These two pitmasters just closed Fort Worth’s best BBQ shop forever

The husband and wife bbq team of Emma and Travis Heim wrapped up their final lunch service in their “permanent pop-up” Heim BBQ trailer Saturday, with sunshine, live music, 500 pounds of briskets, and a line of customers that snaked down the block.

The EscapeHatch crew was on hand when Emma marched outside around 2 pm to post a “sold out” sign over the handwritten butcher paper menu, signaling the last of the brisket, ribs, jalapeno sausage and bacon burnt ends had been sold. About twenty people were still in line at the time.

“We cooked twice as much barbecue as we normally do,” Travis told me, “but we still ran out sooner than we expected.” Totally understandable when the first customer in line when the trailer opened for business at 11 am ordered “five pounds of everything,”  said Emma. “And the next customer bought an entire brisket to take home.”

The Heims are moving their operation indoors — to a bricks-and-mortar space on Magnolia Avenue, which will operate Wednesday through Sunday and offer lunch and dinner, thanks to an increase in smoking capacity provided by a second  horizontal smoker. Travis says the newer. larger pit — named “McNipples” in honor of a plastic surgeon who provided a chunk of its Kickstarter funding — was partially constructed by Aaron Franklin.

Stop by their new store after it opens in a couple of weeks. You’ll never meet friendlier, more hospitable restaurateurs than Emma and Travis and their pitmaster Rowdy Dugan. Once you’ve met them (and tasted their smokey, tender brisket), you’ll understand what the fuss is all about.