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Our Start
With no restaurant experience and very little money, we began to transform this old barn-style warehouse into our first bona fide location. By our way of thinking, what Texas barbeque ought to be: fresh food at an honest price, made to please and made to order.
It was hard work. Most nights, Jim Goode and his uncle, Joe Dixie, slept at the restaurant, waking up every hour to check on the brisket. One slept inside, one outside, and they kept a shotgun nearby to protect the meat, the equipment, and themselves (in that order). On slow days, Jim would head out onto Kirby Drive, sandwiches in hand, and invite people in to sit for a while. It didn’t take many sandwiches before word of mouth was traveling faster than folks could swallow. Even today – 40+ years, ten restaurants and countless mouthfuls later – we’re still filling the plates of those first few patrons who helped us find our feet. Because we still stand for the same thing: good food, done right.
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Our Signature
Walls bedecked with black and white photos of cowboys. A collection of soft leather saddles. Cheeky hand-painted signs. A twenty-five thousand pound propeller. If there’s one thing we’re certain you’ll never find, it’s a gas or electric grill. We couldn’t work one if we wanted to. That’s because barbeque’s next to nothing without some serious smoke, and Jim Goode was raised on food cooked over mesquite – the hardy little tree that covers most of south Texas. This wood smoke’s deliciously distinct flavor has been Goode Company’s carnivorous calling card for years – but not just our barbeque’s. Seafood, fajitas, burgers, you name it – we smoke it all over the sweet-smellin' mesquite you see stacked outside each restaurant. If you miss it, don’t worry. One whiff a mile away and your nose will start salivating before your mouth even gets a chance.
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Our Standards
Just the idea of a hurry leaves us with a bad taste in our mouth. So before the rooster even crows, we’re pulling loaves of jalapeño cheese bread from our ovens. Or stuffing four different types of sausage. Or, because we think every piece of meat deserves a proper dose of personality, we’re blending barbeque rubs and seasonings in-house – and shipping longneck beer bottles chock-full of sauce to transplanted Texans who just can’t quit the stuff. Point is, food that’s slow-smoked, scratch-made, and handcrafted daily – well, it tastes better. It feels better. And boy, does it smell better. Whether we’re splitting mesquite for our smoker or cracking pecans for our pies, we honor the same commitment to our craft as the generations before us. And the only thing we won’t sacrifice to put the best food in front of you is the time it takes to do it right.
