From Pop-Ups to World Championships
How a backyard smoker in Houston became one of the most decorated names in Texas barbecue.
The Obsession Started Young
Grant Pinkerton was raised in Houston, with family roots that run back into the Texas Hill Country and down to the Gulf Coast. The obsession started young. Standing in a friend’s tent at the Houston Rodeo’s World Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, the smell of the pits got into his blood and never left. By twelve, he had asked his dad for a BBQ pit and was teaching himself the craft.
At Lamar High School in Houston, he played football and participated in Future Farmers of America. He was an avid outdoorsman, spending most of his time outside. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a degree in Rhetoric and Writing and, as he puts it, “minoring in BBQ and having a good time.” After graduating, he moved home and started Pinkerton’s with just a barbecue pit and a dream.
In 2016, at twenty-seven, Grant opened the doors to his first Pinkerton’s Barbecue location. Within a year, Pinkerton’s BBQ had landed on Texas Monthly’s prestigious Top 50 list, and he became the first pitmaster ever named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Pinkerton’s has since won numerous awards, ranging from World Championships to Michelin Bib Gourmands, and is regarded as one of the best BBQ places in the world.
Today, Pinkerton’s spans three locations: from the original in the Heights, to downtown San Antonio, and back to the Upper Kirby Houston area he grew up around. Same family recipes, same fire. As Grant says, “at Pinkerton’s, the standard is the standard.”
Earned, Not Claimed
Most barbecue joints chase one kind of recognition. Pinkerton's earns it on two fronts: from the critics and on the competition circuit.
Few names in Texas live in both of these worlds. Pinkerton's is one of them.
COME AND EAT IT®
Behind the restaurants is a competition team with a name that says it all. This is where the recipes get tested under pressure, against the best teams in the country, on the clock, with judges scoring every bite.
It is also where some of Pinkerton's proudest hardware comes from, including back-to-back Beef World Champion titles at Memphis in May. The rubs and sauces that win on the circuit are the same ones that hit your table.
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For the Kids
Each year, our competition team Glazed and Confused fires up the pits at Hogs for the Cause in New Orleans, one of the country's largest charity barbecue events, which has raised more than $15 million for families fighting pediatric brain cancer. Every plate we serve and every dollar we raise goes straight to the kids and families facing the deadliest childhood cancer. Cook with us, eat with us, and help us turn smoke into something that matters.
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