The Pitmaster Next Door

How Trey Sanchez Built One of Texas's Highly Acclaimed BBQ Spots Right Here in Allen Vaqueros Texas Bar-B-Q earned a New York Times Top 20 nod, a James Beard nomination, a D Magazine ranking, and a Texas Monthly taco list spot -- and most of Allen still doesn't know it's there.

Walk through the Watters Creek district on Garden Park Drive and you might mistake Vaqueros Texas Bar-B-Q for a Texas Hill Country transplant -- something that belonged in Lockhart or Llano before it wandered north. The brick-and-stone exterior, the blue patio umbrellas stretched along the sidewalk, the weathered wood facade -- it reads like a place that has been here longer than it has. Step through the entrance (a handmade log sign reads "This Guey," which in Spanglish lands exactly as intended: This Way) and the picture sharpens fast.

The dining room opens wide -- reclaimed wood dividers trimmed in corrugated metal, big windows onto the street, exposed ductwork overhead, ceiling fa…

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