Houston Barbecue Events

Space City BBQ serves great craft ‘Q to Baytown

February 23, 2026

For barbecue entrepreneurs getting their start in a trailer, tending the coals and wrapping briskets in the 100-degree heat of a Texas summer is literally trial-by-fire. It’s the ultimate meritocracy – pitmasters who can make world-class barbecue in this extreme environment will often go on to open a successful brick-and-mortar restaurant where, if they’ve planned ahead, may include an air-conditioned pit room. Such is the trajectory of Logan Glenn, owner and pitmaster at the Space City BBQ trailer located on a dusty, sunbaked stretch of a farm-to-market road east of the Grand Parkway in Baytown. Glenn, 33, has been quietly building toward this moment for more than a decade.

Anthony Bourdain’s favorite sandwich is a barbecue classic

January 31, 2026

The late chef and food writer Anthony Bourdain is famously credited with the quote, “Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start – undoubtedly an accurate representation of his point of view on how food, and especially barbecue, can unite people and cultures. Another story attributed to Bourdain is his love for a particular sandwich made from a traditional deli meat and cheese. He first mentioned this sandwich in his 2016 cookbook, “Appetites.” Here, he provides a recipe inspired by a sandwich he encountered while travelling in Brazil, featuring a pile of fried mortadella (the Italian progenitor of American bologna) and melted Provolone cheese, with mayonnaise and mustard on a buttered and toasted roll. Undoubtedly a mouth-watering and crowd-pleasing dish.

Announcing the 2026 Houston Barbecue Festival

January 6, 2026

The Houston Barbecue Festival returns on Sunday, April 12, 2026, for its 13th year, celebrating everything that makes Houston barbecue unlike anywhere else in the world. The festival is presented by Goodstock by Nolan Ryan. With its sheer number of barbecue joints and an unmatched diversity of styles, the greater Houston area has quietly become one of America’s great barbecue cities. The Houston Barbecue Festival is the only event that brings together the full spectrum of that scene – legendary institutions, neighborhood favorites, and the city’s most exciting rising stars – all in one place, at one time, for one price.