Eva Longoria and former Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware spent a day eating their way through Arlington for a new Roku series, and Longoria says it turned into the best day she's ever had in Dallas. The pair sampled smoked and fried quail and brisket birria tacos at Hurtado Barbecue, then headed to Mariano's Hacienda for a frozen margarita invented more than five decades ago just a few miles away.
The episode is part of NFL Hometown Eats, a three-episode Roku show that pairs a celebrity football superfan with an NFL player to find the best restaurants near stadiums around the country, according to The Dallas Morning News. Longoria, a Texas native, executive produces the series, which runs roughly 23 minutes per episode and also includes stops in Los Angeles and Seattle. In Los Angeles, Rebel Wilson appears alongside NFL wide receiver Davante Adams, while Joel McHale joins Seattle cornerback Devon Witherspoon in that city's installment.
Longoria told the outlet Hurtado Barbecue's brisket birria tacos were the best birria she had ever eaten, and she said simply that she loves food. Hurtado Barbecue, owned by pitmaster Brandon Hurtado, was selected for the show in part because of its proximity to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, per the same report. The restaurant has also appeared on season 2 of Landman, adding another entertainment-industry credit to its growing profile.
From Microbrewery Pop-Up to Stadium Concessions
Hurtado launched his barbecue operation as a microbrewery pop-up in 2018 before opening his first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Downtown Arlington in February 2020, according to Dallas Farmers Market. He built what's been described as a Mexi-Q fusion of Central Texas barbecue and Tex-Mex flavors, blending his Hispanic heritage and family barbecue traditions into dishes like the brisket birria tacos Longoria praised. That combination has since carried the brand well beyond its original storefront: Hurtado Barbecue struck a formal concession partnership inside Globe Life Field, serving smoked brisket nachos and catering events for the Texas Rangers during their 2023 World Series championship season, as reported by CultureMap Fort Worth.
Hurtado also published a cookbook, Barbacoa: The Heart of Tex-Mex Barbecue, in April 2025, offering home-cook adaptations for slow-smoked beef cheek and brisket barbacoa, per Texas Highways. Hoodline previously named the restaurant one of Arlington's top barbecue spots back in 2020, and the pitmaster is also set to appear at the Lone Star Smokeout festival outside AT&T Stadium.
A Frozen Margarita With Smithsonian Roots
At Mariano's Hacienda, owner Mariano Martinez served Longoria the Mariano margarita, the drink he invented in 1971 after adapting a soft-serve ice cream machine to keep up with bartenders during opening-week rushes. Martinez told Dallas News that people initially thought frozen margaritas would be a girls' drink, but the Dallas Cowboys ended up making them a man's drink, and Cowboys players became customers of his restaurant early in its history, per Martinez's own account.
Getting there wasn't easy. Martinez said his restaurant was running on fumes at first, and he was turned down by 11 banks before the 12th finally financed his restaurant, according to the same report. He opened Mariano's Mexican Cuisine in May 1971 after selling everything he owned and securing a Small Business Administration loan, just four days before he invented the machine that would define his career, per Wikipedia. The margarita itself took two years to perfect. In October 2005, that original 1971 machine was inducted into the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., a milestone that underscores how far the invention traveled beyond one East Dallas restaurant. Hoodline has previously spotlighted Mariano's Hacienda Ranch as a top-rated local Tex-Mex business.
Cowboys Traditions and a Draft Day Cameo
Before the food stops, Longoria and Ware appeared at Dallas Cowboys headquarters in Frisco, where they met with team owner Jerry Jones, who spoke with the pair on NFL Draft Day, per Dallas News. The pair also sampled food from Coppell Deli, which DeMarcus Ware described as a longtime favorite for Cowboys players. The deli opened in 1989 near the team's former headquarters and built its own tradition around the Stubbs Special, a breakfast sandwich named for early 1990s Cowboys defensive lineman Daniel Stubbs, according to the Dallas Observer. The sandwich stacks scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and American cheese on Texas toast, and the deli gained national attention in the 1990s when late NFL broadcaster John Madden repeatedly praised its heavy breakfast sandwiches on live television.
Ware, who played for the Cowboys from 2005 to 2013 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023, holds the franchise's all-time record with 117.5 career sacks, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He spent nine of his 12 NFL seasons in Dallas before finishing his career with the Denver Broncos.
Behind the Cameras and Where to Watch
The series comes from Hyphenate Media Group, which Longoria co-founded with entertainment executive Cris Abrego in October 2023 with backing from Banijay, absorbing her earlier production banner UnbeliEVAble Entertainment in the process, per Forbes. It builds on Longoria's earlier food-and-travel credentials from hosting and producing CNN's Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico.
NFL Hometown Eats premieres tomorrow on the Roku Channel, free with no subscription required, according to Dallas News. It will be available at therokuchannel.com and through Amazon Fire TV, Samsung TVs, Google TV and Android TV OS devices, and the Roku mobile app.
