Texas Monthly named Decatur’s North Texas Smoke BBQ on its Top 50 BBQ joints in Texas list this week. On Thursday, owner and pitmasters Derek Degenhardt and his son, Brody, posed for a photo after discussing the accomplishment of a goal he had identified years ago when he quit his job to pursue barbecue. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
Decatur is officially home to some of the best barbecue in Texas.
This week, North Texas Smoke BBQ cracked Texas Monthly’s Top 50 BBQ Joints list.
The magazine’s Top 50 list, released every four years, is a life-altering achievement for Texas pitmasters. The revered list is often called the Super Bowl of smoked meat, serving as a Michelin Guide of Texas barbecue that crowns true Texas brisket royalty.
Every four years, the magazine’s stamp of approval notifies an army of barbecue lovers who turn each joint into weekend road trip destinations. On Thursday, the lines were already a little longer at the barbecue trailer parked in a dusty gravel lot next to Wise Honda Powersports — but so far, it’s still mostly familiar faces.
“It really feels like we just won a state championship in football or something — not just for me, but for the community,” said North Texas Smoke owner and pitmaster Derek Degenhardt as he and his son worked to close up for the day. “That’s the pride I wanted to give back. That’s the barbecue that I’ve always dreamed of serving.”
The road was an interesting one for Degenhardt, who dropped everything in pursuit of becoming one of Texas’ best pitmasters around four years ago.
Born and raised in central Kansas, he moved to Decatur after his military service to be closer to his wife’s family. He fell in love with Texas culture — especially its obsession with barbecue — and began cooking in his spare time while working as a truck driver.
It started with a tiny Weber grill and grew into a passion, then an obsession and then a business. He upgraded to multiple smokers, constantly tweaking recipes — like the mac and cheese his daughter finally approved of after three years of testing, and jalapeño sausage that changed more than a dozen times. Then in 2021, he got a phone call from a pitmaster in Oregon who wanted to give him a custom-built barbecue trailer.
Degenhardt and his son, Brody, drove more than 6,000 miles round-trip to bring it home. A week later, he opened for business on a scorching August day — with little experience and zero air conditioning — and sold out.
“I never wanted to be 60 years old asking myself, ‘Why didn’t I take the shot?’” he said. “I quit my job for this. Back then, I was 38, maybe 37, and I thought, ‘This is it. This is the dream.’”
He had found something he enjoyed and something he was good at. And then the Degenhardts’ lives changed in pursuit of barbecue perfection. From then on, he was on a mission to be among the best in Texas. He even said so when the Messenger profiled him in 2023 — that making the Texas Monthly Top 50 list was a driving goal.
“People always talk about giving 100 percent, but the truth is, most people don’t — because when you give your all, you have to accept the results,” he said. “If you come up short after giving everything, that’s a scary truth to face. Because you don’t have any excuse. You gave it your all and failed.”
He paused between sips pulled from the free beer cooler available to customers after the Thursday lunch rush.
“This is the first time in my 42 years I’ve truly given 100 percent,” he continued. “And whether we made that list or not, I knew I’d be judged on what I built. And I had to be OK with that.”
The journey to that moment was filled with ups and downs — like the electrical fire late last year that nearly destroyed his trailer. The damage is still visible — a physical scar to match the personal sacrifices and sleepless nights.
“I’m not a business guy. I’m a cooking guy. But I had to learn to run social media, do payroll, manage scheduling. I had to grow in ways I never imagined,” he said. “I did it all for more than just me. I did it for my son, who’s been beside me every step. For my family. For our town. For every single person who ever came up here and bought a burger or spent money with us. This is their award.
“They kept us going…. I wanted to build something my son wants to be part of, that my daughter’s proud of, that my wife can brag about. This is all of our accomplishment. My wife said, “I haven’t done [anything],” But she did everything. She held us together.”
He said the community always seemed to help him back up after those bad days.
“The money pays the bills, but that love?” he said. “That’s what wakes me up every morning.”
North Texas Smoke BBQ is located at 2803 U.S. 287. They are open Wednesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., or until they sell out. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
Some of the best barbecue in Texas comes off this pit smoker in Decatur. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
Even when the business side was rough, the food spoke for itself. North Texas Smoke BBQ earned Best Barbecue in the Messenger’s Readers’ Choice Awards, and shortly after, he took home Best in Show at the Eighter Food Truck Challenge. North Texas Smoke then got a taste of the statewide acclaim when his barbecue was also featured on Texas Monthly’s list of the 25 best new barbecue joints in 2023.
So when a friend called and read out his name on the 2025 Top 50 list, Degenhardt was overcome with a unique sense of satisfaction, relief and a little tinge of fear of what’s to come.
He gave it his all, and it paid off.
“My wife asked me, ‘How do you feel?’ And I told her — for one of the first times ever — satisfied,” he said. “I’m proud of myself. I think it’s OK to feel that. Not cocky. Not arrogant. But when I’m alone in my truck at the end of the day and I take a breath, I can say I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. That’s not always been the case.”
And now there’s new pressure, one that comes with this level of success.
He wants to make sure his loyal customers that have got him here get the level of barbecue they love, while also accommodating and living up to the expectations of the new customers that are coming.
“It doesn’t matter if we have a great day and we’re killing it,” he said. “What keeps me up at night is thinking about a family from Waco or somewhere showing up at 2 o’clock after driving an hour and a half, and I gotta tell them that we’re out of food. Things like that keep me up at night.”
What’s Next
In 2029, Degenhardt hopes to crack the Top 10 on the Texas Monthly list — another lofty goal, and one that will be made more complicated by growth, demands and the new challenge of operating the ‘brick and mortar location’ that’s coming soon.
That next step is already in motion. In around four months, Degenhardt hopes to transition from the food trailer to a permanent setup. The location set just behind the current trailer is essentially several shipping containers condensed into one location, which will eventually turn into a restaurant that’s tucked a little further off the highway.
It’ll serve as a true home base for one of Wise County’s most celebrated exports — and space for families and barbecue enthusiasts to enjoy his food that’s a little more protected from the wind of passing 18-wheelers.
Just like that first pop-up or the long drive to Oregon, it’s another leap of faith.
But this time, he’s not going in alone — he’s entering with the stamp of approval as one of Texas’ best.
North Texas Smoke BBQ is located at 2803 U.S. 287. They are open Wednesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., or until they sell out.
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