harper lending his barbecue know-how along the way. While brisket is the star, ribs and turkey have also built a following, and the menu shines with unique favorites like brisket nachos piled high with beans, rice, pico and diners’ choice of meat, over tortilla chips. With its balance of bold beer and soulful barbecue, Nueces Brewing is a staple downtown for locals and visitors.
DOPE BBQ & Grill
Pitmaster: David Muñoz | Top Seller: Brisket
DOPE BBQ & Grill was born out of a love for barbecue that David Muñoz shared with his father. When a family pit came into his hands in 2019, Muñoz decided to take barbecue more seriously, refining his skills until he was ready to compete. His barbecue has since earned multiple awards between 2021 and 2025, from first-place wins at the Nueces Brewing Fajita Competition and the Buc Days BBQ Cookoff to a top-10 finish at the Weenie Dog Race World Championships in Buda, Texas. What started as backyard cookouts quickly grew into a venture that friends, family and eventually the community rallied behind.
Now, Muñoz and his business partners, Edward Luna and Ricky Medina, have opened DOPE BBQ inside Pop’s Bar downtown. Known for bold, flavor-packed barbecue smoked with mesquite wood, the menu centers around Muñoz’s award-winning brisket and expands to include ribs, chicken, turkey, sausage and pulled pork.
With a foundation in competition barbecue and a passion for community, DOPE BBQ serves up a variety of premium cuts with the flair and tenacity of a competitor always looking to improve. DOPE BBQ is finally adding sides to its menu now that they have a permanent location. “We’ve been incorporating traditional barbecue staples, and I’m excited to see which ones become customer favorites,” Muñoz shared.
Stevie Lew’s BBQ Kitchen
Pitmaster: Matt Meinhausen | Favorite Side: Potato Salad
Stevie Lew’s BBQ Kitchen is a family-built legacy (you might be noticing a trend here). The late Stevie Lew Meinhausen built the Rockport joint not to chase scale or profit, but to create something his family could sustain together. After decades of running a sprawling coffeehouse business in Arizona, he wanted the opposite: a slower rhythm, a smaller team and a place where the focus stayed on people, not payroll.
For nearly 20 years, that spirit of balance and togetherness defined the restaurant. Stevie’s greatest loves were his family and his faith, and the smokehouse quickly became a reflection of both an easygoing place that welcomed neighbors and friends with warmth and purpose.
Today, that legacy lives on. Meinhausen’s family continues to carry on the work he began, with his eldest son, Matt, assuming the role of pitmaster. The homemade smoker, once checked through the night, has given way to a wood-fired rotisserie pit, fueled exclusively by oak. Brisket leads the menu, followed closely by Matt’s in-house sausages and fall-off-the-bone spare ribs, while the red-skin potato salad remains a perennial favorite.
At Stevie Lew’s, legacy is the secret ingredient. The smoke carries memory, the recipes carry history and every meal is a continuation of a dream Stevie started and one his family will keep alive.
Hoegemeyer’s Barbeque Barn
Pitmaster: David Page | Favorite Side: Baked Tater Salad | Top Seller: Brisket & Smoked Chicken
Since opening in 2013, Hoegemeyer’s Barbeque Barn has become a cornerstone of Corpus Christi barbecue, but its story stretches far deeper. Pitmaster David Page has been in the barbecue business since the 1980s, and he chose the Hoegemeyer name to honor his German heritage and the roots of Texas barbecue itself. German settlers were among the first to smoke meat in Texas, turning necessity into tradition, and that influence still guides the menu today.
The restaurant is housed in a building believed to be nearly a century old, a piece of the city’s history that once tied it to the train depot next door. Inside, mesquite smoke perfumes choice Angus brisket, three styles of ribs and smoked chicken that’s marinated so the flavor runs all the way to the bone.
Brisket cooks overnight for about 14 hours, while ribs and chicken are smoked for three hours, ensuring tenderness without losing depth of flavor. This expertly cooked meat can be ordered as an entrée, by the pound or stacked high in one of the creative sammiches. With its mix of slow-smoked classics and a historic setting, Hoegemeyer’s delivers a barbecue experience rooted in tradition and unmistakably tied to Corpus Christi.
The Bar-B-Q Man Restaurant
Pitmaster: Adan Gonzalez | Favorite Side: Potato Salad & Coleslaw | Top Seller: Brisket
When Alabamian-turned-Corpus local Malcolm DeShields Sr. decided to build his own barbecue joint, he just wanted a nice place for a cold beer and some slow-smoked beef brisket. Now approaching its 50th anniversary, The Bar-B-Q Man Restaurant credits its success to the DeShields family’s commitment to quality in both barbecue and customer service, starting with Malcolm’s original neighborly intentions all the way to the warm welcome current guests receive on a daily basis.
The Man serves old-school smoked meats, plus all the classic homemade fixings and desserts, to workers and locals of all backgrounds in the heart of Corpus Christi’s industry-driven westside, with help from current pitmaster Adan Gonzalez.
