San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Seguin BBQ joint is No. 4 on Texas Monthly list
The line at the Burnt Bean Co. in downtown Seguin is about to get a little longer. That’s because the barbecue bastion was just named the fourth-best barbecue restaurant in the entire state by Texas Monthly magazine Monday.
Texas Monthly comes out with its 50 Best BBQ Joints list every four years, and even though Burnt Bean has only been in business for about a year, it cracked through the rankings of more established barbecue outlets and was cited for its exceptional brisket, turkey, ribs, sides, desserts and house-made sausage.
The list ranks only the top 10, with the other 40 restaurants unranked. Burnt Bean was the only spot in our region to make the top 10.
“All I can say now is that it’s time to go to work,” said coowner and pitmaster Ernest Servantes. “We have already decided that we are going to increase our cooks by about 20 percent in anticipation of the larger crowds. We are so humble and proud.”
Area restaurants making the unranked list included 2M Smokehouse in San Antonio (its second time on the list) and the newly opened downtown Pinkerton’s Barbecue. The nod for the best barbecue joint in Texas according to Texas Monthly went to Goldee’s Barbecue in Fort Worth, which opened in 2020.
Servantes, who runs the restaurant with co-owner David Kirkland, opened Burnt Bean last October and started as a pop-up before turning into a full-blown restaurant in December in downtown Seguin. The restaurant generates regular lines prior to opening that often wrap around the block. And on Sundays, it serves breakfast before getting to the meats.
Prior to opening Burnt Bean, Servantes established himself as one of the top pitmasters on the competition barbecue circuit, winning more than 50 grand championships. He has been featured on national food television programs such as “BBQ Pitmasters” and “Chopped Grill Masters,” where he won a $50,000 grand prize in 2012.