Darrell and Candi Boatman took a seven-year hiatus from the barbecue business. The couple closed Boatman’s BBQ in Tolar, near Granbury, in 2017, and moved to Red Oak, just south of Dallas, to open a different restaurant. When the taco shop next door to their Wicked Good Chicken closed, Darrell thought the layout looked right for a barbecue joint. They started the renovations earlier this year, and in June jumped back into the scene with the opening of Brisket City Craft BBQ.
Barbecue just sort of found the Boatmans. Darrell and Candi were serving burgers out of a bar in Granbury in 2012 when they discovered an old smoker behind the place. It took two months of smoking briskets to make one good enough to sell to bar patrons, but “before you know it, the barbecue was selling better than the burgers,” Darrell said. That led to the opening of Boatman’s BBQ.
I drove down to Tolar twice to try it out and wrote about the big improvements in their barbecue back in 2016. They only lasted another year in the tiny town southwest of Fort Worth. “The itch was always still there,” Darrell said about serving barbecue. “We felt like we had unfinished business.”
Two visits to Brisket City Craft BBQ felt like déjà vu from the Boatman’s BBQ days. The barbecue kept getting better. Darrell and Candi have brought on their two sons, Austin and Darrell Jr., to run the smokers. By my second trip, they had tempered the saltiness of the smoked brisket, provided a boost of flavor to the tender, sweet-glazed spare ribs, and fixed the dry sausage. They’re now making a juicier house sausage and a jalapeño cheese sausage that are both coarsely ground with great snaps to their casings.
The thick sauce that sogged up the bark on the pork belly burnt ends has thankfully been replaced by a sweet-and-savory rub that gives a candy coating to each chunk. The Boatmans are planning to make the burnt ends a feature, with rotating flavors such as butter pecan and peanut butter and jelly.
The Boatmans are still cooking burgers, too, but these are made with the trimmings from their Goodstock briskets. The fries served alongside (and the fried okra) are frozen, so stick with the fresh, house-made sides that are Candi’s recipes. My favorite was the slaw with kale and green apples that gave it some good crunch and tartness. I also enjoyed the pinto beans fortified with brisket and garnished with fresh pico de gallo. Candi also makes the raisin-studded bread pudding that comes free with every dine-in order.
A month ago, Brisket City added a full breakfast menu served starting at 7 every day but Sunday. (The website says they serve it until 11 a.m., but the menu in the restaurant says you can order breakfast until 2 p.m.) I tried a breakfast burrito stuffed with eggs, cheese, potatoes, sausage, and smoked brisket. The serrano hot sauce on the side gave it a good kick, but it will be hard to resist ordering a biscuit next time. Candi bakes them fresh and makes a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich with them for just $4.50.
The family works together to keep the two restaurants operating. Darrell and Candi run point at the chicken shop while their sons manage the barbecue side. The smoker gets plenty of action from both. “Between me, my boys, and my wife, it’s nonstop, twenty-four seven,” Darrell said of the tiny 250-gallon smoker they used for all the meats. During my latest visit, a thousand-gallon Big Phil’s smoker had just been delivered. The family’s now turned some of the old patio seating into a screened-in pit room for the new smoker, with plenty of space to grow the business. The Boatmans aren’t new to barbecue, but it seems like they’re finally hitting their stride.
Brisket City Craft BBQ
219 State Highway 342, Red Oak
Phone: 469-820-9444
Hours: Monday–Thursday 7–7, Friday–Saturday 7–8, Sunday noon–4
Pitmasters: Darrell Boatman Sr. and Darrell Boatman Jr.
Method: Oak in an offset smoker
Year opened: 2024
