Two years after the publication released its previous installment of the “Top 50 BBQ Joints in the South” list, Southern Living published its 2025 list this past Wednesday. Across numerous Southern states, the list featured two Houston barbecue restaurants: Blood Bros. BBQ and Truth BBQ.
Unlike other publications and authoritative culinary guides like Michelin, Texas Monthly, or Food & Wine, who deploy a team of editors, critics, and/or culinary experts to numerous restaurants across state lines, the Southern Living list was conducted by one sole editor, Robert Moss. Also unusual in terms of rankings, Moss’s list wasn’t conducted with any sort of grading criteria or score sheets but rather ranked by his overall enjoyment of the meal and experience of his visit.
The publication’s 2025 list features two repeating Houston barbecue joints: Blood Bros. BBQ and Truth BBQ. Notably, both barbecue restaurants dropped in the rankings from the publication’s 2023 list in which both restaurants featured in its top 10: Blood Bros. BBQ at No. 10 and Truth BBQ at No. 5.
That said, Moss’s 2025 list makes no mention of why either of the Houston barbecue restaurants dropped in his rankings. Moss writes in his list glowing reviews of both Houston restaurants, which suggests that rather than either restaurant dipping in quality, the drop was more due to other restaurants upping their game.
Moss writes in the Southern Living 2025 list the significance of restaurants’ expansion, improvement, and updated offerings: “In many cases these improvements have pushed an existing Top 50 restaurant higher up in the rankings or put a new restaurant on the list for the first time.”
Blood Bros. BBQ ranked at No. 47 on the 2025 list. In his write-up, Moss praised the restaurant’s creative international approach to its barbecue, lauding its “sweet and savory ribs glazed with gochujang or guava, smoke-kissed brisket fried rice, and slow smoked half chickens dusted in orange togarashi spice”.
Truth BBQ ranked at No. 27 on the Southern Living list. Praising the restaurant’s brisket, sausage, and pork ribs, Moss mused that Truth BBQ could well be “Houston’s best version of the classic Texas Trinity”.
“The brisket is thick-sliced with a superb salt-and-pepper crust, the sausage is almost creamy from melted cheddar but has a big pop of jalapeño heat, and the tender pork ribs have a punch of black pepper beneath their thick, tangy glaze”.
Moss also expressed his enjoyment of the restaurant’s sides, celebrating its charred Brussels, thick corn pudding, and creamy, cheesy and fried-onion-topped tater tot casserole.
Both Houston restaurants featured on the list are Michelin Bib Gourmand winners.