Still family-owned and operated, current general manager Matthew DeShields took over the main duties at his father’s request in 2023. Matthew, like his grandfather, values customer service because, as he explained, “One day we might be the best, tomorrow it could be someone else,” but what brings people back is good service. Whether you’re a seasoned regular or a first-timer, expect every visit to this local icon to feel like a Southern grandpa’s weekend cookout.
Mac’s Barbecue #Fore
Pitmaster: Jerry Martinez | Favorite Side: Potato Salad
Only minutes after it opens for the day, the many regulars at Mac’s Barbecue #Fore start making their way down to the order counter. Longtime employees begin preparing customers’ orders as owner and resident pitmaster Jerry Martinez greets everyone by name. He seized the opportunity to run Mac’s fourth iteration when it opened on Alameda in the early 2000s, and this location of the restaurant became its sole survivor, so Martinez was left with a legacy to uphold.
Now decades into the barbecue business, Martinez considers himself one of the few whose wits can withstand such a career—and his have not found their end quite yet. Built with his love of golf in mind, Martinez’s version of the restaurant bears a “Fore!” in its title, a golf tee snuck into the logo and a variety of golf-themed food items.
Mac’s attention to detail ranges from the precise cook time for its famed juicy turkey breasts to the cleanliness of the restaurant itself. Martinez ensures three key aspects are at their utmost quality every day: his restaurant, his food and his customer service. As a crew, Mac’s satisfies every barbecue need one might have, whether it’s flavorful food with all the fixings or a casual chit-chat with an old friend.
Silverado Smokehouse
Pitmaster: William Sissamis | Favorite Side: Loaded Green Beans | Top Seller: Big Salty Sandwich
Since opening in the mid-2000s, Silverado Smokehouse has built a loyal following as one of Corpus Christi’s go-to spots for Texas barbecue. Owner William Sissamis set out to bring authentic Central Texas-style cooking to the Coastal Bend, and nearly two decades later, the restaurant remains a local favorite. Silverado has collected several “Best Bar-B-Que” honors from the Caller Times, along with accolades for its ribs, a testament to the consistency that keeps customers coming back.
Silverado stays true to tradition with meats smoked over hickory wood, a method that infuses every cut with a rich, distinctive flavor. The menu features the classics—brisket, ribs, sausage, pulled pork, turkey and chicken—along with hearty sides like potato salad, cole slaw and beans. Brisket is a star here, but the generous three-meat plates and signature Big Salty Sandwich have also become customer favorites. Silverado Smokehouse is the kind of place where portions are large, flavors are bold and the style is unapologetically Texan. For locals, it’s a place to gather around familiar plates, and for visitors, it’s a true taste of Corpus Christi barbecue tradition.
MacDaddy’s Family Kitchen
Pitmaster: Chris Collins | Favorite Side: Jalapeño Cream Corn
At its core, MacDaddy’s Family Kitchen is a continuation of the legacy shared by the Owens and Collins families. When the opportunity arose to expand their restaurant group in 2015, they stumbled upon a property with an Ole Hickory pit already in place. At the time, they had been catering barbecue around town, and the opportunity that presented itself seemed like a sign to go all in.
At the center of it all is pitmaster and Director of Operations Chris Collins. After years in the restaurant industry, Collins found a new purpose in barbecue while rebuilding his life. Initially a backyard experiment, the art of barbecue became a calling.
He drew inspiration from Franklin Barbecue: A Meat Smokin’ Manifesto, by Aaron Franklin and Jordan Mackay, and experimenting with barbecue became a form of therapy as Collins found his rhythm and flavor while pouring himself into the pits.
Many of the recipes that now anchor MacDaddy’s menu were perfected in the family kitchen and now hit the restaurant tables for lucky patrons. The walls, lined with family photos, remind guests that when you’re here, you’re receiving an open invitation to eat at the family table.
Today, MacDaddy’s offers barbecue to the Port Aransas area, where options are limited, and is known for its tender brisket, loaded BBQ nachos, house sauce with plenty of its own positive Google reviews and jalapeño cream corn that regulars swear by.
Topsy Krett BBQ
Pitmaster: Joe Garcia | Favorite Side: Mexican Spaghetti | Top Seller: The Notorious B.I.P.
Nothing feels better than being in on a city’s little secret, and anyone walking into certified hole-in-the-wall barbecue spot Topsy Krett BBQ can officially consider themselves in the colloquial “know.” This mom-and-pop barbecue restaurant, started by Joe Garcia and a troop of his family and friends, sells out every working day. The local love means a line of eager eaters waits outside the doors daily, all for a chance to taste the mesquite-smoked meats in the many distinctive forms they take here.
Years of success in the local competitive barbecue game means Garcia prioritizes both his honed-in barbecue style and the value of a fine presentation. Known for its sandwiches, bowls and a secret menu for those even more in the know, Topsy Krett arranges its meat options as beautifully as they taste.
Besides the classic beans and potato salad, the Garcias keep true to their South Texan traditions with specialty sides like Mexican spaghetti. Expanding from weekend hours to Wednesday through Sunday to satisfy demand, Garcia assures everyone that his daily servings will always reach his high standards of quality—whether sold to a worker on his lunch break, a student looking for a cheap meal or a seasoned barbecue veteran coming in to satisfy his FOMO.
