Rossler's Blue Cord Barbecue
Steven and Kristen Rossler cook post oak in an offset at a Harker Heights food truck, and Texas Monthly put the brisket in its 2025 Top 50 on first appearance. The window is Wednesday 11 to 2 and Thursday 11 to 4.
Why go
Steven Rossler spent two decades as an infantryman and started catering barbecue on the side in 2016, while he was still serving.2 The truck opened in January 2021, about ten miles southeast of Fort Cavazos, and he retired the month after.2 The Army awarded him the Bronze Star with valor for Afghanistan in 2011, for a day he has described plainly: I went into a burning vehicle multiple times trying to give my guys air.
2 Sergeant First Class Clark Corley, Specialist Ryan Lumley and Specialist Thomas Mayberry did not get out.2
Kristen learned the pit from him and remembers feeding the firebox while nursing their infant.2 The blue cord in the name is the infantry blue cord.3
Order this / avoid
- Order: the brisket, post oak in an offset.1
- Order: the elote pasta salad, and Kristen's spiced banana pudding after it.1
- Avoid: turning up unchecked. Catering takes them out of town and the truck goes with them.1
What locals & experts say
- Daniel Vaughn, Texas Monthly, Top 50 BBQ Joints in Texas (2025 edition):
The brisket, with its crisp, flavorful crust and fat rendered to perfection, speaks for itself, and sides such as the elote pasta salad and the collard greens stand out among the pack.
1
Good to know
- Hours: Wednesday 11 to 2, Thursday 11 to 4. Six hours a week, and that is the whole window.1
- Founding date, two answers. Vaughn dates the truck to January 2021; the house dates itself to 2016, which is when Steven started catering.23
Verdict
should-visit — A first-time Top 50 placement off a food truck open six hours a week is the hardest way to get onto that list, and Vaughn ate the brisket twice to put it there. The evidence is unusually deep for a room this small because he also wrote the long profile, so there is an account of how the cooking got good and not only that it is. The rung stays below the top one on access rather than craft: two lunch services, no seats to speak of, and a closure any week catering pays better.