BBQ News
Fort Worth's beloved gas-station BBQ restaurant is back on track
Barbecue fans, mark your calendars: BBQ on the Brazos, the acclaimed barbecue joint once located inside a Texaco gas station in Cresson, is back in business. The restaurant will fire back up a few feet from its previous location on November 6, according to co-owner Kathryn Warren.
Located at 9012 Performance Court, next to Cresson's MotorSport Ranch race track, the restaurant will occupy an unusual footprint. The "kitchen" will be their state-of-the-art catering trailer, where Warren's husband and pitmaster Sanford and his son John Sanford Jr. will cook smoked brisket, ribs, and sausage.
The trailer resides next to a small building that will serve as a dining room for about 30 people. Diners can eat in or take their orders to go. "In terms of size, it's not that much different than the Texaco space," Warren says.
The building was once used as a pro-shop for a nearby wake-boarding business. Now it's decked out with tables and chairs and Texana memorabilia. There's a patio with additional seating.
"It’s nice and cozy," she says. They'll be open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 am-3 pm or until they run out.
BBQ on the Brazos closed in July, when Warren and Sanford could not reach a lease agreement with new owners of the Texaco. The couple looked all over North Texas for a new spot.
"We thought about it all, moving somewhere else, building our own place somewhere else," Warren says. "But the more we thought about it, the more we realized we like it right where we were. That town, that community, has supported us since day one."
Many of their patrons are employees and members of the nearby MotorSport Ranch, a first-of-its-kind race car country club owned by local entrepreneur Jack Farr. Farr owns the building that will house BBQ on the Brazos' dining room. "When Jack offered us that building, I can’t tell you how thrilled we were," Warren says.
BBQ on the Brazos' new location will pit it directly against Rooster’s Bar-B-Q, which took over the Texaco location when BBQ on the Brazos closed. Rooster's Bar-B-Q is run by Rooster Beane, who once appeared on Man v. Food and ran Rooster’s locations in Nashville and Granbury.
But Warren and Sanford aren't fazed.
"Competition's a good thing," she says. "There are now three barbecue restaurants in the little town of Cresson. That’s pretty cool."
Max’s Kitchen, a small food trailer located just north of BBQ on the Brazos, also serves barbecue.
BBQ on the Brazos opened in 2013 and quickly established itself as one of the best barbecue restaurants in the North Texas area. The restaurant was recently named one of the top 50 barbecue joints in the state by Texas Monthly.
Sanford and his son will offer a slimmed-down version of their original menu: meats, rotating sides, and desserts, including their essential dessert, banana pudding.
"We'll offer all our usual sides, just not on the same days," Warren says. "We'll do three one day, three different ones another day. The trailer is equipped with a full kitchen. It’s just not a huge kitchen."
Their proximity to the race track has resulted in a unique food/race track combo: A sandwich, side, and drink plus four laps in any of Farr's high-end cars — including a Lamborghini — for $229. That gets you a video of your drive, too. They're calling it the Lambo Combo.
"You drive the car," Farr says. "You're with an instructor but you're the one doing the driving. It'll make a great Christmas present."
