Hurtado Barbecue, the Arlington-based smokehouse known for blending Central Texas barbecue with Tex-Mex flavors, has changed course on its fifth restaurant location in Argyle. Instead of taking over an older building along U.S. Route 377 as originally planned, the brand will now open inside the newly built Argyle Marketplace, with a patio facing the Argyle Nature Preserve.
Founder Brandon Hurtado announced last Tuesday that Hurtado Barbecue will be part of the new development, according to Chron. The Argyle location was first announced in late 2025 and had been expected to open in spring 2027 inside an existing restaurant space, but the restaurant will instead occupy a new structure within the marketplace, per the same report. Brandon and Hannah Hurtado have deep ties to the area, having raised their children and coached youth sports in Argyle, where the couple lives seven miles south of Denton.
A New Town Center Takes Shape
Argyle Marketplace broke ground in June 2026 at 403 U.S. Highway 377, a 23,000-square-foot development spread across three buildings that forms the retail core of the town's planned walkable Town Center district. The developer is fronting $25 million in infrastructure improvements to support the project, according to the Cross Timbers Gazette. The marketplace will sit near a master-planned community for residents 55 and older and abut a new H-E-B store, positioning Hurtado's fifth location alongside major anchors rather than in a retrofitted building.
That grocery activity fits a broader pattern along southern Denton County's Highway 377 corridor. H-E-B acquired 22.8 acres in nearby Flower Mound in July 2025 to build a 110,000-square-foot store, part of a wave of commercial investment tracking the region's residential boom, per the Miranda Realty Team. Argyle itself recorded roughly 6,900 residents in 2025 with an annual growth rate of 6.2%, fueled by new master-planned housing and top-ranked schools, according to TK Realty.
From Food Truck to Fifth Storefront
Hurtado Barbecue's menu centers on brisket, pulled pork, and pork spare ribs alongside Tex-Mex-leaning sides like Mexican street corn, hatch chile macaroni and cheese, and garlic chorizo green beans. The brand's roots trace back to 2018, when Brandon and Hannah Hurtado launched it as a microbrewery pop-up before running a food truck in 2019 and opening their first brick-and-mortar spot in February 2020 inside a 120-year-old former railroad station in Downtown Arlington, according to the Cross Timbers Gazette.
The company has since expanded from Arlington into Southside Fort Worth in September 2022, Mansfield in March 2024, and the Dallas Farmers Market in 2025, bringing its current footprint to four existing locations before Argyle becomes its fifth. Hurtado also maintains a presence at Globe Life Field, where it serves beef ribs and birria tacos to Texas Rangers fans, a partnership that earned the brand Major League Baseball's Most Valuable Business Partner Award in July 2024 after it expanded to two concession stands there during the Rangers' 2023 championship season, according to MLB.com.
A Brand Riding a Wave of Momentum
The Argyle move comes as Hurtado's profile keeps climbing well beyond its original storefront. Brandon Hurtado expanded into full-service dining in April 2026 with Loma TXMX, an upscale Tex-Mex restaurant inside Choctaw Stadium that replaced former tenant El Tiempo Cantina under a lease with the Texas Rangers, as reported by The Dallas Observer. Texas Monthly named Hurtado Barbecue to its Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints list in 2021 and gave it an Honorable Mention in the magazine's 2025 rankings, a distinction highlighted by DiningOut.
Brandon Hurtado also published his debut cookbook, Barbacoa: The Heart of Tex-Mex Barbecue, in April 2025, detailing his approach to blending Central Texas smokehouse techniques with traditional Mexican barbacoa, according to Garden & Gun. The brand's national visibility grew further this month when it appeared on Roku's food travel series NFL Hometown Eats, hosted by Eva Longoria and DeMarcus Ware, in an episode Hoodline covered showcasing Arlington dining near AT&T Stadium.
