Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse is a well-known

BBQ Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

restaurant in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

that was founded by William Jennings Bryan Jr. (known as Sonny) in 1958 near the

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern or UTSW) is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 18,800 employees, more than 2,900 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient vi ...

. It has seven locations in the

Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

(DFW) while closing all franchise units in Utah by mid-2014. Sonny Bryan's also has one of the largest catering companies in DFW.

History

The Bryan family has operated barbecue restaurants in the Dallas area for over a century. Sonny's grandfather, Elias Bryan, first opened his Bryan's Barbecue in 1910 while Sonny's father William Jennings "Red" Bryan opened Red Bryan's Smokehouse in 1930. Sonny opened his Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse in 1958 and ran it until 1989 when he sold it to a group of Dallas investors.Alternate Link
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.Alternate Link
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. Bryan died from cancer just a few months after the sale.Alternate Link
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. While Bryan was alive, he had only maintain a single location and never franchised.Alternate Link
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.Alternate Link
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. Although the new management vowed to keep the original location the same, they started building additional locations.Alternate Link
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. The first new location opened in the West End in 1991. Under the new management, Sonny Bryan's expanded, including new locations at Love Field in 2011, one a major department store in a mall (1993-2011), plus three locations in Utah, with the first Utah location opened in 2011. The current CEO is Brent Harmon. At one point during the early 2010s, the company had as many as 10 locations in Texas plus 3-4 locations in Utah. By August 2014, locations in Texas were reduced to seven while all of the locations in Utah were closed. As of mid 2014, current locations in Texas include Inwood (original location), Richardson, West End, Las Colinas, Lovers Lane, Downtown (Dallas), and Fort Worth. Recently closed locations in Texas include Preston & Forest, Macy’s Galleria, and Love Field. Former locations in Utah include Sandy, Foothill, Valley Fair, Cottonwood Heights, and Downtown (Salt Lake City). To cater to workers on the late shift at the nearby hospitals, the original location switched to a 24 hours operations in May 2016 while the other locations maintained their regular schedules. As a result of the COVID19 pandemic, only three location survived by April 2021, the original location in Inwood, Lovers Lane, and Richardson.

Distinguishing features

Some locations use old school desks as dining tables, which were first used by Sonny Bryan himself at the original location.Alternate Link
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. Noted customers include

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...

, Lyndon Baines Johnson,

Dean Fearing William Dean Fearing (born 1955) is an American chef known as one of the earliest stars of Southwestern Cuisine."J.L. Becker. "Puttin' on the Ritz: Dean Fearing put Southwestern cuisine on the map at The Mansion on Turtle Creek. He's now moving ...

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Emeril Lagasse Emeril John Lagassé III ( ; born October 15, 1959) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, television personality, cookbook author, and National Best Recipe award winner for his "Turkey and Hot Sausage Chili" recipe in 2003. He is a regio ...

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Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...

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King Khan and the Shrines King Khan and the Shrines, sometimes referred to as King Khan and (His) Sensational Shrines are a Berlin-based garage rock and psychedelic soul band. History The band was founded in 1999 by then 22-year-old King Khan, formerly of Canadian garag ...

, and

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Awards

The restaurant won a

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

in 2000,Link
via

. a Best Barbecue Dallas award from the Dallas Observer in 2007, and several Readers' Choice Best Barbecue Awards from

D Magazine ''D Magazine'' is a monthly magazine covering Dallas–Fort Worth. It is headquartered in Downtown Dallas. ''D Magazine'' covers a range of topics including politics, business, food, fashion and lifestyle in the city of Dallas. The first iss ...

for 2010, 2011, and 2012 In 2015, the chain was declared as the fourth best southern barbeque by the readers of

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In the media

It has been featured in a Dallas-based episode of the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

show ''

Man v. Food Nation ''Man v. Food Nation'' is the name given to the fourth season of the Travel Channel's '' Man v. Food'', a food reality television series. It premiered on June 1, 2011. A preview episode, "The Quest Begins", aired on May 25. In this show, host Ad ...

'', in 2011, the Dallas episode of the

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting p ...

show ''The Originals with Emeril'', the barbecue episode of the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

show ''

Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels ''Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels'' is a television show based on cook Rachael Ray and her travels around the world. The show is similar to her 2002 Food Network show, ''$40 a Day ''$40 a Day'' was a Food Network show hosted by Rachael Ray. In eac ...

'', and the

show ''101 More Amazing Places to Chowdown'', in 2014. It has been written about and favorably reviewed in

Southern Living ''Southern Living'' is a lifestyle magazine aimed at readers in the Southern United States featuring recipes, house plans, garden plans, and information about Southern culture and travel. It is published by Birmingham, Alabama–based Southern Prog ...

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the Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

the Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

the Houston Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

, and culinary books by

Jane and Michael Stern Jane Grossman Stern and Michael Stern (both born 1946) are American writers who specialize in books about travel, food, and popular culture. They are best known for their '' Roadfood'' books, website, and magazine columns, in which they find roa ...

References

External links