Hurtado Barbecue

Hurtado Barbecue at 2364 Arkansas Lane in Arlington is the restaurant that put the DFW metroplex on the elite Texas barbecue map as a producer rather than merely a consumer of the state's most celebrated cuisine. Pitmaster Brandon Hurtado opened the restaurant in 2020 and within its first year received recognition from Texas Monthly as one of the best new barbecue spots in the state—a publication whose ranking system functions as the definitive arbiter of Texas BBQ quality. Hurtado's brisket follows Central Texas orthodoxy: post-oak smoke, salt-and-pepper rub, and the patient time required to render the intramuscular fat of prime beef into something transcendent. The bone-in beef short rib is the preparation that distinguishes Hurtado most dramatically: an enormous single bone from the plate rib section, smoked to a crust and presenting meat that pulls away in quantities that feed two people from a single rib. The cowboy sausage—housemade with beef and pork, seasoned with garlic and black pepper—has developed its own following among the restaurant's regulars. The brisket grilled cheese, made with thick-cut smoked brisket between cheese-laden bread, speaks to the kitchen's willingness to offer comfort food alongside the canonical BBQ preparations. Arlington's position between Dallas and Fort Worth means Hurtado draws from the full DFW population rather than just one city's core. The restaurant operates Wednesday through Sunday beginning at 11 AM and closes when the meat is exhausted, which often happens before 2 PM on weekends.