{"id":4525,"date":"2025-10-15T08:42:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T08:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4525\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T08:42:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T08:42:28","slug":"one-of-texas-top-barbecue-joints-is-moving-to-plano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4525\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Texas\u2019 top barbecue joints is moving to Plano"},"content":{"rendered":"

After getting its start in a tiny North Texas town, one of Texas Monthly\u2019s top 50<\/a> barbecue joints has packed up to make the move to Plano.<\/p>\n

Yearby\u2019s Barbecue and Waterice, which specializes in halal barbecue, will open in early October near U.S. Highway 75 and Parker Road after two and a half years in Pilot Point.<\/p>\n

Owners Sabrina and CJ Henley got their start in barbecue in 2020 by making chopped brisket sandwiches to hand out to their son\u2019s football team after home games. Within a year, they started a food trailer that they parked in front of an O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts shop. Two years later, they opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Pilot Point, and this year, they were named one of the top barbecue spots in Texas<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe took a gamble,\u201d said Sabrina in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. \u201cWe stepped out there on faith because all we had in our pocket was $3,000. But we knew we were doing this together and for our family. It was like if we fail, we fail, but at least we tried.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

The new Yearby’s Barbecue and Waterice in Plano will have twice the seating of its previous location in Pilot Point.<\/p>\n

Claire Ballor<\/p>\n

Their success is particularly notable as neither of them had any knowledge of Texas barbecue before CJ picked it up as a hobby. Sabrina, who was born and raised in Philadelphia said CJ, who is from New Orleans, started smoking briskets for fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t know about Texas barbecue, but we knew about grilling,\u201d she said. \u201cThe hobby started costing a lot of money, though. I\u2019d be like, \u2018Why we eating brisket every day?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

CJ laughs at the fact that for years he chopped up all of the briskets he smoked before serving them to anyone because he was worried about them being dry. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had to reach a new level of confidence because I knew that in order for us to really traverse into the barbecue space, we had to stop chopping up all the briskets we were smoking,\u201d he said. \u201cI basically changed the cooking method and started pulling them [off the smoker] a little sooner and putting them in the warmer as opposed to running them all the way through.\u201d<\/p>\n

When they opened Yearby\u2019s, which is named after CJ\u2019s grandfather, in 2022, they were drawn to Pilot Point by the affordable rent. They weren\u2019t sure, though, how their business would be received. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a Black-owned, Muslim halal business in Pilot Point, Texas,\u201d Sabrina said. \u201cPeople were cautious but welcoming. Some people would come in and say, \u2018Wow, you\u2019re the first Black Muslim I\u2019ve ever met.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It took a little while for their restaurant to gain traction, but soon it grabbed the attention of both people in Pilot Point and those willing to make the hourlong drive from Dallas and its suburbs. <\/p>\n

\"Water<\/p>\n

Water ice, a dairy-free frozen dessert from Philadelphia, is a staple at Yearby’s Barbecue and Waterice.<\/p>\n

Juan Figueroa \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Once some people get past the fact that being a halal restaurant means no pork is on the menu, the Henleys said they win them over with their brisket, smoked chicken and smoked meatloaf. The water ice, a Philadelphia specialty, also gets attention.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Sabrina describes the treat of her childhood to the uninitiated: It\u2019s a frozen dessert with a creamy texture but no dairy. It\u2019s made with water, fruit flavoring, fruit and sugar. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a little drop of rain from heaven,\u201d said CJ. <\/p>\n

They source the water ice from Philadelphia in a handful of flavors, and it\u2019s one of two desserts on the menu, along with the more expected banana pudding. <\/p>\n

When the Plano restaurant opens, the Henleys, who live in Anna and have six children ages 5 to 15, said they\u2019ll be there every day as they were at the Pilot Point restaurant. CJ makes the meat and Sabrina handles all the sides. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely difficult to leave because Pilot Point has been so welcoming. They treated us like family,\u201d CJ said. \u201cWe had to move on, though, and take a good opportunity to open in a new space. We can now be closer to a lot of our customers who were driving an hour to see us.\u201d <\/p>\n

The new restaurant will still have a patio but it will have twice the seating as the Pilot Point restaurant did. The Henleys also added an additional smoker in anticipation that their family business will have a bit more traffic than it did in its small town days. <\/p>\n

Yearby\u2019s Barbecue and Waterice is expected to open in early October 2025 in Plano near U.S. Highway 75 and Parker Road. It will be open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or until sold out. yearbysbbq.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After getting its start in a tiny North Texas town, one of Texas Monthly\u2019s top 50 barbecue joints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1068,4902,960,49,320,4901,160,162,161,1622,354],"class_list":["post-4525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-barbecue","tag-best-restaurants","tag-collin-county","tag-food","tag-food-and-drink","tag-halal","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-restaurant-openings","tag-restaurants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525","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=4525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}