Table to Stage:
Greg Gatlin,
Leonard Botello IV,
Patrick Feges

On Monday, December 11, Chris Shepherd welcomes three of Houston's premier pitmasters to talk all things barbecue.

Greg Gatlin
 
Greg Gatlin co-founded Gatlin’s BBQ in the Heights with his parents in June 2010 and has since established the Gatlin name as a Houston barbecue staple. Over the years, Greg has shaped a menu that blends traditional Texas barbecue, classic southern cuisine, and global flavors, earning accolades such as being featured in Texas Monthly‘s Top 50 BBQ Joints list in 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2021. In 2015, he relocated his restaurant to Ella Boulevard and, in collaboration with Bill Floyd, expanded his influence by opening Jackson St. BBQ in downtown Houston. Greg has served two terms on the Greater Houston Restaurant Association Board and received the Golden Fork Award in 2016. In 2021, Gatlin’s BBQ was featured in the Netflix documentary High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, and in 2022, Gatlin opened Gatlin’s Fins & Feathers, a seafood and poultry-focused establishment rooted in Gulf Coast influences, catering to Independence Heights, Garden Oaks, and Oak Forest.
 
Gatlin’s BBQ’s impressive list of accolades includes being named the best barbecue in Houston by the Houston Press in 2011, securing the number-one position in the Houston Chronicle’s Top 100 Houston Restaurants of 2015, and being featured in the New York Times’ 2022 list of the best barbecue in America. In 2023, Gatlin’s Fins & Feathers earned a nomination for the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant award, was included in the New York Times’ 50 Most Exciting Restaurants in America, and ranked seventh in the Houston Chronicle’s Top 100 Restaurants for 2023.
 
 
Leonard Botello IV
 
Leonard Botello IV is the owner and pitmaster behind critically acclaimed TRUTH BBQ. Botello opened the original TRUTH BBQ Brenham in a small shack off a rural highway that runs between Austin and Houston in the summer of 2015. Armed with a used Klose pit, and as a complete unknown in the BBQ world, Botello surprised the industry in 2017 when TRUTH BBQ landed the number-ten spot on Texas Monthly’s revered Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints list.
 
Through the universal love of Texas BBQ, Botello has had the honor of hosting dinners for esteemed organizations such as No Kid Hungry and The James Beard House, and has appeared on Food Network’s Chopped, winning his episode. Most recently, in 2021, TRUTH BBQ climbed to a top-three spot in Texas Monthly’s 50 Best BBQ Joints list, a definitive indication of Botello’s rise and a promising sign for what is still to come.
 
When not manning the pit room and line at TRUTH BBQ, Botello is often found cooking with friends all over the country at various food and wine festivals or starting fires and building pits in his backyard. He continues to prioritize education of live-fire cooking not only for himself, but also finds joy in sharing his knowledge with others.
 
 
Patrick Feges
 
Patrick Feges, perhaps best known in Houston’s culinary community as the “Whole Hog Guy,” is a self-taught pitmaster and Purple Heart recipient from injuries sustained during a tour in Iraq. In fact, it was during his recovery that he was hit with the barbecue bug. Armed with an old, worn-out Brinkmann smoker and plenty of tenacity, Patrick experimented through trial and error before deciding to attend culinary school at The Texas Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu, in Austin. There, surrounded by some of the best barbecue spots in Texas and learning classical basics in class, he began honing his approach to barbecue.
 
In 2012, Patrick purchased a large smoking rig and launched Feges BBQ, catering events and executing pop-ups with non-traditional smoked cuts. In the ensuing years, he continued to train in some of the city’s most acclaimed kitchens including Underbelly, Brennan’s, Killen’s Barbecue, and Southern Goods, all while building his business on the side. In 2018, Patrick opened Feges BBQ with his wife Erin Smith. Feges BBQ was named one of the best BBQ joints in America by Thrillist in 2018, 2019, and 2021, and Texas Monthly recognized it on its coveted lists of the 25 Best New BBQ Joints in 2019 and 50 Best BBQ Joints in 2021.
 
 
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