Famous North Texas pitmasters coming to Arlington’s Entertainment District

The Arlington Entertainment District soon will be home to a new barbecue option.

One of North Texas’ top barbecue families announced it will open a new location of The Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque restaurant near Interstate 30 in north Arlington.

Roy Hutchins Barbeque at The Ballpark will be in a 7,900-square-foot building at 1600 E. Copeland Road that was once home to a Texas Land & Cattle Co. restaurant. Zack Hutchins, director of operations, said renovations have begun at the new location, which will have a large extended covered patio and top-of-the-line pit room. It is scheduled to open sometime this summer.

“We’re super excited. We’ve had our eyes on trying to plan how to grow and where to go,” he said. “We actually saw that spot down in Arlington before we landed here in Trophy Club, but it wasn’t on the market at that time, so we kind of just kept our eyes on it, and when it became available, we jumped on the opportunity.”

The Hutchins name has long been associated with barbecue in North Texas.

Roy Hutchins, son Wes and grandson Zack have been slow-smoking barbecue since Roy’s Smokehouse opened in 1978 east of McKinney in the Collin County town of Princeton. 

Since opening the doors on The Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque in Trophy Club a couple years ago, the establishment has gained online popularity. 

Restaurateur Chris Carroll said that the Hutchins brand is going in at his former barbecue restaurant and steakhouse at the corner of Copeland Road and Nolan Ryan Expressway. The restaurant location faces the interstate on the northern edge of the Globe Life Field and AT&T Stadium parking lots.

“I think they’re special,” Carroll, owner of Spring Creek Barbecue and Shady Oak Barbecue, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “They do a wonderful job and I’ve known the family for years. I feel real good about it.”

The Hutchinses founded their legacy at locations in McKinney and Frisco before two family members split away to open The Original Roy Hutchins in Trophy Club.

The family members settled their differences but continue to operate different restaurants. Hutchins Barbeque and The Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque are, however, similar in many ways.

“Realistically, it’s all the same family, if we’re being honest. Myself, along with some of the other key people here, we all worked in McKinney and Frisco for years. I myself worked over there from 2012 until 2022, so we spent a lot of time over there. We’re part of that. Everything’s good,” Zack Hutchins said. “Obviously, we had that little problem just at the beginning. But, I mean, we’re all still cool. We still do Thanksgiving, Christmas together. Everybody’s happy, everybody’s cool. Everybody wants to see everybody succeed and grow. And I think we all are under the same mindset that competition is healthy.”

Arlington already has a strong stable of barbecue restaurants. For example, Lockhart Smokehouse operates inside the Texas Live! complex and Hurtado Barbecue, based a mile south of the stadiums, operates locations inside the Rangers’ Globe Life Field.

The first Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque is a two-story Hill Country-style restaurant and serving line at 3000 Texas Highway 114 in Trophy Club. That building originally was home to a Bread Winners Cafe and after that, Yeschf, a Cajun/Creole restaurant. 

Zack Hutchins and Israel Silva began the concept with the blessing of Roy Hutchins. 

Zack Hutchins and Silva said they strive to continue Roy’s legacy and build upon the family recipes dating back to the 1970s. Their goal will always be to offer people an authentic Texas barbecue experience.

Hutchins and Silva said they have collaborated on their love for smoked meats for the past 10 years, attending the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest and serving true Texas barbeque at the James Beard House and the Aspen Food and Wine Classic. 

“It has been an honor to receive Roy Hutchins’ blessing to continue his legacy with Zack and bring the BBQ culture we grew up on to Arlington,” said Silva, general manager of Roy Hutchins Barbeque at The Ballpark.

TikTok food critic Keith Lee visited both restaurants and told his millions of viewers the flavors created by the two Hutchinses are different, but he rated The Original Roy Hutchins restaurant a 9 out of 10 and said it served his favorite Texas barbecue.

The Original Roy Hutchins Barbeque also recently announced it is the official barbecue restaurant at Texas Motor Speedway and will open in the infield restaurant space.

Zack Hutchins said they are still working on the menus for the Arlington restaurant and the new Texas Motor Speedway location.

“Arlington, that is the spot that you want to be. You want to be right in the middle of all that, just because it brings in so many people,” Zack Hutchins said. “Obviously, the Arlington community itself is great, but then when you add on all the extra people that just come in, when you really think about it, like people who come to Dallas, they travel to Dallas-Fort Worth all the time. 

“But Arlington is one of the major draws of people coming into North Texas. That’s where most of the stuff is,” he said. “So for us, it’s just a great opportunity to be able to get a spot like that, because we are going to see some of the traffic from all these events and shows and concerts. There’s all kinds of cool stuff coming to Arlington.” 

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