Omaha: America’s Next Big BBQ City?

Porky Butts Burnt Ends

Texas. Kansas City. Memphis. The Carolinas. Alabama. Omaha.

Wait… what?

One of these things is not like the others when it comes to BBQ. 

Yet.

At least that’s how Blane Hunter, the owner/pitmaster of Porky Butts BBQ sees it. Omaha may not be known for its ‘que right now. But as Blane said during his appearance on the Restaurant Hoppen podcast, that’s going to change.

"Everyone says Texas is the king, and Kansas is the king, and North Carolina is the king. I truly think we're going to start a BBQ revolution here (in Omaha) with all the great restaurants. I've always said that I'm going to put Nebraska on the map... We're going to grow Nebraska BBQ to the point where we get mentioned with Texas and Kansas and North Carolina and some of the greats."

It’s a bold claim, to be sure. And it’s a dream that pitmasters in many cities have had, only to see them fall laughably short.

Yet as I sat across the table from Blane, I couldn’t help but notice the conviction in his voice or see the gleam in his eyes. He isn’t just puffing his chest out with this comment. He believes it.

And I do too.

To be clear, I’m not expecting Omaha to push Austin or Memphis off the BBQ Mount Rushmore any time soon. But even before Blane’s comment, I’d started to see a tectonic shift in the Omaha BBQ scene.

Chip Holland, Tired Texan BBQ owner

It started in 2017, when Chip Holland brought Tired Texan BBQ to Omaha. Nebraska had a few decent BBQ restaurants before, but nothing of this caliber. Chip, an Alabama native who spent his high school years learning the craft until the wee hours of the morning, smokes pork and brisket for up to 18 hours, employing a low-and-slow method previously unknown to Omahans.

And they were mad.

Not about the flavor of the meat, mind you. No, it was the fact that Tired Texan would run out of meat that enraged them.

Now I can’t fully blame my fellow townsfolk for their confusion, as this was a new phenomenon to them. But it’s quite common at most elite BBQ joints—in fact, the best in Texas typically sell out by noon.

I’ll allow Blane to explain why.

“We’re making everything fresh daily,” he said. “A brisket takes anywhere from 12-14 hours to cook. And I only have ‘X’ amount of space on the smoker, because we’re confined to only so much room. We put the max amount we can put on there and we cook it for 14 hours and it comes off and rests. If we have a high-volume day, you just can’t keep up with demand and we run out.

“I don’t ever want to tell anybody that I don’t have something that they drove to my restaurant to try and they’ve heard so much about. It’s the worst feeling in the world. You feel like you let them down. But it’s part of the business, and it’s tough. It’s not a steak restaurant where you can just throw another ribeye on hour after hour.”

Omahans are still learning to adjust to how elite pitmasters operate, but they’re beginning to accept the time constraints that come with upper-echelon ‘que. It’s a step in the right direction.

Smokin Barrel Plate
Sausage, Brisket, Pork, and Turkey (Smokin Barrel)

Omaha got a true taste of the process when pitmaster Wayne Dinges turned his food truck, Smokin Barrel BBQ, into a brick and mortar establishment late in 2018. Omahans flocked to the new location to get their hands on the mind-blowing brisket, smoky sausage, and tender ribs, but commonly found Smokin Barrel ran out of some meats as soon as noon on some days. It’s the nature of the beast.

Smokin Barrel cracked the door, but Porky Butts threw it open in the summer of 2019. Blane had competed on the competition BBQ circuit since 2012, placing in the top 10 in the majority of his attempts, before deciding to turn his love into a restaurant. 

And Omaha is so much better for it.

Porky Butts Burnt Ends
Burnt Ends (Porky Butts)

As 2020 begins, Omaha’s BBQ scene sits on the precipice. It was fine before, as joints like Smoking Jay’s BBQ and Swine Dining put forth honest efforts and are fine joints. But when Tired Texan, Smokin Barrel, and Porky Butts entered the game, the playing field changed and significantly raised Omaha’s BBQ ceiling.

“We’ve got some great BBQ in town, and I think we can work together and keep growing it,” Blane says.

The gauntlet has been thrown down. Texas and KC, you’ve been warned. Omaha is coming. It might not happen tomorrow—heck, it might not happen for decades. 

But for the first time in our great city’s history, Omaha has some pitmasters ready to go toe-to-toe with the best, and we’re all better for it.