{"id":399251,"date":"2026-08-06T12:36:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/399251\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T12:36:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:36:36","slug":"watch-how-goldees-barbecue-in-fort-worth-is-helping-shape-the-next-generation-of-pitmasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/399251\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch how Goldee\u2019s Barbecue in Fort Worth is helping shape the next generation of pitmasters"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday mornings, the line outside Goldee\u2019s Barbecue begins forming hours before the doors open. People unfold lawn chairs along Dick Price Road in southeast Fort Worth. They talk, play games and wait for trays of brisket, pork ribs, turkey and house-made sausage.<\/p>\n

The line is part of the experience, but the community Goldee\u2019s has built extends far beyond the customers waiting outside.<\/p>\n

Since opening in 2020, the restaurant has become one of the most influential kitchens in modern Texas barbecue. Texas Monthly<\/a>\u00a0named Goldee\u2019s the No. 1 barbecue joint in the state in 2021, an honor that turned the modest restaurant into an international destination almost overnight.<\/p>\n

But D Magazine Food Critic Brian Reinhart said Goldee\u2019s influence cannot be measured by rankings alone. After seeing the competitiveness and infighting that had long shaped parts of the Texas barbecue scene, the team chose not to perpetuate it.<\/p>\n

Instead, they have remained open about their techniques, supported aspiring pitmasters, and made mentorship an essential part of their legacy. Their goal is not simply to protect what they have created, Reinhart explained, but to help cultivate a new generation of pitmasters who can take what they learn at Goldee\u2019s and build something of their own.<\/p>\n

\"Customers<\/p>\n

Customers settle into lawn chairs while waiting in line outside Goldee\u2019s Barbecue in Fort Worth. <\/p>\n

Five friends and a shared education<\/p>\n

Goldee\u2019s was founded by a group of friends who grew up together in Arlington: Jonny White, Jalen Heard, Lane Milne, Dylan Taylor and Nupohn Inthanousay. Before opening the restaurant, several of them worked at respected barbecue businesses around Texas, learning different approaches to fire management, meat preparation and service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe covered all of our bases in Austin,\u201d said Jalen Heard, Goldee’s co-owner.<\/p>\n

They brought that experience home and built Goldee\u2019s collectively. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a real democratic sense to them, I couldn\u2019t tell you who is the leader,\u201d explained D Magazine food critic Brian Reinhart.<\/p>\n

That collaborative approach is evident throughout the restaurant. Cooks, owners and students rotate through different tasks, sharing responsibility for preparing the food and running service.<\/p>\n

Although Goldee\u2019s serves customers for just 12 hours each weekend, preparing for and running those services requires roughly 150 hours of combined labor. The team divides that workload through schedules designed to reduce burnout in an industry known for long, demanding hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the root of it, every business has to make money,” said Lane Milne, Goldee’s co-founder. <\/p>\n

“But we want to try and just make sure the people that come here, the people that work here and us are all happy and want to do it, because inherently that makes better food.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Goldee\u2019s<\/p>\n

Goldee\u2019s pitmaster Joseph Bastian opens a smoker as the team prepares briskets for another weekend of service. <\/p>\n

\u201cA growing tide raises all ships\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldee\u2019s openness, from encouraging staff to test new recipes to sharing techniques through its barbecue classes, stands apart from the competitiveness that emerged with the rise of modern craft barbecue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kind of think of it like, a growing tide raises all ships,\u201d co-founder Lane Milne said. \u201cIt creates an environment where you can all learn from each other. It turns into more of a friendship rather than just a transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The restaurant offers focused classes on brisket, ribs and sausage. Its five-day intensive classes also cover sausage making, trimming, seasoning, live-fire cooking, testing for doneness, slicing and side preparation, taking students behind the scenes of the restaurant\u2019s process.<\/p>\n

The classes draw home cooks, aspiring restaurant owners and barbecue professionals from across the United States and abroad. Along with the cookbook<\/a> Goldee\u2019s released in 2025, they make the restaurant\u2019s knowledge accessible to people who may never work a shift in its kitchen.<\/p>\n

\"Goldee\u2019s<\/p>\n

Goldee\u2019s co-owner,\u00a0Zain Shafi,\u00a0teaches students about fire management during the restaurant\u2019s brisket class. <\/p>\n

A barbecue family tree<\/p>\n

Perhaps the clearest measure of Goldee\u2019s influence is the growing number of restaurants connected to the people and relationships formed there. <\/p>\n

Former Goldee\u2019s employees Amir Jalali opened Redbird BBQ<\/a> in Port Neches, while Chuck Charnichart drew on her experience there to develop Lockhart\u2019s Barbs-B-Q<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zain Shafi worked at Goldee\u2019s before opening Sabar BBQ, which blended Central Texas barbecue with Pakistani flavors. Though Sabar has closed, Shafi has since returned to Goldee\u2019s as a co-owner.<\/p>\n

Goldee\u2019s mentorship has also traveled beyond Texas. In Orlando, Smokemade Meats + Eats<\/a> owner Tyler Brunachesaid the Goldee’s team are both mentors and friends who helped him develop his craft.<\/p>\n

Redbird, Sabar, and Barbs-B-Q have all appeared on Texas Monthly\u2019s Top 50 list. Rather than being a copy of Goldee\u2019s, each restaurant reflects the background, community and perspective of the person behind it. That distinction is central to Goldee\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kind of people who go out and open their own shops were probably going to do that whether they came to us or not,\u201d said Milne. \u201cBut hopefully, we helped alleviate some of the growing pains.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Goldee\u2019s<\/p>\n

Goldee\u2019s co-owner\u00a0Zain Shafi\u202fdemonstrates\u202fhow to trim a brisket during one of the restaurant\u2019s brisket classes.\u00a0Shafi started his journey with Goldee\u2019s as a student, before going out on his own and later returning to Goldee\u2019s as an owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Goldee\u2019spitmasters,<\/p>\n

Goldee\u2019spitmasters,\u00a0Joseph Bastian and \u201cButch\u201d,\u00a0slice brisket for\u00a0customers.\u00a0Bothhave begundeveloping and testing recipes for\u00a0restaurants they hope to open in the future.<\/p>\n

Passing it down<\/p>\n

Barbecue has always depended on knowledge passed from one person to another, how to tend a fire, when to wrap a brisket, what properly rendered fat should feel like. At Goldee\u2019s, that tradition of teaching has expanded into a broader form of community-building.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the day I met the crew, I\u2019ve become a part of the amazing Goldee\u2019s extended universe,” said Tyler Brunache, owner at Smokemade Meats and Eats. <\/p>\n

“The hands-on teaching they\u2019re able to give to everyone that crosses their path is an insane gift. Years after meeting them, we still get customers every weekend telling us that we were recommended by the Goldee\u2019s team.\u201d <\/p>\n

At Goldee\u2019s, the founders have created a place where everyone feels heard and the kitchen operates like a group of friends united by a love of barbecue. That supportive culture gives cooks the confidence to experiment and eventually pursue ideas of their own.<\/p>\n

For Goldee\u2019s, watching people leave to open successful restaurants is not a loss. It is part of the job.<\/p>\n

The restaurant may be known for what comes off its smokers each weekend, but its lasting impact could be the community it has built and the next generation of pitmasters it has helped prepare.<\/p>\n

The KERA ArtsDoc series is a biweekly program featuring artists working in North Texas. Find us on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Friday mornings, the line outside Goldee\u2019s Barbecue begins forming hours before the doors open. People unfold lawn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-399251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399251","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=399251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}