Burnt Bean Company
The weekend beef ribs are what to time the drive around: a short rib carrying close to two pounds of crusted meat, and a pile of Korean beef back ribs beside it. Ernest Servantes and David Kirkland cook them over oak on the courthouse square in Seguin.1 Texas Monthly ranked them first of fifty in the state in 2025, up from fourth in 2021.7
Why go
Servantes cooked for Sodexo for fifteen years, most recently as executive chef at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, and entered his first barbecue competition in 2009 because he needed a hobby and did not like golf.2 The name came out of that first competition. A colleague named Flora heard the menu and told him in Spanish he would probably burn the beans, and Servantes translated frijoles quemados back into English rather than watch judges mangle it on stage.2 He met Kirkland on the competition trail, they ran every-other-Saturday pop-ups on the square from October 2019, the first one sold out in forty-five minutes, and when the pandemic closed the bar they were borrowing they took over its lease.2 Servantes on what that cost: I quit my job. I sold everything I had. I used to have thirty-some smokers and trailers, and now I have a smoker at home.
2 What they cook is not what they competed with. I had to take everything I learned in competition barbecue and leave it behind,
he told Daniel Vaughn, and what carried over is the oak.2 Texas Monthly dates the opening to 2020 and the MICHELIN inspector dates the partnership to 2021, and neither is corrected here.3
Order this / avoid
- The weekend beef ribs, which are two dishes. One short rib carries close to two pounds of crusted meat, and beside it sits a pile of Korean beef back ribs that Vaughn calls
sticky-sweet and spicy.
1 - Brisket, and Vaughn's note on the fat is the reason:
Slices of lean brisket were juicier than some fatty brisket I've eaten. The fat cap rendered into submission, melting onto the butcher paper before my eyes.
2 - Sunday breakfast: menudo, barbacoa and carne guisada tacos, brisket huevos rancheros, and a brisket-stuffed croissant sandwich called the Blue October.1
- The green beans, stewed with bacon, tomato and onions. Vaughn on the broth left in the bowl:
Drink this juice. It's medicinal, like a digestif.
2 - The bourbon peach cobbler taco to close, which is Texas Monthly's own pro tip.1
- Avoid: early in the week. It opens Thursday to Sunday and closes when the meat runs out.1
What locals & experts say
- Daniel Vaughn, after eating breakfast and lunch here in one day in 2021:
I've simply never been to a barbecue joint that is this good so soon after its opening. The weak spots in a barbecue menu are generally multiple and obvious, but after trying breakfast (served on Sundays only) and lunch in a single day at Burnt Bean Co., I have no holes to report.
2 - Vaughn again, in the 2025 edition that put it first:
the pork ribs were seasoned with the ideal combination of salt and pepper and the brisket had a deep, savory quality that combined the smoke with the comfort of a roast
.1 - Nicolai McCrary, for The Infatuation, on what earns the drive:
Classics like brisket and ribs are textbook Central Texas, but it's the extras, smoked chicken drumsticks with a peppery crust, or thick-cut turkey that eats like a steak, that makes this spot destination-worthy.
5 - MICHELIN Guide Texas, Bib Gourmand, 2024, the inspector's own line:
The offered meats – brisket, ribs, sausage – are notable for their tenderness, delicate smokiness, and measured levels of fat.
3 - The James Beard Foundation has made Kirkland and Servantes Outstanding Chef semifinalists three years running, in 2024, 2025 and 2026. Neither has reached a nominee roster.4
- CultureMap on how the ranking moved:
Compared to 2021, Burnt Bean Co. moves up from No. 4 to No. 1, followed by LeRoy & Lewis, which ranked No. 5 in 2021.
The edition rests on 319 restaurants visited.7
Good to know
- This is a day trip, not an Austin dinner. Seguin is in Guadalupe County, out past San Marcos, and the pits sit on the courthouse square at 108 S Austin St.1
- The queue forms before the doors, and The Infatuation has people on the sidewalk hours ahead of opening.5
- Davila's BBQ has been on the same street since 1959, which is the other half of a Seguin barbecue day.2
- Hygiene: Austin Public Health has no jurisdiction here, which is a different statement from no record. The agency inspects the City of Austin, unincorporated Travis County and parts of Williamson County. Guadalupe County sits outside that reach, so an absent inspection says nothing about this kitchen either way. No Guadalupe County or state route has been researched by this project.8
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "#1 in Texas. See awards and press for details."
Verdict
must-visit — Sunday is the day worth the drive, because breakfast and lunch here are two different kitchens and only one of them is barbecue. The weekend beef ribs are the thing to time it around. Vaughn ate both services in one day and found nothing wrong with either, which is a rare sentence from him.