Bar-A-BBQ: Montgomery Smoke and a Joint That Keeps Getting Better

Cooper Abercrombie, pitmaster and co-owner of Bar-A-BBQ, with Shelby Abercrombie, co-owner, at their restaurant in Montgomery, Texas.

I first pulled into Bar-A-BBQ while filming for Kevin’s BBQ Joints (you can watch the video here). It quickly became the kind of trip where you are there to document someone else’s story, but end up stumbling into one of your own. Montgomery isn’t the kind of place that shouts for attention, and Bar-A doesn’t either. It doesn’t need to. It sits there with a quiet confidence, letting the food do all the talking. This is not some polished-up barbecue concept trying to manufacture a reputation. It is a real joint, built through work, repetition, and trial and error that leaves smoke deep in your clothes.

Bar-A-BBQ sits along Highway 105 in Montgomery, Texas, a quiet little building turning out some of the area’s most compelling barbecue.

Places like Bar-A do not just appear out of nowhere, fully formed and ready for applause. Before there was a permanent home in Montgomery, Cooper and Shelby Abercrombie were doing it the hard way — backyard cooks, pop-ups, long days, and the kind of repetition that either makes you better or shows everyone exactly where you are full of it. Bar-A’s official story says the restaurant began out of a trailer, doing pop-ups at various locations, events, and festivals before opening its brick-and-mortar in Montgomery. That kind of beginning matters. It tells you whether a place was built to chase a little hype and a few pats on the back, or built because the people behind it were willing to keep showing up, take their lumps, and improve. Bar-A feels like the second kind. The reputation came later. First came the work.

What stuck with me just as much as the food was Cooper himself. He was humble, generous with his time, and never carried himself like someone trying to prove how good he was. The team had that same energy. They seemed genuinely happy to be there, proud of the barbecue they were putting out, and that attitude is hard to fake. After we wrapped the shoot for Kevin’s BBQ Joints, we sat down and Cooper put a generous plate in front of us. It did not take long to see why this place had built such a strong reputation.

The brisket was smoky, well seasoned, and clearly well executed. Texas Monthly’s 2025 Top 50 coverage, as summarized by Houston Food Finder, specifically called out Bar-A’s cold-smoked overnight brisket, housemade sausages, pork ribs, and even the leftover cornbread that gets turned into Chocolate Cornbread Pudding. The official menu also confirms brisket, pork ribs, housemade sausage, Cheesy Tater Casserole, cucumber salad, and Chocolate Cornbread Pudding are current menu items. The sausage had that proper snap and plenty of flavor. The ribs shined with a glaze, but still carried enough smoke to keep the sweetness in check. The whole plate felt balanced and deliberate instead of showy. The cheesy tater casserole had a homestyle comfort to it, like something somebody kept making at home because the people around them kept asking for it, and now it has become a staple on the menu. The cucumber salad was a great addition, cutting through the richness while bringing a ton of flavor of its own. Then there was the Chocolate Cornbread Pudding, made from leftover cornbread and packed with chocolate. It was rich and deeply satisfying.

A loaded tray from Bar-A-BBQ: smoky brisket, glazed ribs, snappy housemade sausage, cheesy tater casserole, cucumber salad, and a dessert standout, their chocolate cornbread pudding.

What stays with me most about Bar-A is the feeling that this place is still climbing. Not in some loud, obnoxious, self-important way. Not because somebody got high on their own hype and decided they needed a bigger stage. They are growing because they have to. The crowds are there. The lines are there. The success is there. Community Impact reported last week that owner and pitmaster Cooper Abercrombie confirmed Bar-A-BBQ is opening a new brick-and-mortar in Montgomery, slated for the third quarter of 2026. More space. More seating. More capacity for the people already showing up. That matters. Expansion like that means more when it feels earned.

That is probably what I respect most about Bar-A. It has never felt like a place chasing attention for attention’s sake. It feels like a joint that earned its following the hard way and is now getting bigger because the work left it no other choice. In Texas barbecue, that is still about the best compliment you can give.