Truth BBQ — Restaurant in Brenham

One of our longtime friends was moving to Seattle, Washington. She was going to be away from Texas barbecue for the first time in her life, and I would not be fulfilling my duty if I did not send her off properly. We normally go on a group BBQ road trip every summer, but Amber and I have been so busy. The timing could not be more perfect so on this particular Sunday, we loaded up the car and headed to Brenham. Why Brenham? Not for Blue Bell for sure. A couple of weeks ago I stopped by Truth Barbeque on the way back from The Woodlands BBQ Festival. Most of the items were sold out, but I still was able to pick up a few items. Everything I tasted was cooked and seasoned well. I brought Amber a huge slice of the homemade chocolate cake, and she fell in love with it. It will not take much convincing to get her to agree to stop in at Truth from here on out.

We arrived there before 11 AM, and there were about a dozen people in line. The wait was not too bad. Leonard Botello IV opened Truth Barbeque back in August of 2015. He picked up a Klose smoker for cheap in Ohio of all places and began honing on his craft. He had prior experience managing his family's restaurant before his parents retired. His parents do help out around the restaurant with the sides and desserts.

Amber ordered the chopped brisket baked potato, and I got the three meat plate with moist brisket, pork rib, and beef garlic sausage. The plate also came with sides of macaroni and cheese and corn pudding. I also added some turkey, jalapeño and cheese sausage, and pulled pork. We might gone a little crazy and ordered three slices of cakes, German chocolate, Italian crème, and chocolate. Leonard was sourcing his briskets from Creekstone but has now switched over to 44 Farms. The sizing on the 44 brisket is more consistent. The post oak wood gave the meat a good amount of smoke without being overpowering. The 16+ hour smoked brisket was tender with a nice salty and peppery crust. It was outstanding. It did not stop at the brisket. The meal kept going. Bite after bite. Meat after meat. The pork rib was similar to what I see in Austin. It came loaded with a lot of flavor and a touch of sweetness from a BBQ sauce glaze. This one could hang with the big boys. Amber was a little irritated that she only got bite. Sorry babe. Both homemade sausages were superb. Each bite punched a smoky taste with a good coarse grind and a bursting casing. Amber and I preferred the jalapeño and cheese more.

It only took me one nibble to declare this was the best turkey I have ever had. I am not a turkey fan, but I could get used to eating it if this was more accessible to me. The juicy meat melted in your mouth. Do not forget the pulled pork. It is pulled to order, and the outcome is fantastic. The silky, moist pork packed a ton of flavor into each mouthful. I could not stop eating Amber's potato. Delicious. I think she was getting mad. Do not sleep on the fresh homemade sides. The macaroni and cheese was tasty, and the crispy bacon added some nice texture to the cheesy concoction. The corn pudding was essentially sweet cornbread with bits of corn in it. They worked well together. I got the baked beans and potato salad on my last visit, and those were solid. Leonard's mom, Janel, does the baking in these parts, and the result is decadent. The rich cakes satisfied without being overly sweet.

Do yourself a favor and get in the car and drive to Truth Barbeque the next time that they are open. It is definitely worth the drive. When you get to the counter, just order it all. You cannot go wrong. You will have no regrets that way. Leonard Botello IV is doing great things, and this is just the beginning. I need to start planning for next visit. Might have to take a long...

Finally got to try truth BBQ on our trip to Houston recently. We came Saturday, December 14, 2024 a little after lunch and it was a little rainy outside, very limited parking but they do have street parking in the back which I recommend because if you follow the road, it is very easy to get out as that is a very busy road Truth sits on.

Luckily, we were able to get right in the door and there was nobody in line in front of us. The older gentleman working there made our time and ordering enjoyable and was very friendly. I ordered moist brisket, spare ribs, Brisket Boudin, sausage, turkey breast, tater tot casserole, brussels sprouts, potato salad, and pinto beans and it comes with Martin’s bread (I think) and some pickled onions and pickles. Self serve drinks and they even offer free alcohol to those over 21. They were out of mac & cheese, but they had everything else still available.

They have outdoor seating and a tiny bit of indoor seating.

The most brisket was absolutely delicious and it was everything you want it to be. The turkey was moist and flavorful. The brussels sprouts were absolutely delicious. I’ve had similar before and this was the best I’ve tried. The tater tot casserole is an absolute banger and a must try. I also thought the pinto beans were flavorful and cooked to perfection.

I gave my total visit a four out of five because of the following reasons. Brisket Boudin sausage was good, but it’s not a sausage. It just falls apart and it was very difficult to eat, and I just thought there was a better way they could have served this to me than inside a sausage casing. The pork spareribs had a very noticeable and strong, dirty smoke flavor that I was very surprised by being a Texas top 50 restaurant. The potato salad lacked flavor so much so that I questioned if they tasted their food at all. I found both barbecue sauces to not be very good in my opinion, and my partner believed that one of them was actually rancid.

Their outdoor seating was nice, it was wet, but that’s not their fault. There was an abundance of flies at the time so much so that their trash cans were overflowing with flies. they have baskets they keep their barbecue sauce in in the baskets had dried up barbecue sauce on the bottom of them. Also, I tried to use their bathroom twice and it was locked. Maybe there was somebody in there but it’s an exterior entrance so I thought maybe they needed a key but I did not see any postage on what the requirements were to use the bathroom.

I collect hats from every barbecue place I go to and I thought a $30 price tag for a hat was quite high for one that turns out to be relatively low-quality compared to the other barbecue restaurants, I’ve purchased much higher-quality hats at for around the same price.

Overall, we enjoyed our time here and it was not a bad experience, but as such a high ranking in the Texas top 50, I was surprised by...

here is what you need to know about this location before coming here:

free beer to get the guys who then bring their wives who then bring their families which is actually quite brilliant

Your course have to drink the beer while waiting or on site not off premises

they have one restroom but thankfully clean but tiny so just keep that in mind that this is not necessarily a place to come to for a pit stop and parking is somewhat limited you'll have to park around the building so not very handy cap accessible either unless you can get parking at the front which is very limited

but from there plenty of outdoor tables to eat at and then two tables to eat at inside if you can get them

To my surprise to have the original sugarcane Dublin Dr pepper Big Red and root beer with no high fructose corn syrup!

in the glass including as well Mexican Coke!

also the pickled onion and pickles were phenomenal which they serve with just about any order

we made it on our way back from Houston to Austin just in time before they ran out of barbecue today so keep in mind even if this place is open they can run out of meat

My mom and I shared brisket which was phenomenal not to moist not too hard not too soft not too rough not too much fat well balanced smokey charcoal kind of texture to it but you could tell was definitely marinated and done And they Texas old school kind of fashion which is my kind of beef

hit the spot as the brisket came out tender which is exactly how I like it being a born and raised Texas :-D

also they had pork options different kind of special jalapeno links and apparently a combination of sides of macaroni and cheese coleslaw coriander greens tater tot combination and some kind of okra but I think is fried

as for the barbecue sauce that would be my only plane and I tried to barbecue sauce it was definitely not to my liking thankfully they have a mustard sauce that was much more appeasing to me and my mom and went perfectly with the pickles and pickled onion which were a huge fan of with our beef!

also the customer service here was top-notch the two Hispanic gentlemen made us feel like family even called me boss twice and many times with the smile and passion that's hard to find had attention to customer service :)

if you're ever out these parts this is the barbecue place to find a way to navigate traffic to find parking to get to...