Houston, There’s a New Barbecue Joint in Town

After months of anticipation, Terry Black has finally landed in Houston, bringing a different kind of legacy to the smoker. Siblings Christina, Mike, and Mark Black opened their first pit on Austin’s Barton Springs Road in 2014, naming it for their father, and have since built lines in Lockhart, Waco, Fort Worth, Dallas, and even Tennessee. In mid-August, they finally brought the smoke to Houston Heights with a two-story space built to match the ambition: an indoor-outdoor dining room, an elevated loft overlooking the action, and a pit house anchored by six massive post-oak-fired smokers that guests can watch work in real time.

So how does it stack up? Terry Black’s is definitely one of the best in the business. The menu is rich and filling, sticking to the hits—Dino beef ribs, brisket, turkey, and house-made sausage, all hand-cut to order—alongside scratch-made sides like potato salad, green beans, macaroni and cheese, and pinto beans, plus  banana pudding and cocktails like frozen black margaritas and Big Red and bourbon slushies. 

The restaurant does things a little differently: Diners can grab a drink at the bar near the entrance—a welcome feature, especially there’s a wait for food. Then, it’s time to line up for sides and desserts first, filling your tray with the accompanying and preferred essentials before landing at the finale: the meats. Watch them slice and weigh pounds of meat before checking out. Seating is pretty ample, with tables available on the main level, in the upstairs mezzanine, and outdoors on its small patio.

The location of Houston’s Terry Black’s is an interesting one, considering that Truth BBQ and Pinkerton’s BBQ are within a 3-mile radius. Houston certainly isn’t lacking in barbecue, but maybe the more, the merrier?

This Vietnamese institution recently opened a newer, brighter location in Upper Kirby just in time to prepare for the closing of its East Downtown outpost. Located on Richmond Ave, Huynh 2.0 will serve up the same menu as the original, including the duck salad, noodle bowls, rice plates, Vietnamese coffee, and affogatos, plus a few additions. Houston Chronicle reports that the new location will offer a grilled beef betel leaf dish with vermicelli noodles, lettuce wraps, and a carrot-forward beef stew. The original location, which opened on St. Emanuel St in 2008, is slated to close by the end of the year.

After a hiatus for renovations, this Chinese buffet reopened on August 21, offering a lineup of Chinese staples, including dumplings, fried rice, lo mein, hot soups, and egg foo young, plus chicken, beef, seafood, and Hunan specialties.

The hospitality group behind Pitch 25 and Bayou Heights Bier Garten is serving up more fun in the form of a new pickleball venue. The Kirby Group recently opened Long Point Social Club in the former spot of cocktail bar Diversion’s first location off Long Point Road. The two-acre space features 12 pickleball courts, eight of which are covered, a dog park, and a restaurant serving coffee and pastries as early as 8am, plus comfort food for late lunch, dinner, and brunch. Loyalists can choose from the available memberships.

The Kirby Group will follow this up with the Bixby,  an accompanying cocktail lounge with a separate entrance.

One of Houston’s most anticipated barbecue joints finally opened its doors on August 13. Pitmaster Willow Villarreal and partner Jasmine Barela spent more than a decade earning their stripes—pop-ups at Grand Prize and Big Star Bar, a food truck that scored a three-star review from the Houston Chronicle, and a stint leading the opening team at J-Bar-M—before building their own place next to Eastwood Station at 4109 McKinney. The barbecue at Willow’s leans modern Central Texas: brisket, pork ribs, two house-made sausages, smoked turkey, pulled pork, and smoked chicken, backed by Barela’s sides (marinated tomatoes, mac and cheese, cornbread) and desserts like banana pudding and all-butter-crust pies. Tavern fare rounds out the menu, with burgers, smoked-and-fried wings, a fried chicken sandwich, smoked crab dip, alongside frozen cocktails named for Barela’s Seinfeld and Mountain Dew Baja Blast obsessions, all under a wood ceiling the couple built to feel like a neighborhood living room.

The Magnolia Hotel Houston has a new reason to linger in the lobby. Press & Pour, open daily from 6am to 11pm, leans into the building’s history as the former home of Houston Post-Dispatch and Shell Oil, with vintage photographs, a 1920s typewriter, and a copper still setting the scene. Mornings bring espresso drinks, iced and blended coffee, matcha, and a cinnamon roll big enough to share. At 3pm, the space pivots to happy hour, with bar bites like snapper ceviche and short rib sliders alongside cocktails such as the Black Gold, a bourbon-blackberry riff on a whiskey sour. Fifty-two seats inside plus a covered, pet-friendly patio make it an easy stop before or after a game at nearby Daikin Park.

The burger joint launched in part by Houston hip-hop legend Bun B opened its fourth Houston-area location at the Rice Memorial Center near Rice University on Monday, August 17. Trill Burgers has been on a roll: lines wrapped around its first Montrose location for weeks after its 2023 debut, and it’s since opened in Spring and Missouri City, introducing the region to its smashburgers piled with special sauce and grilled onions. Another location is expected to open soon at Westheimer and Hillcroft.

The Woodlands’ Audrey Hepburn-inspired restaurant has found its second home, and it went big: The Audrey’s new Uptown outpost fills 5,480 square feet inside the Aspire Post Oak high-rise, complete with Tiffany-blue walls, crystal chandeliers, and a mural of its namesake framed in flowers. Chef Omar Khan’s Culinary Khancepts built the August 5 opening around coastal-leaning American fare—think beef Wellington, a Tuna Mignon, and truffle mushroom ravioli—alongside Parker rolls slathered in honey-agave butter and bacon jam. Dessert comes courtesy of Luis Robledo Richards, the Mayahuel pastry chef once named Latin America’s best pastry chef, and the drink list leans just as theatrical, with a WhistlePig Old Fashioned finished tableside in hickory smoke. There’s also a 24-seat private room, the Secret Garden, for anyone who wants their Hepburn homage a little more intimate.

The Houston pizzeria known for its Neapolitan, New York, Detroit-style, and more recently, Chicago tavern-style pizzas is opening two locations. The first is slated to open at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in October 2026, and the second is a to-go and delivery-only outpost in Meyerland off of Chimey Rock Road in March 2027. It will not serve its Neapolitan-style pies. Pizaro’s currently has locations in Montrose and the Energy Corridor.

Bludorn Hospitality Group will soon open its tavern-inspired restaurant Bar Bludorn in The Woodlands, meaning it might be easier to secure its standout fried chicken, cult favorite French fries, and expertly made drinks in the ‘burbs.

Rouxpour owner Mack McDonald is stepping up with a 16,000-square-foot steakhouse inside the 5POP office tower on Post Oak, according to CultureMap Houston. Executive chef Carlos Andrade, a Brennan’s of Houston veteran, is leading a menu of prime beef, raw and chargrilled oysters, sushi, and seafood, with luxury add-ons like caviar and truffles. Three private dining rooms—including a 60-seat Estate Room with its own bar—offer plenty of options for more intimate gatherings.