{"id":126154,"date":"2026-01-16T20:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T20:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/126154\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T20:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T20:09:11","slug":"grilled-brisket-gasp-is-this-bbq-joints-specialty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/126154\/","title":{"rendered":"Grilled Brisket\u2014Gasp\u2014Is This BBQ Joint\u2019s Specialty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas is home to a multitude of barbecue joints that meld traditionally smoked meats with cuisines from around the world. The Egyptian-Texan mix of KG BBQ<\/a>, in Austin, is widely known; Kh\u00f3i Barbecue, in Houston, takes inspiration from Vietnamese dishes; and Smoke \u2019N Ash BBQ<\/a>, in Arlington, might be the world\u2019s only Ethiopian smokehouse. One would assume Kelly\u2019s Cambodian BBQ, in Fort Worth, is built on a similar model, but there\u2019s a big difference. \u201cWe don\u2019t smoke anything,\u201d co-owner Kelly Vorn said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the patience.\u201d Fear not, barbecue lovers\u2014you\u2019ll still find brisket here.<\/p>\n

Spotting two portable charcoal grills sitting under a vent hood behind the counter was a surprise, but then again, I\u2019d just walked into a liquor store to order Cambodian barbecue. A friend of Vorn\u2019s husband, Curtis Bennett, owns Liquor Up on the west side of Fort Worth, and the store had a vacancy in its fully outfitted kitchen. He offered it to Vorn and Bennett to run their operation, starting last March. From one of a few stools at the stainless steel counter, you can watch your meat cooking on one of the grills in the open kitchen. Just be sure to order at the front register before sitting down.<\/p>\n

The brisket comes two ways. The Beef Stick features thin, skewered slices of marinated brisket that have been rubbed with kroeung, a lemongrass-forward Cambodian seasoning paste that also includes crushed lime leaves, garlic, and turmeric. The result is a flavor bomb of tender grilled beef with a good dose of char. The other option begins with fist-size chunks of brisket that Vorn marinates for two days in a soy sauce\u2013based liquid. Bennett grills the chunks over charcoal to order and then slices them to serve. They arrive pink in the center, cooked just beyond medium rare. It\u2019s an alarming visual to anyone who eats a lot of Texas brisket, but the meat was quite tender. \u201cEverybody\u2019s used to that Texas brisket, that you don\u2019t need no teeth to eat it with,\u201d Bennett said. The bit of resistance in each bite might be a surprise, but Cambodians, Vorn told me, prefer to have some chewiness in their meat.<\/p>\n

The traditional Cambodian sauce to serve with grilled beef is tuk prahok, whose key ingredient is fermented mudfish. Vorn\u2019s mother, Sinoun, taught her how to make it. She escaped the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia at age sixteen, when she was pregnant with Vorn, and eventually made it to Texas, where Vorn was born. Vorn\u2019s early customers in Fort Worth found the pungent sauce a bit too aggressive, so she makes the more approachable jeow som instead, which hails from Cambodia\u2019s neighbor Laos. The sweet and salty dip is fiery but complements the beef well, especially with a bite of the sticky rice, available as a side. Vorn said she\u2019s considering bringing back the tuk prahok for her Cambodian customers. \u201cI\u2019d also like to reintroduce it to the Americans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese, we all use the same ingredients, but everything tastes so different,\u201d Vorn said. Herbaceous flavors like those of lime leaf and lemongrass are typical across the region, so the tastes at Kelly\u2019s Cambodian BBQ will be comforting to those familiar with Thai food. Weekly specials include chicken khao poon, a Laotian dish with vermicelli, and the Cambodian version of pho, called kathiew, which Vorn makes with a combination of beef chuck, eye of round, beef ribs, and oxtail.<\/p>\n

Along with brisket, the other members of the Texas trinity are also on the Kelly\u2019s Cambodian BBQ menu. Vorn marinates pork ribs and deep-fries them individually to order. She uses a Laotian recipe to make her own sausage, which has more herbs and less fat than Cambodian tvako sausage. I preferred the juicy link to the ribs, which were a challenge to separate from the bone.<\/p>\n

\"Kelly's\"Kelly'sKelly Vorn and Curtis Bennett.Photograph by Daniel Vaughn<\/p>\n

Shrimp fried rice is one of the restaurant\u2019s bestsellers, but the inspiration for it is a geographical surprise. Bennett\u2019s father is from East St. Louis, Illinois. I was unaware that the St. Louis area had its own style of fried rice, but it certainly does, and Bennett urged Vorn to lean into it. \u201cThey don\u2019t like peas or carrots or none of that in their rice,\u201d he said. The rice at Kelly\u2019s gets only the additions of eggs, white onion, and bean sprouts, which are all heavily seasoned with dark soy sauce. Vorn adds saut\u00e9ed marinated shrimp and a few leaves of fresh basil to the mix for a hearty portion.<\/p>\n

The top seller is Vorn\u2019s fried chicken wings. Have some patience, because she fries them to order, and you\u2019ll need to wait a few minutes for them to cool down once served. Vorn first marinates the chicken and seasons the rice flour the wings are dusted with. After frying, she adds a sprinkle of a proprietary blend of powdered spices. The skin is crisp, the meat is juicy, and the flavor is deep. I swear the wings were still warm after I drove back home to Dallas.<\/p>\n

On your way out the door, grab an order of banana pudding made with golden Oreos or a 7Up bundt cake baked by Bennett\u2019s mother. And if you want more Cambodian food, look for Vorn\u2019s booth at the annual Khmer New Year celebration, which is held every April. The Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas hosts the event, and it was where Vorn first sold her food to the public, in 2024. \u201cOnce I saw the reaction of people at the festival, I was like, \u2018You need to do this full-time,\u2019\u200a\u201d Bennett said. And now there\u2019s a family-run business inside a liquor store serving brisket in a way that\u2019s completely new to most Texans.<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s Cambodian BBQ
<\/a>3080 Alta Mere Drive, Fort Worth
<\/a>Hours: Thursday\u2013Saturday noon\u20138
Phone: 682-270-1928
Pitmasters: Kelly Vorn and Curtis Bennett
Method: Charcoal in a direct-heat grill
Year opened: 2025<\/p>\n

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