{"id":357560,"date":"2026-07-01T18:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/357560\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T18:15:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:15:24","slug":"tim-halls-burnt-bbq-tacos-is-all-about-flavor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/357560\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Halls’ Burnt BBQ & Tacos is all about flavor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Owner of Burnt BBQ & Tacos, Tim Halls created the part-barbecue joint, part-taco shop with a focus on flavor. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

B<\/a>urnt BBQ & Tacos isn\u2019t Texas barbecue. Or Kansas City. Or Carolina. Or Memphis. Owner Tim Halls created the part-barbecue joint, part-taco shop with a focus on flavor. <\/p>\n

Raised in Montana, Halls\u2019 first career was working as an emergency medical technician and ambulance driver for his father\u2019s ambulance service. A decade later, he decided to follow his dreams while he had the chance. <\/p>\n

Halls enrolled in culinary school in Scottsdale, Arizona, and worked in a variety of restaurants. <\/p>\n

A flyfishing ranch. An externship at Patrizio. A decade at Baker Bros. American Deli. Two years at Bavarian Grill. Then, he discovered barbecue.<\/p>\n

\"CachapaCachapa is a Venezuelan-style pancake made from fresh corn and corn flower, cooked on a flat-top griddle with queso de mano, folded, brushed with mantequilla and sprinkled with cotija cheese and cilantro. Photography by Kathy Tran<\/p>\n

That, he says, was trial and error. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no YouTube,\u201d Halls says. \u201cI burned up a lot of briskets.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started making homemade barbecue sauces, eventually selling them at Central Market locations, where he did demonstrations for customers. <\/p>\n

Those rubs and sauces borrow influences from Texas, Montana and the Southwest, with ingredients like citrus and ancho chile peppers for layers of flavor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a firm believer that everything\u2019s about flavor, not about spice,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The restaurant\u2019s top sellers are its Coffee Grind Brisket Taco, a pecan-smoked brisket in a flour tortilla dressed with cilantro lime cream, a homemade barbecue sauce, cotija cheese, pico, cilantro and lime ($7.50).<\/p>\n

Some customer favorites, like arepas and empanadas, however, were unexpected additions. <\/p>\n

Halls met his wife, Maria, working together in Legacy Hall,<\/a> where he had opened Dock Local with chef pal M Brett Curtis. <\/p>\n

As the COVID-19 pandemic made the restaurant industry increasingly focused on takeout, Curtis and Halls created Burnt BBQ & Tacos as a to-go-only concept. Halls bought out Curtis years later.<\/p>\n

But Maria and Halls were still connected. They went to church together at Custer Road United Methodist Church, where Maria introduced him to Venezuelan specialties. <\/p>\n

They married four years ago, and slowly, dishes like arepas, empanadas, patacon sandwiches and traditional Venezuelan soups were added to the menu. <\/p>\n

Arepas can be filled with coffee-grind brisket, burnt ends, poblano sausage, carne mechada, cilantro-lime crema, roasted garlic pulled pork, barbecue citrus turkey breast, chicken or pollo mechada ($7 each). Navajo fry bread tacos feature \u201cBurnt\u201d pinto beans, choice of barbecue meat, chopped romaine, cheddar jack cheese, avocado lime crema, pico, cilantro and lime ($15).<\/p>\n

The dishes complemented one another, Halls says, and arepas have grown into one of the best-sellers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe really work on consistency,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re going to get the same meal today, and when you come two weeks from now, it\u2019s going to be basically the exact same.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Halls, Burnt BBQ & Tacos is more than a barbecue restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re diversified in what we do,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it\u2019s all about flavor. If you want to experience something you\u2019ve never had before, this is the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burnt BBQ & Tacos<\/a>, 2929 Custer Road, 469.786.0078<\/p>\n

\"NavajoNavajo fry bread tacos contain \u201cBurnt\u201d pinto beans, choice of barbecue meat, chopped romaine, cheddar jack cheese, avocado lime crema, pico, cilantro and lime. Photography by Kathy Tran<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Owner of Burnt BBQ & Tacos, Tim Halls created the part-barbecue joint, part-taco shop with a focus on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":["post-357560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}