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Hickory House Bar-B-Que Denison collage: red Bar-B-Que storefront, sliced brisket plate with fried okra and potato salad, and shelves of bottled sodas

Hickory House Bar-B-Que Denison: Pit BBQ on Woodard Since 1975

Hickory House Bar-B-Que Denison is the old-school pit barbecue joint at 630 W Woodard St, one block north of Main Street, where the Doyle family has been smoking brisket, ribs, and sausage since 1975. Go for the brisket and the from-scratch sides, eat it at a red-checked table, and grab a bottled soda on the way out. It’s a lunch place, generally open Tuesday through Saturday and closed Sunday and Monday, so call (903) 463-3600 before you drive over.

Name: Hickory House Bar-B-Que
Town: Denison
Category: Texas barbecue, with brisket, ribs, sausage, pulled pork, turkey, and homemade sides
Address: 630 W Woodard St, Denison, TX 75020
Phone: (903) 463-3600
Website: hickoryhousebar-b-que.yolasite.com

A family barbecue counter since 1975

According to the restaurant’s own website, the Doyles have owned and operated Hickory House since 1975, and the site still tells visitors to stop by and say hi to Shawn and Johnny Doyle. It describes the style as Texas “pit bar-b-que,” with meats cooked low and slow over indirect heat from hickory wood, and the house sauce served on the side.

Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn has written about the place more than once. In his 2014 review, he reported that after a pit fire destroyed Johnny Doyle’s Oyler pits, Doyle bought two Southern Pride cookers instead of waiting months for a new Oyler to be built. Vaughn wasn’t sold on the ribs that day, but the brisket won him over: a line of rendered fat under a crunchy bark, still juicy in the middle of the afternoon, with plenty of smoke, salt, and pepper.

Cafeteria-style serving counter inside Hickory House Bar-B-Que Denison with a colorful tile floor and memorabilia on the walls
The serving counter, where you order and pick up your sides. Image source: Restaurantji

What to order at Hickory House

Start with brisket. The restaurant’s website lists brisket, pork ribs, pit ham, pulled pork, smoked sausage, hot links, and smoked turkey breast, and Restaurantji’s customer favorites line up with that: smoked brisket, ribs, turkey and sausage, pulled pork, and baked beans. Texas Monthly also noted that Hickory House added a choice of lean or fatty brisket to its menu, so ask for the fatty end if that’s how you like it.

The order Texas Monthly singles out is the chopped brisket sandwich with brown gravy sauce, a style it highlights across the Texoma region. In a 2021 Texoma barbecue tour, Vaughn said he prefers the Hickory House version, which he described as striking “a balance between barbecue sauce and gravy,” with more back-end heat than you’d expect, on a buttered and griddled bun. His tip: if you usually add pickles and onions, consider skipping the pickles on this one. Menus change, so ask at the counter if it isn’t posted.

Barbecue sandwich with pickles, a jalapeño, and a side bowl on a tray at Hickory House Bar-B-Que Denison
A barbecue sandwich with pickles and a jalapeño on the side. Image source: Restaurantji

The sides are made from scratch

Don’t treat the sides as an afterthought. Texas Monthly reported that Johnny and Shawn make the sides themselves and that they’re self-serve along a cafeteria-style line, so you can take a few spoonfuls of several. Vaughn praised the simple, long-cooked pinto beans and described a potato salad with chunks of egg and a good kick of yellow mustard. The restaurant’s website says vegetables are cooked fresh each day and lists BBQ beans, pinto beans, green beans, corn on the cob, mac and cheese, fried okra, home-cut fries, macaroni salad, coleslaw, cucumber salad, and potato salad.

Shawn’s Soda Shop and the candy corner

Part of what makes a stop here fun is Shawn’s Soda Shop. The restaurant’s Tripadvisor listing says it sits on the east side of the building, that Shawn Doyle opened it as a place to help you “feel like a KID again,” and that it carries nostalgia bulk candy and bottled soda pops. Customer photos show shelves of glass-bottle sodas and an HH Candyland sign, and Restaurantji’s review summary mentions decor reminiscent of the 1950s. If you have kids along, let them pick a bottle for the ride home.

HH Candyland sign and pennant banner inside Hickory House Bar-B-Que Denison
The HH Candyland sign inside. Image source: Restaurantji

Good to know before you go

  • Go early. Yelp and Restaurantji list hours of 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday. The restaurant’s own site says it serves until it sells out or until closing, so a late lunch can mean a shorter menu. Call (903) 463-3600 to check.
  • No reservations. Restaurantji lists Hickory House as not taking reservations and offering take-out and outdoor seating.
  • Custom smoking. The restaurant’s website advertises custom cooking, offering to hickory-smoke your own meats. Call to ask how it works.
  • Easy downtown add-on. It’s a block off Main Street, so it pairs well with an afternoon of browsing downtown Denison.

On Restaurantji, Hickory House holds about a 4.7 from 132 ratings, and its review summary highlights the brisket, the spicy sauce, sides like fried okra, and the friendly owners. Find more places to eat in our Denison restaurants guide, browse the full Gunter Grayson restaurants index for Gunter, Howe, and Denison, or plan a three-town day with Corridor Weekend Eats.

More local spots in Denison

Image source: featured collage (the Pit Bar-B-Que storefront, a sliced brisket plate, and the bottled soda shelves) and in-body photos of Hickory House are customer photos via Restaurantji.

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