Baker Boys BBQ makes Texas Monthly honorable mention list for 2025

The competition to be recognized as one of the “best of the best” Texas barbecue joints by Texas Monthly has heated up faster than a propane grill in Hank Hill’s experienced hands.

For the 2025 edition of this quadrennial list, TM barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn and his staff of taste testers went to more restaurants than ever before — 319 stands, smokehouses, shacks or pits, to be exact.

And while Gonzales’ own Baker Boys BBQ didn’t reach quite the same heights it did in 2017 and 2021 — when the restaurant was named one of the Top 50 spots in the Lone Star State — it did get listed as an honorable mention, cementing its place in the magazine’s Top 100 in the state for the third-consecutive time.

“We are very honored to be selected as honorable mention in the Texas Monthly Top 50 list,” owner Wayne Baker said. “Thanks to Texas Monthly for bringing the deserved attention to Texas barbecue. A lot of work goes into this craft and it's nice for them to recognize restaurants for all their hard work. Thank you to our dedicated staff who show up to work everyday and do a great job! Without their commitment this wouldn't be possible. 

“Thank you to our awesome customers who support us every day! Some have been with us for 10 years, we can't thank our customers enough! Thank you for the community of Gonzales for all of your support! It really means a lot to us. Congratulations to everyone who made the list! It is a great honor and a hell of an accomplishment!
In listing Baker Boys BBQ, the staff of Texas Monthly wrote: “We loved the flavorful pork ribs and sausage links, but we were especially wowed by the juicy smoked pork loin.”

Competition for the Top 50 was so tight that stalwarts like Franklin Barbecue in Austin and Snow’s BBQ in Lexington — perennial Top 10 honorees — were fortunate to make it in the Second 40. Other notable joints like Pecan Lodge in Dallas didn’t even make the Top 100 this time around.

“This year’s search for the top fifty barbecue joints in the state resulted in a list of contenders longer than we’ve ever seen before,” Vaughn wrote in the June 2025 issue of Texas Monthly. “Narrowing it down was painful, because those that remained — which we’ve collected here as honorable mentions— all belong in the conversation about Texas’s best barbecue. The good news is that readers have even more options for truly great smoked meats, sides, and desserts this summer. You’ll eat well at all of these spots, and you might even get to avoid extra long lines.”

A friendly competitor to Baker Boys just one county away in Seguin — Burn Bean Co. — was crowned the top BBQ spot in all of Texas. LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue in Austin took second place, while Goldee’s Barbecue in Fort Worth, which was No. 1 in 2021, was third.

The rest of the Top 10 are, in order: Redbird BBQ in Port Neches; GW's BBQ in San Juan; InterStellar BBQ in Austin; Dayne's Craft Barbecue in Aledo; LaVaca BBQ in Port Lavaca; Truth Barbeque in Houston and Evie Mae's Pit Barbeque in Wolfforth.

“To compile the list, our taste testers drove thousands of miles across the state in late 2024. The most promising candidates were revisited by barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn to determine final placements. Visits were not announced in advance, and Texas Monthly paid for all the food — including brisket at those crazy prices,” the magazine wrote.