Blood Bros. BBQ, the acclaimed restaurant from brothers Robin and Terry Wong and pitmaster Quy Hoang at 5425 Bellaire, is getting a moment in the James Beard Foundation spotlight in New York City. The team has been invited to serve dinner on Saturday, July 19 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Foundation’s pop-up venue called PLATFORM by JBF at Pier 57, located at 25 11th Avenue. The event is a fundraiser for the James Beard Foundation, a non-profit organization. 

Three types of tickets were available, but one type, the outside chef’s counter, is already sold out. The remaining tickets, available to purchase online, are dining table tickets for $210 each and the chef’s counter tickets for $250 each. There’s also a private table that seats six for $1,500. (Prices do not include online ticket fees.) 

“We’re excited!” said Hoang. “JBF asked us last month if this is something we wanted to do, and we said, ‘Hell yeah!’ We haven’t had this opportunity before and think it will be cool to go up there and showcase our style of barbecue.” 

The Wongs and Hoang are childhood friends who grew up in Houston’s Alief neighborhood and they started Blood Bros. BBQ as a food truck, bringing their unique cultural perspectives to barbecue by melding their Vietnamese heritage with their Texas upbringing. The trio also bring other cultural influences to their dishes, including Mexican, Chinese and Cajun. They opened the Blood Bros. BBQ brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2018, and In 2022, Hoang was a James Beard Award Best Chef: Texas nominee. (In James Beard Award parlance, that means he was a finalist.) Last year, Michelin’s inaugural Texas Guide honored the restaurant by naming it a Bib Gourmand, which indicates “good-quality and good-value cooking”.

These days, Terry Wong is mostly involved with Phat Eatery, the Malaysian restaurant with locations in Katy Asian Town and in The Woodlands. However, according to Hoang, he still retains ownership in Blood Bros. BBQ and will likely be in attendance at the New York event.

New Yorkers are in for quite a treat. Dinner will start with appetizers of Whiskey-Glazed Smoked Quail Knots and Smoked Meatballs, then move into entrées of Smoked Vietnamese Chicken Salad with Shrimp Chips, Smoked Duck Bao with Hoisin Barbecue Sauce and Green Onions and a Texas Trio of 44 Farms hanger steak, Beef Cheek Barbacoa, and hot guts sausage with assorted pickles and brisket-fat tortillas. Dinner will conclude with Blueberry–Peach Cobbler with Smoked Brisket Tallow Crust. 

Hoang says the final entrée, the Texas Trio, harkens back to Blood Bros. BBQ’s roots as a food truck. “Some of the first dishes refer to what Robin and I grew up eating, but the Texas Trio, basically a hanger steak plate, is about how Blood Bros. got started with steak nights at bars.” Platform by JBF does not have a smoker, so the menu also expertly works around that limitation.  

It’s enough to make even a local barbecue fan want to hop on a plane to the Big Apple. At a minimum, perhaps displaced Texans in the northeast will have an opportunity to soothe the smoky cravings in the souls at this one-night-only showcase. 

Phaedra Cook

Phaedra Cook has written about Houston’s restaurant and bar scene since 2010. She was a regular contributor to My Table magazine (now closed) and was the lead restaurant critic for the Houston Press for two years, eventually being promoted to food editor. Cook founded Houston Food Finder in November 2016 and has been its editor and publisher ever since.