Blood Bros. BBQ is a barbecue restaurant in Bellaire, Texas in Greater Houston.
Robin and Terry Wong and Quy Hoang, the first two Chinese American brothers and the second a Vietnamese American, [1] attended Alief Elsik High School, becoming acquainted in the mid-1980s. [2] The three originated from the Houston community of Alief. [3]
Wong's grandfather, from Canton ( Guangzhou), arrived in the United States in 1926, moving to Houston in the 1960s after being in other cities. Hoang was born in Vietnam, when he was 18 months old, he, [2] and his parents arrived in the United States in 1975. The co-founders had made trips to visit barbecue establishments in central Texas in Houston, and Chris Hughes of Food and Wine stated that the co-founders' interest initially was a "a backyard hobby". [3] They also patronized west Houston's Asian restaurants. [4]
The brothers and Hoang went out of contact after high school graduation but reconnected in the 2010s. [2] The three began doing barbecue as a business when they paid $1,500 for a barrel smoker. [2] The brothers became co-owners, [3] and the latter became the pitmaster. [1] Operations began in 2013, with sales on Saturdays. [5] The Wongs co-owned Glitter Karaoke in Midtown, the first venue for food sales. [6] Initially the food was sold at various Houston pop-up venues, [7] and bars. [1]
The permanent facility opened in late 2018, [1] and is in the Bellaire Triangle Shopping Center, [8] a strip mall, with $400,000 spent to purchase it. The space was previously a Smoothie King. [2] Daniel Vaughn of Bon Appétit described it as "no-frills space". [1] Additional business partners joined for the permanent facility. [4]
The barbecue at the establishment has Asian influences. [1]
In 2015 Robb Walsh and J. C. Reid of Houstonia wrote that Hoang had ample "creativity" and that the restaurant "is now mentioned in the same breath as Killen’s or Roegels." [5]
In 2019 Sebastian Modak of The New York Times wrote "Much of the attention around Blood Bros.,[...] has been on the owners’ backgrounds", referring to their ethnicities. [9]
By 2019 national publications wrote positive reviews about the restaurant. [10] In 2019 Daniel Vaughn of Texas Monthly ranked it as an entry in "The Top 25 New Barbecue Joints in Texas". [11] That same year Bon Appétit ranked it as one of 50 "America’s Best New Restaurants 2019". [12] Allison Cook of the Houston Chronicle also ranked it as an entry in "Top 100 Houston Restaurant 2019". [13]
Blood Bros. BBQ is a barbecue restaurant in Bellaire, Texas in Greater Houston.
Robin and Terry Wong and Quy Hoang, the first two Chinese American brothers and the second a Vietnamese American, [1] attended Alief Elsik High School, becoming acquainted in the mid-1980s. [2] The three originated from the Houston community of Alief. [3]
Wong's grandfather, from Canton ( Guangzhou), arrived in the United States in 1926, moving to Houston in the 1960s after being in other cities. Hoang was born in Vietnam, when he was 18 months old, he, [2] and his parents arrived in the United States in 1975. The co-founders had made trips to visit barbecue establishments in central Texas in Houston, and Chris Hughes of Food and Wine stated that the co-founders' interest initially was a "a backyard hobby". [3] They also patronized west Houston's Asian restaurants. [4]
The brothers and Hoang went out of contact after high school graduation but reconnected in the 2010s. [2] The three began doing barbecue as a business when they paid $1,500 for a barrel smoker. [2] The brothers became co-owners, [3] and the latter became the pitmaster. [1] Operations began in 2013, with sales on Saturdays. [5] The Wongs co-owned Glitter Karaoke in Midtown, the first venue for food sales. [6] Initially the food was sold at various Houston pop-up venues, [7] and bars. [1]
The permanent facility opened in late 2018, [1] and is in the Bellaire Triangle Shopping Center, [8] a strip mall, with $400,000 spent to purchase it. The space was previously a Smoothie King. [2] Daniel Vaughn of Bon Appétit described it as "no-frills space". [1] Additional business partners joined for the permanent facility. [4]
The barbecue at the establishment has Asian influences. [1]
In 2015 Robb Walsh and J. C. Reid of Houstonia wrote that Hoang had ample "creativity" and that the restaurant "is now mentioned in the same breath as Killen’s or Roegels." [5]
In 2019 Sebastian Modak of The New York Times wrote "Much of the attention around Blood Bros.,[...] has been on the owners’ backgrounds", referring to their ethnicities. [9]
By 2019 national publications wrote positive reviews about the restaurant. [10] In 2019 Daniel Vaughn of Texas Monthly ranked it as an entry in "The Top 25 New Barbecue Joints in Texas". [11] That same year Bon Appétit ranked it as one of 50 "America’s Best New Restaurants 2019". [12] Allison Cook of the Houston Chronicle also ranked it as an entry in "Top 100 Houston Restaurant 2019". [13]