Seguin’s Burnt Bean Co. earns top spot in Texas Monthly’s latest Top Barbecue list

Seguin, TX, USA / Seguin Today
Darren Dunn

(Seguin) — Seguin’s own Burnt Bean Co. has officially been named the best barbecue restaurant in Texas, topping Texas Monthly’s prestigious list of the Top 50 Barbecue Joints for 2025.

Burnt Bean’s Ernest Servantes and David Kirkland were thrilled to hear Tuesday morning’s announcement. Servantes says they are pleased that their hard work continues to pay off.

Burnt Bean Co. has made the city of Seguin a destination for people looking for some of the best barbecue in the state. It regularly has lines formed outside of its doors on South Austin Street.

Servantes says this is something that he has always wanted to accomplish. He says even as a young chef, he recognized that he wanted to be at the top of this industry. It now is a dream come true.

“Imagine you living next to Mount Fuji, and from 2007, you look at this mountain and say ‘one day I’m going to scale it.’ It happened from 2007 to 2025 – it has taken me that long of a journey to scale this mountain. I expected it, and that’s the bottom line. I believed in myself, and I believe with my team that we can put not only us on the map, but it also puts Seguin in a type of fraternity that’s zero to none…can compare to. Seguin is part of the greatest culinary world, and the name Seguin is up there with Vegas, New York and LA. This is my end game…and I am very humbled and proud of myself — as well as Seguin should be (proud) too,” said Servantes.

This isn’t Burn Bean’s first time on Texas Monthly’s prestigious list. However, this is the first time it has come out on top. Servantes says after a fourth place finish the first time, they did everything they could to push themselves up to the top.

“We were shooting for (Number) One after the Number Four (finish). You know, when we got Number Four in the last list — mind you, it was four years ago — we were just hoping to be on the list because we’re so brand new. So, to give fully the blessing, but after that it was like, ‘okay, we’re shooting for (Number) One or nothing. We really wanted to be that big elephant in the room when they talked about Number One,” said Servantes.

Burnt Bean Co. has been racking up the accolades since it first opened in downtown Seguin. It is a James Beard Foundation award winning and Michelin rated restaurant, which means it stacks up against great restaurants around the globe. Servantes says they’ve done it with hard work and a dedication to providing barbecue that’s easily enjoyed by anyone. He says that consistency in flavor and quality has made a real difference and helped them to build a reputation that’s unmatched by many.

Servantes and his team have also done something else. They also created a special space on Sunday mornings, where they offer a brunch that provides an authentic taqueria experience in addition to the great barbecue that they normally serve.

“We were trying to figure out something that we can do that separates us from everybody else and that was our Sunday brunch. That’s what our claim to fame is. Not only do we make amazing barbecue every day, but we have this special one day a week taqueria and Tex-Mex love, and it’s on Sundays. That’s what sets us above everybody else,” said Servantes.

The highly-coveted list was released on Tuesday morning. Here’s the full 2025 Top 10 list released by Texas Monthly:

Burnt Bean Co. – Seguin
LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue – Austin
Goldee’s Barbecue – Fort Worth
Redbird BBQ – Port Neches
GW’s BBQ – San Juan
InterStellar BBQ – Austin
Dayne’s Craft Barbecue – Aledo
LaVaca BBQ – Port Lavaca
Truth Barbeque – Houston
Evie Mae’s Pit Barbeque – Wolfforth

View the article on SeguinToday.com