Longoria’s BBQ, a two-time Texas Monthly Top 50 barbecue restaurant known for its housemade brisket sausage made from a closely guarded recipe, has closed, pitmaster David Longoria posted on social media.
Longoria’s made the magazine’s state rankings in 2003 and 2013 for the beef sausage made with a recipe from Gonzales, the family’s hometown.
When brother Danny Longoria opened the restaurant in 1998 with parents, Angelita and Fidencio (“Fred”), there were no small-batch craft barbecue restaurants in North Texas and few shops with housemade sausage.
Years earlier, when Fred Longoria shined shoes in downtown Gonzales, he saw how many customers came for the sausage at that city’s legendary Espinosa’s, which closed in 2012, and Gonzales Food Market.
Longoria’s was one of the first Latino-owned barbecue restaurants recognized statewide.
The restaurant also sold some of the region’s first brisket burgers.
A smoked brisket burger with pinto beans and potato salad, plus a whole barbecued chicken and pork ribs at Longoria’s BBQ in Everman, Texas, as seen Nov. 22, 2000.
“HELLO, we are closing BBQ shop,” David Longoria posted Thursday.
He proudly listed Longoria’s prizes: 12 magazine articles. the top 50 and a Travel Channel episode.
“I’m closing the doors and cutting the light one last time,” he wrote, adding that he’ll go “on the BBQ trail taking on the visits I never had time [to] make.”
“C U Guys then. W/ much Love, Uncle Dave.”
Co-founder Danny Longoria of Longoria’s BBQ in Everman, Texas, talked about the high price of brisket, as seen March 31, 2010.
When Food Network host Guy Fieri wanted to feature Longoria’s on :”Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” the Longorias turned him down because they refused to give the network their sausage recipe.
Longoria’s focus on sausage and burgers sometimes confused regular barbecue fans in brisket-crazed North Texas.
But the restaurant had a 4.2-star rating on Google.com and 4-star rating on Yelp.com.
Commenters on both sites praised the sausage and burgers and Yelp commenters also took note of the brisket chili,
Longoria’s is the second regionally recognized barbecue restaurant in south Tarrant County to close in two months.
The Crowley location of Cousin’s BBQ closed in September. Two Cousin’s remain open in southwest Fort Worth.
Hickory Stick Barbecue in Everman, a traditional wood-paneled Texas barbecue restaurant, is a readers’ favorite in Star-Telegram polls. Jambo’s Original BBQ Shack in Rendon has also been state-ranked, and the Texas-based Hard Eight and Rudy’s BBQ chains dominate business along Interstate 35W.
A recent Michelin Star honoree, Goldee’s BBQ, is about 5 miles east near Kennedale and has drawn barbecue fans to Jambo’s, Longoria’s, Hurtado in Arlington or Mansfield and other nearby restaurants.