The best BBQ in Arlington is now in the Rangers’ lineup, and growing in Fort Worth

The barbecue market in Fort Worth is getting crowded.

But Hurtado Barbecue in Arlington has made the big leagues.

Arlington’s favorite craft barbecue restaurant, now also open in south Fort Worth, will open stands at Globe Life Field next month serving some of Texas’ best brisket, sausage and “Mexi-cue” to Texas Rangers fans.

“Having started cooking in our backyard in hail, sleet or whatever, I think we are now the first independent restaurant to be in the stadium,” said Brandon Hurtado, the marketing-executive-turned-barbecue-pitmaster behind the expanding Hurtado empire.

Fort Worth’s fame for barbecue is turning the city into a magnet for Texas pitmasters.

This week alone, Terry Black’s BBQ from Fort Worth announced plans for a new location at 2926 W. Seventh St.,

Also, a breakaway faction of the Hutchins family from Hutchins BBQ in Collin County announced a new restaurant at 3000 Texas 114 East, Trophy Club.

Hurtado has grown from its original downtown Arlington location, 205 E. Front St., to add a late-night bar and lounge there, Hayter’s, plus restaurants serving breakfast and lunch at 1116 Eighth Ave., Fort Worth, and lunch and dinner at 100 Hardwicke Lane, Little Elm.

“We are definitely among friends in Fort Worth,” Hurtado said on a recent Eats Beat podcast.

“We love Smoke-a-Holics — Panther City — Heim — Brix — Dayne’s — those are all friends of ours,” he said, naming Texas Monthly top-100 barbecue restaurants, four of them within 2 miles of Hurtado’s location near the busy corner of Eighth Avenue and West Rosedale Street in the hospital district.

Hurtado said he visited Panther City several times before the two restaurants became pioneers of the emerging Texas genre of “Mexi-cue,” featuring brisket and ribs but also homemade spicy and peppery sausages and birria tacos.

“We love Tex-Mex — we love cooking it and we love eating it,” he said.

“It was a natural passion to combine what we were doing with Mexican food and barbecue.”

The downtown Arlington location 1½ miles from Globe Life Field remains Hurtado’s flagship, serving lunch through late afternoon daily.

Customers drive from across Texas and also come from DFW Airport daily to the restaurant, on weekends often as part of a two-stop trip to Hurtado and state No. 1-ranked Goldee’s south of Kennedale.

“We have people driving six hours to take our cooking classes,” Hurtado said.

Pitmaster Brendan Lamb, formerly of Smiley’s in Ponder and Roanoke, has rejoined Hurtado as the barbecue empire expands and adds more pitmaster lessons and cooking schools.

With the Austin and Fort Worth barbecue business getting tight and pitmasters feeling the pinch of higher meat prices, Hurtado said cooking schools may be the next expansion for Texas barbecue.

“We see a lot of people leaning toward the educational side,” he said.

Panther City recently turned a nearby bar into a classroom and teaching facility.

“It’s about speaking the gospel and educating the backyard cook,” Hurtado said.

All the Hurtado locations serve the basic menu of plates and sandwiches brisket, bacon “burnt ends,” ribs, turkey, a beef sausage or a poblano Oaxaca sausage, pork, quail and chicken.

Side dishes include Hatch green chile mac-and-cheese, elote, garlic-chorizo green beans and regular items such as baked-potato salad and slaw.

The Fort Worth location also serves brrsket and sausage biscuits and tacos at breakfast.

Hurtado stores open at 7 a.m. daily in Fort Worth, 682-499-5913, and 11 a.m. daily in Arlington, 682-323-5141, and Little Elm, 469-579-5220; hurtadobbq.com.

Hayters Bar and Lounge, 213 E. Front St., serves Hurtado tacos, nachos and burgers until midnight.