Longoria's Barbecue, the Everman smokehouse known for its coarsely ground brisket sausage and secret spice blend, served its last plates Friday after 31 years in business. Owner David Longoria said the closure came down to a mix of factors that had been building for years, from a shaky economy to his own health.
Fidencio “Fred” Longoria opened the restaurant in 1995, years after he began making sausage at home in the mid-1970s while working at Bell Helicopter, drawing on the sausage he'd grown up eating in Gonzales, Texas, according to Fort Worth Magazine. That sausage, made with coarsely ground brisket and a spice mix the family never shared, became the restaurant's signature. Fred eventually passed the business to his sons Danny and David, with David taking the reins after Danny moved to Mexico.
David Longoria, now 64, told the magazine that multiple pressures piled up at once: the restaurant never fully bounced back from a 45-day COVID-era shutdown, the broader economy turned unsteady, and his health became a concern. Road closures tied to nearby development were also underway near the modest two-room building clad in corrugated metal that housed the restaurant. At times, he said, the place ran with just two people doing the work of ten. “I don’t think a lot of people realize just how hard it is to run their own business, especially a restaurant,” he said, according to the same report, and he didn't mince words about the toll it took, calling it a money pit.
A Recipe Too Good To Give Away
Longoria's built a reputation well beyond Everman. The restaurant landed on Texas Monthly's list of the state's 50 best barbecue joints multiple times, and Daniel Vaughn named it one of North Texas' 10 best barbecue spots in a D Magazine story, per the fwtx.com account. The Travel Channel's BBQ Crawl also featured the restaurant, which David said gave the business a major boost.
Even national television couldn't pry loose the family's secrets. David Longoria turned down an invitation to appear on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives because producers wanted him to reveal the sausage recipe. “I can't just give it away,” he said. The restaurant's smoked cheeseburger, made from ground brisket patties smoked for an hour in the same pit as the ribs before finishing on the grill, was another point of pride for the family operation.
Everman Loses a Barbecue Anchor
Everman once had three popular barbecue joints, but the roster has thinned out fast. Jerry's Beef Barn BBQ, described by the fwtx.com report as a longtime staple in the area, is also gone. That leaves Hickory Stick BBQ as the town's lone remaining barbecue restaurant, a shop that describes itself as family owned and operated rather than a chain franchise.
The losses in Everman mirror a rougher patch for Texas barbecue broadly. The National Restaurant Association reported that November 2025 marked the tenth consecutive month of net declines in customer traffic, as Texas Monthly has reported, while the average cost of choice-grade brisket climbed 14 percent compared with a year earlier. Cattle numbers in feedlots were down 3 percent from January 2025, a trend that doesn't bode well for meat costs going forward.
Fort Worth has felt that squeeze directly. Brix Barbecue closed in August after its owner pointed to unfavorable vendor pricing and nearby restaurant closures, and Sabar BBQ was among the other Fort Worth casualties, though its pitmaster, Zain Shafi, became a partial owner of Goldee's Barbecue. Elsewhere in the state, Blue Moon BBQ shut down after its owners said traffic was down, costs were up, and they simply lacked the energy to keep going, while Brett's BBQ Shop in Katy announced it would close by year's end after profits fell and rent stayed high.
What's Next for the Family Sausage
The scale of the industry shakeout is stark. RestaurantData estimated that 8,171 restaurant locations closed across the United States and Canada in the first half of 2026, with Texas logging an estimated 1,039 closures, the highest total of any state or province in that report. Independent restaurants accounted for nearly half of those closures nationwide.
Despite shutting the doors on the restaurant itself, David Longoria isn't ready to let his father's sausage recipe disappear. “I'm going to try to figure out a way to keep it going,” he said, according to the fwtx.com report. For now, he says he plans to focus on his health, do some traveling, visit Texas barbecue joints he hasn't tried yet, and get in some fishing.
