Ray’s BBQ Shack expands tradition of East Texas-style barbecue
Houston has seen a boom in barbecue-joint openings in the past few years. Most new places feature Central Texas-style barbecue that originated in the historical meat markets around Austin and emphasize beef dishes such as brisket served on butcher paper without utensils or sauce. Killen’s Barbecue, Pinkerton’s Barbecue and The Pit Room are a few examples.
For many Houstonians who have only recently discovered (or rediscovered) a love of smoked meats, this is the only barbecue style they know.
But if you lived in Houston 40 years ago, Central Texas-style joints were few and far between. In 1978, Otto’s BBQ on Memorial and a newly opened Goode Co. Barbeque on Kirby were your main choices. Alternatively, if you ventured south of downtown to the Third Ward, you would find a mecca of restaurants featuring Houston’s homegrown East Texas-style barbecue.
East Texas style is more a combination of Southern U.S. barbecue traditions featuring pork dishes and sweet tomato sauce with some of the beef dishes from Central Texas, plus a few Cajun spices and ingredients thrown in for good measure. Originating in the traditionally African-American neighborhoods of Fourth Ward (Freedmen’s Town), Fifth Ward and Third Ward, this was Houston’s defining barbecue style for decades.
If you took a barbecue tour in 1978, you’d probably start at Matt Garner’s on West Gray, then head to Green’s on Almeda, then Drexler’s on Dowling and over to Murphy’s and Lott’s on Scott.
Alas, all of these closed many years ago. Fortunately, a new generation of restaurants and pitmasters cooking up East Texas-style barbecue is thriving and expanding in Houston.
Ray’s BBQ Shack on Old Spanish Trail is one success story. Co-owner and pitmaster Ray Busch grew up in Third Ward and frequented the area’s old-school joints, including Lott’s and Green’s. After retiring from a career in law enforcement, Busch opened his own place in 2011 with his high school friend Maxine Davis and her son, Herb Taylor.
Ray’s is the quintessential East Texas-style barbecue joint. In addition to world-class brisket that rivals many Central Texas-style joints, Ray’s features meaty pork spareribs as well as smoked boudin and “Lott’s Links” — a sausage made from a recipe Busch conjured from the late, beloved Lott’s.
Recently, Busch added a Thursday special of smoked oxtails — another classic East Texas-style dish. The Cajun influence is strong here, with one of the city’s best versions of fried catfish on the menu daily. And no trip to Ray’s would be complete without a basket of the addictive fried corn on the cob.
The original location is tucked into the corner of a gas station, which it quickly outgrew with crowds coming from surrounding neighborhoods and all over Texas. In the past year, Busch leased a larger location a mile west on Old Spanish Trail and began build-out on a new Ray’s BBQ Shack. The 3,300-squarefoot space features a larger kitchen and dining area, a small bar that will feature local craft beers and a separate smokehouse in the rear of the building.
Co-owner Taylor commissioned a new vault-style, allwood-burning smoker to replace their current collection of smaller barrel and rotisserie smokers. The move to a new smoker is already paying dividends. On a recent visit to the original location where Busch and Taylor are breaking in the new smoker, the barbecue offerings were the best I’ve ever had there.
The new location is set to open in March. In a neighborhood that has seen its share of East Texas-style joints close over the years, it’s heartening to see Ray’s BBQ Shack succeed and expand. With Busch, Davis and Taylor, Houston’s indigenous style of barbecue is in good hands.