Goldee's Bar-B-Q
Like many other restaurants in Fort Worth and beyond, Goldee’s Bar-B-Q faced a choice: adapt or close.
For a minute, it looked like the newly opened ‘cue joint in south Fort Worth, near the country community of Kennedale, would be OK with the latter, at least temporarily, until our post-coronavirus world started to come back to life.
But after two weeks of Goldee’s lying dormant, owners Jonny White, Dylan Taylor, and Lane Milne decided to follow the lead of other area restaurants and open for to-go meals.
“No one was sure how long the pandemic was going to last or how it was going to affect our community,” says Taylor. “So we decided to close and watch and wait. After a couple weeks, we said, `We gotta feed the people. We gotta feed our neighborhood. We gotta get back to doing what we do.’”
The trio of lifelong friends came up with a unique concept: Cook and prepare all the food during the week, then vacuum seal it. Customers place orders on or by Thursday on the restaurant’s website, then pick them up on Saturday. “We’ll run it out to your car,” Taylor says. “And you go home and reheat it. Believe me, it’s as good as getting it in the restaurant.”
Most of the restaurant’s main items are available in both individual and family-style servings, from lusciously fatty brisket to thick, juicy pork ribs. Sides include cole slaw, pinto beans and potato salad. There’s also a weekly sausage special, plus housemade loaves of bread.
COVID-19 brought to a halt momentum the restaurant had been building for months. Nearly a year in the works, the restaurant opened in February, in the space once occupied by longtime ‘cue spot Kenneth’s True Pit Bar-B-Q, then closed just a few weeks later.
But now Goldee’s joins the flock of other local independent barbecue joints that have figured out ways to stay alive during the coronavirus crisis. Angelo’s, Dayne's Craft Barbecue, Derek Allan’s Texas Barbecue, Panther City BBQ, Heim, newly opened Hurtado BBQ in Arlington, and others have adopted new ways of doing business in order to keep their fans happy and their doors open.
“Everything is so uncertain right now, but it won’t be like this forever,” Taylor says. “This is our way of surviving until the world gets back to its regular scheduled program.”
4645 Dick Price Road, goldeesbbq.com
