Jonny White, Jalen Heard, and Lane Milne Are 2024 F&W Best New Chefs

Right before they swing open the doors to a long line of hungry customers, the staff at Goldee’s sits down to sample a tray of their barbecue as a quality check. “By trying everything together, rather than just trying a side by itself or a meat by itself,” co-pitmaster and co-owner Lane Milne explains, “it’s easier to get a better picture of everything being really well balanced, in harmony.” It all seems super casual at this barbecue joint in a ramshackle building in southeast Fort Worth, down a bumpy road from a busy Texas-size landfill. But the standards are seriously high at Goldee’s — often called the best barbecue in Texas — where you’re met with some awe-inspiring meat-based masterpieces that are so good the experience feels like it’s happening in slow motion. And that’s just the snap of the sausage.

Friends since elementary school in Arlington, Texas, Jonny White, Jalen Heard, and Lane Milne — the trio behind Goldee’s — moved to Austin after graduating high school (for college, and because it was “the coolest city in Texas,” says Heard). Needing jobs, all three ended up working at some of the great new-school barbecue restaurants in Texas, including Franklin Barbecue, La Barbecue, Micklethwait, Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden, and Freedmen’s (RIP) — and on their days off, they’d cook some more. “We had all come up with ideas throughout our cook shifts,” explains Milne, “And then we’d come back home and just throw out ideas and try random and crazy stuff.” There was a lot of trial and error, and a lot of spareribs. Sometimes, according to Heard, even “bad ones.” 

Barbecue is all about technique and managing details like fire, time, and smoke. “You keep changing tiny variables,” explains White. “All those little things finally change the outcome of this food.” Eventually, the Goldee’s crew got the hang of it. “We just wanted to make our favorite tray of barbecue,” says Milne. “So we just made a bunch of stuff over and over again.” They saved and bootstrapped their way into opening their own place in Fort Worth.

The menu at Goldee’s is pretty tight, with just 12 to 15 items, so they can focus on each individual thing, including housemade pickles and a buttery, briochelike bread, baked in-house every day. “That way, when people get the tray, there’s not a bad bite,” says White about sweating the details. “That’s the goal. No weak spots on the tray.” It’s rare these days, but they’re not afraid to 86 something from the menu when it’s not up to their standards, like some overcooked sausages or an oversalted coleslaw. “We’re not going to be mad about it,” says Milne. “I’d rather catch it, or try and fix it, or 86 it, than make someone feel bad about it.”

Goldee’s is only open Friday through Sunday starting at 11 a.m., and people start lining up pretty early, with some getting there around 6 in the morning. It can be a little intimidating to have a few hundred people standing in line, in the Texas sun for hours, clambering to get in. “We know people have traveled and waited,” says Heard about the pressure and high expectations. But still, White says, “We just stay true to ourselves and are realistic about how much food we can cook and still make it really good, kind of regardless of the line.” 

He elaborates, “We don’t push ourselves or our employees or our smokers too hard … We cook the amount of food that we feel is appropriate, and right now it usually works out to where it hits the end of the line.” One of the three chefs is always at the center, working the cutting block and slicing the meats for customers as a final layer of quality control. “We just feel like it’s pretty much the last stand of defense between someone having a really good experience at Goldee’s,” says White, “or a really bad experience at Goldee’s.”

The Goldee’s crew is proud of their restaurant work culture. “Everybody gets paid well,” says Milne. “Everybody’s schedule is really chill. It’s four days on, three days off. Nobody’s working a crazy amount of hours.” Everyone alternates shifts so nobody gets burned out. To White, it makes clear business sense. “The better you treat your employees,” he says, “the easier it is for you to run the restaurant.”

Although Goldee’s has only been around for a few short years, its impact is already being felt across Texas, and even the world. Goldee’s almost functions as a smoked-meat talent incubator that’s training the next generation. There are no secrets here. The trio at Goldee’s is open with sharing everything they know, both with their staff and the outside world. They regularly teach barbecue classes, often to a big international crowd. White has an active YouTube account — where he considers the pros and cons of using a foil boat for brisket, or shows how to build an offset smoker out of cinder blocks — that’s amassed over a million views.

The aim at Goldee’s is to be an inviting and comfortable space that promotes growth for their staff. “We’ve never had anyone quit,” says White proudly. “Or ever fired anyone.” Already, several Goldee’s alumni have moved on to open their own buzzy barbecue spots, including Amir Jalali at Redbird BBQ in Port Neches and Zain Shafi at Sabar BBQ, also in Fort Worth. Chuck Charnichart of Barbs B Q in Lockhart used to work as pitmaster at Goldee’s; White calls Barbs his “favorite restaurant right now.” 

If any of the employees at Goldee’s mention they’d want to open their own place, “We’ll help them in any way we can. Absolutely. I think it’s just cool to see,” says White. “Obviously it worked out really great for us, so we’d love to see that happen for other people as well.” Milne, too, takes real pride in Goldee’s alumni, saying that he loves to check them out, “and be like, ‘Dang, this food’s super good!’”

The perfect order at Goldee’s

Bread 

The soft, buttery, briochelike bread is housemade and undergoes a two-day cold fermentation process to achieve its otherworldly, airy texture.

Potato salad

Like a classic Texas potato salad, they go heavy on the mustard at Goldee’s. They also combine housemade mayo inspired by Duke’s and plenty of fresh vegetables, including red onion, celery, parsley, green onion, and their own pickles.

Slaw 

Composed of kale, red onion, and green cabbage, the bright and crunchy slaw is dressed in an emulsified vinaigrette made with Dijon mustard and lemon.

Pork ribs 

The Compart Duroc pork ribs get seasoned with a housemade seasoned salt and coarse pepper blend and are smoked unwrapped to ensure that a robust bark develops. To complement their natural flavors, they’re finished with a sweetened vinegar sauce, with the goal of “enhancing their taste without overpowering them with sauciness,” says Milne.

House sausage

With a rich and beefy flavor, the house sausage is an all-beef blend with a 70:30 meat-to-fat ratio, encased in a pork casing that offers a resounding snap. Reminiscent of traditional old-school Texas sausages, coarse black pepper and mustard seeds are added in for texture.

Brisket

Beginning at a lower temperature that gradually increases toward the end, the Creekstone beef gets smoked on post oak for 12 to 14 hours. Throughout the entire process, the briskets are left unwrapped to ensure the fat renders well, resulting in a crispy bark, tender meat, and extra-smoky flavor.

Ribbee’s 

Having “gotten a pretty good grip on everything” at Goldee’s, the trio felt ready to expand with a rib-focused spinoff called Ribbee’s. Housed in a repurposed Sonic Drive-In painted an unmissable bright red, it’s what White calls a “cheaper, faster option for people to get barbecue.” Similar to Goldee’s, it’s a tight menu, with only a handful of rib options, but everything at Ribbee’s comes in a combo box with fries, coleslaw, a house-baked bread roll, and a soda — most of them only $20. The concept is designed to be both “extremely fast” (with no lines) and “extremely good.” It’s only a matter of time until Ribbee’s locations dot the land.

No Meanies

On the wall next to the cutting block, right when you step into the restaurant, there’s a sign with an illustration of a wiener dog that says “No Meanies.” It’s a reminder for customers “before they get to the part where they start talking to our employees,” according to White. “There could be some cranky people waiting in line in the sun. It can get a little iffy sometimes.” It’s not very often, but Heard says that they’ve had “to point to the sign a couple times.” Still, for the most part, says White, “most people are pretty cool and chill. They’re all really excited to be out here.”