Fort Worth barbecue pitmasters make ‘Food & Wine’ list of best new chefs in America

Goldee’s Barbecue pitmasters Jonny White, Jalen Heard and Lane Milne have been named to “Food & Wine” magazine’s 36th annual list of the Best New Chefs in America , the latest honor for the top-ranked restaurant on a country road south of Kennedale.

Goldee’s, 4645 Dick Price Road, is a “stellar” barbecue joint that’s worth the wait, the magazine writes in the October issue.

The magazine nails the location — a “ramshackle building ... down a bumpy road from a busy Texas-size landfill” — and praises the “awe-inspiring” masterpieces on the plate.

The article at foodandwine.com also suggests the “perfect order”: ribs, house beef sausage, oak-smoked brisket, house-baked bread, mustardy potato salad and kale slaw.

The magazine also mentions their newer ribs-and-chicken takeout stand, Ribbee’s, 923 E. Seminary Drive.

Food & Wine retells how White, Heard and Milne are old Arlington elementary school friends who learned the craft at Austin landmarks such as Franklin Barbecue and La Barbecue.

In 2020, when they rustled up enough money for their own restaurant and rented the old Kenneth’s True Pit Barbecue, they managed to open three weeks before the pandemic closed businesses.

While other craft barbecue restaurants have opened more locations, more days or longer hours — often at the expense of consistency — Goldee’s has stuck firmly to its Friday-through-Sunday schedule.

“The better you treat your employees,” White told the magazine, “the easier it is for you to run the restaurant.”