Barbecue has been a journey for 225° BBQ co-owner Rene Ramirez — literally. Before settling into its current location on East Main Street in east Arlington, 225° BBQ started as a food truck in Dallas in 2018. Then, it bounced to Grand Prairie, Texas, to various parking lots and eventually to where it is now. Although the location didn’t work out for a while, they were asked to come back and now own the spot. But Ramirez has not settled. He starts his day at around 3 a.m., trimming briskets, boiling beans and prepping sides. Some nights, he doesn’t sleep until midnight. “By the second day, third day, I’ve already worked like 40 hours, and then the week just started,” he said. At its current location, where the smoky scene of brisket drifts through the air, a mural of singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez lies on the wall as an intentional effort to represent the marriage of Texas pride and Mexican culture. It’s that culture of identity, history and hustle that led 225° BBQ to become KERA’s best barbecue joint in North Texas, voted by more than 9,000 readers in 2023. The Mexi-cue fuses traditional Texas barbecue with Mexican flavors and draws a loyal following. Ramirez estimated that around 70% of his customers are from word-of-mouth, with some coming religiously around once or twice a week. On the menu, brisket and shrimp tacos both have places alongside barbecue plates. With its meat, 225° BBQ provides something savory, sweet — and plenty of spice — that goes beyond salt and pepper. The rub has barely changed since the start. That meat is smoked with post oak and pecan wood in a two-to-one ratio that Ramirez sources from east Texas. After years of bouncing around, 225° BBQ now has a team of seven or eight. Ramirez never forgets its beginning. It’s the years of practicing barbecue in his backyard, taking orders from roadside pop-ups to the food truck, that have brought him here. It’s that failed brisket at his family cook-off over a decade ago that started it all. His brother, who won that cook-off, is now his business partner. “It’s still my baby at the end of the day,” Ramirez said. “I gotta make sure everything’s right.” Multimedia editor Ronaldo Bolaños contributed to this reporting. @DangHLe news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Behind the modest-sized, single-story Hurtado Barbecue restaurant on East Front Street, five 1,000-gallon smokers run simultaneously. It’s around 2:15 p.m. on a recent Friday. Two pitmasters have been in the smoker area trimming and preparing the meat since 4 a.m. Soon they will tag out for the two other pitmasters who will stay past closing when necessary. “There’s no cutting corners, any of that,” pitmaster Chris Kurosky said. The smokers cook the chickens, sausages and briskets — all menu items that brought Hurtado Barbecue from serving at pop-up events to opening three brick-and-mortar locations in two years. Outside of the Arlington location, UTA alumnus Brandon Hurtado and his wife own restaurants in Dallas, Fort Worth and Mansfield. What makes Hurtado’s winning recipe? “The love we put into this,” Kurosky said. Hurtado Barbecue’s Mexi-cue flavor offers unusual fare like quail and sweet, plump bacon burnt ends. Its cultural influence is presented from the dry rubs to sides like street corn with spices and crema. On adventurous days, you can get the tostada, which consists of smoked brisket topped with refried beans, salsa verde, Valentina hot sauce, cotija cheese, cilantro and onions. As Kurosky sliced raw pork belly, his fellow pitmaster Joe Ponce tossed them in the spice blend, which is a Hurtado’s recipe but is packaged from a manufacturer that can produce big volumes. They work in tandem. Kurosky has more than 15 years of barbecue experience. “We all got a good amount of experience. This isn’t the place you come to learn barbecue. It’s a place you better know your barbecue,” he said, laughing. Heat radiates from the smokers. Once summer hits, the smoker area may reach around 135 degrees, Kurosky said. As the time goes on, they are gradually turned off. But as of right now, they need to make enough briskets for customers. No one wants a barbecue place that runs out of briskets, he said. At the front, customers lined up from the counter to outside the door, eager to put in their orders for Hurtado’s bold, sweet and spicy interpretation of Mexi-cue. @DangHLe news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Fasicka Hicks still remembers the aroma of berbere, a classic Ethiopian spice blend, in her mother’s kitchen when she was a child living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “I always think back when I work on any of the things that I do in this restaurant because it takes me back to the time that I spent with my mother,” she said. Berbere differs depending on each household, but it has more than a dozen different spices, starting with chili pepper. Fasicka Hicks’ sister prepares the spice blend using their mother’s recipe and ships it to her. The Ethiopian flavors now make up a whole section of the menu at Smoke’N Ash BBQ, Hicks’ restaurant that she co-owns with her husband, Patrick Hicks, on South Cooper Street. Patrick Hicks grew up in Waco, Texas, and barbecue is his life, his wife said. “The skill level on the barbecue was his, and the skill level on the Ethiopian side was mine,” Fasicka Hicks said. “So, we were just doing our own thing, and at the end, where we combined everything, where we can help each other as well.” Depending on the previous night’s preparation, the Hicks’ may arrive at their restaurant as early as 4 a.m. for the day’s work. She’s still hanging on to the Ethiopian recipes. “I have learned so much about my husband now than ever, and I think we understand each other much better now than ever because we’re here together,” she said. Smoke’N Ash BBQ was recently recognized by the Michelin Guide as one of the state’s best restaurants and named a best Texas chef semifinalist for the 2025 James Beard Award. Fasicka Hicks is proud of the recognition, but she won’t grow a big head because of it, she said. “What matters is those people coming in here just waiting for the food,” she said. At Smoke’N Ash BBQ, traditional barbecue flavors blend with Ethiopian spices. The smokiness of the meat is paired with the spiciness of the seasoning. It’s rich, sweet and savory. The restaurant also serves lamb as an alternative to pork. Fasicka Hicks said she never thought there would be a platter that offers both Texas barbecue and Ethiopian dishes. If she were a first-timer, she would have doubted Smoke’N Ash BBQ the same way people have doubted them. But barbecue is about community, and Ethiopian food is about getting together. Smoke’N Ash BBQ is about sharing a meal together and hearing laughter at the table. Them being on the same platter makes sense, she said. @DangHLe news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu