Food

Award-Winning BBQ Joint Opens Soon at Watters Creek Village in Allen

January 9, 2025

In late January, an award-winning Tex-Mex barbecue joint called Vaqueros Texas Bar-B-Q opens in Watters Creek Village in Allen. The barbecue restaurant began as a food truck in Grapevine that was featured as Texas Monthly’s Top 50 Tacos in Texas and was given a James Beard nomination in 2024.

The Allen location is the first brick and mortar location, and the owner partnered with the hospitality group that owns Mi Cocina to make this a reality. To this point, Vaquero’s owner/pitmaster Arnulfo “Trey” Sánchez has been serving BBQ at Hop & Sting Brewery in Grapevine.

As mentioned on the restaurant’s Instagram page, the mural outside the new location is a copy from Sanchez’s father’s first brick and mortar location and there are so many repurposed pieces in the restaurant that carries significant history. The pit room will make this joint extra special as it’s fully indoors with air conditioning and custom smokers. When guests enter the restaurant, they can watch BBQ being cooked and smoked in front of them.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Stuff to TRY in Dallas (@karliedoesdallas)

Favorite Vaqueros menu items will delight like prime brisket, ribs, sausage, hickory smoked turkey breast, brisket nachos, and hickory smoked baked potato. There are the iconic tacos, the BBQ Birria, that was featured on the Cooking Channel’s Man Fire Food & Man’s Greatest Food and Texas Monthly Top 20 Bite of 2020. Sides include apple gorgonzola slaw, Tex-Mex slaw, Texas trail beans, smoked refritos, homestyle potato salad, spicy cucumber salad, green chile mac and cheese mac, hickory smoked elote, and garlic cilantro rice and cowboy potatoes.

Vaqueros Texas Bar-B-Q is carrying on a family tradition set forth by Arnold’s Texas Bar-B-Q that started in 1979. Sánchez has lived in the BBQ business since he was a kid. His father, Arnold Sánchez won BBQ and chili cook offs in 1979. In 1989, Arnold’s Texas Bar-B-Q opened in East Dallas at 601 N. Haskell Avenue. With BBQ in his blood, a background in art, and having grown up in the special event and production industry, Sánchez brings a unique style to his classic Texas BBQ business.

Put this one on your list for 2025!

Vitals