"We ended up driving 27 hours from Chicago, and I can honestly say it was worth every mile. This was, without exaggeration, the best BBQ I've ever had. It felt like we were guests in George's home."
George Watts III
It started in 2018 with a food truck, a pit, and a stubborn belief that the Valley deserved barbecue as good as anything in Lockhart or Austin. By 2021 the line got long enough to put a roof over it — GW's opened on Nebraska Avenue in San Juan, and the brisket did the talking.
In 2026, George Watts III was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Texas — the only one in the entire Rio Grande Valley. Same pits, same post oak, same pitmaster still cutting brisket on the line.
"Real Central Texas barbecue — the kind you'd drive to Lockhart for — right here in the 956."
Post oak smoke. Brisket with bark and a clean smoke ring. Ribs that pull clean. No shortcuts, no gimmicks — just barbecue done the way Texas intended, served until we sell out.
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