The Obsession Started Young
Grant Pinkerton was raised in Houston, with family roots that run back into the Texas Hill Country and down to the Gulf Coast. The obsession started young. Standing in a friend’s tent at the Houston Rodeo’s World Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, the smell of the pits got into his blood and never left. By twelve, he had asked his dad for a BBQ pit and was teaching himself the craft.
At Lamar High School in Houston, he played football and participated in Future Farmers of America. He was an avid outdoorsman, spending most of his time outside. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a degree in Rhetoric and Writing and, as he puts it, “minoring in BBQ and having a good time.” After graduating, he moved home and started Pinkerton’s with just a barbecue pit and a dream.
In 2016, at twenty-seven, Grant opened the doors to his first Pinkerton’s Barbecue location. Within a year, Pinkerton’s BBQ had landed on Texas Monthly’s prestigious Top 50 list, and he became the first pitmaster ever named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Pinkerton’s has since won numerous awards, ranging from World Championships to Michelin Bib Gourmands, and is regarded as one of the best BBQ places in the world.
Today, Pinkerton’s spans three locations: from the original in the Heights, to downtown San Antonio, and back to the Upper Kirby Houston area he grew up around. Same family recipes, same fire. As Grant says, “at Pinkerton’s, the standard is the standard.”
