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🔥 Fire, Flavor & Family: The Soul Behind Tejas Chocolate & BBQ
How One Backyard Pit, a Chocolate Revelation, and a Small Town Spirit Created One of Texas’ Most Unique BBQ Experiences
On the quiet, brick-lined streets of Old Town Tomball, nestled in a century-old home with creaky floorboards and creosote in the air, something extraordinary is happening. It’s where the sweet science of bean-to-bar chocolate meets the primal art of post oak smoke. It’s where generations of Texan grit, culinary obsession, and neighborhood charm have fused into a place unlike any other: Tejas Chocolate & BBQ.
At the heart of this smoky, sweet story is Scott Moore, a fifth-generation Texan who never planned to run a restaurant—let alone two—or become one of the most respected names in Texas BBQ. But as Scott puts it, “If I’m not doing barbecue, something’s wrong with me.” That kind of destiny doesn’t come with a business plan. It starts with fire, family, and a whole lot of faith.
A Backyard Barbecue Warrior Becomes a Pitmaster
Scott’s journey began the way all good Texas BBQ stories should: in the backyard, surrounded by hungry friends, a pit full of meat, and the smell of post oak hanging in the air. “I was a weekend barbecue warrior,” he says. “We had built-in pits at our houses, which is kind of a Texas perk. I just started messing around.”
It was strictly hobby. A way to feed friends and family, a creative outlet, a spark of joy. With three kids in youth sports and a full-time job in railcar parts sales, Scott didn’t have the bandwidth for barbecue competitions or food trucks. “I had a real job. And life was full,” he said. But what he lacked in formal training, he made up for with intuition, obsession, and a family heritage steeped in good food.
His learning came from trial and error. “Some of it was good, some of it wasn’t,” he admits. But he kept refining his approach—timing, temperature, tenderness. And when the family gathered on Sundays for brisket feasts that started smoking the night before, something sacred was taking shape.
From Roast to Revelation: The Chocolate Chapter
Scott’s creative curiosity eventually led him somewhere even more surprising: chocolate. It all started with a Food Network special on two hipster brothers making craft chocolate in New York. “I didn’t even like chocolate bars at the time,” he laughs. “But these guys were roasting beans and talking about origin and flavor like it was fine wine.”
That sent Scott down a rabbit hole. He started sourcing beans, rigging up DIY chocolate-making gear with PVC pipe and duct tape, roasting cocoa in his oven… until the Texas pitmaster in him had an epiphany: “Why wouldn’t I roast cocoa beans on my barbecue pit?”
From that moment, the Tejas Chocolate brand was born—named as an ode to both Texas and its Spanish colonial roots. What started as a homespun side hustle turned into an award-winning operation with chocolate bars selling better in Manhattan than Tomball. “We were shipping more to New York than we were selling at the farmers market,” he says. Tejas even took home a silver medal at the International Chocolate Awards.
A Building, A Brisket, and a Big Leap of Faith
The chocolate business was growing—but not fast enough to pay the bills when Scott’s coal car business collapsed in 2013. That’s when he and Michelle made a leap. They found a quirky old house in downtown Tomball and envisioned a chocolate retail shop. But the rent was steep.
Enter barbecue.
Scott’s brother Greg had restaurant experience, and Scott was still making killer briskets on the weekends. “We thought, if we could just sell 300 plates a week, we could cover rent,” he says. Nobody in Tomball was doing Central Texas-style craft barbecue. It was either old-school or fast-food BBQ. So Tejas Chocolate & BBQ opened its doors in October 2015 with three family members and two employees.
The first year was all sweat equity—Scott arriving at 4 a.m., Greg working late into the night, Michelle doing whatever needed doing. Then came a make-or-break summer slump in 2016. “We were week-to-week. It was scary,” Scott recalls. But by 2017, the tide turned.
First came a Super Bowl week order for 1,500 boxes of chocolate from Nike. Then a shout-out on the Michael Berry Show. But the real game-changer came in May 2017, when Tejas made Texas Monthly’s Top 50 BBQ list.
“It shot us out of a cannon,” Scott says. “By the next morning we had a line down the street.”
The Food: Real, Honest, Elevated
What makes Tejas stand out isn’t just the chocolate—or even the brisket. It’s the discipline and integrity behind every plate. Scott keeps it simple: salt and pepper, offset smokers, post oak, and quality meat.
Their briskets are sourced from Creekstone Farms, prime and all-natural. Pork ribs come from Seaboard, turkey from Perdue, and chicken is Naked Truth—hormone-free, grain-fed, clean. “It came from our farmers market DNA. We didn’t want to feed people crap,” Scott says.
The magic lies in consistency. “You can serve the worst dish in the world,” Scott quips, “but if you do it the same way every time, you’ll build a following.” At Tejas, they’ve done both: deliver incredible quality and repeat it day after day.
And let’s talk sausage. Their Chili Relleno Link—made from brisket trim, roasted poblanos, and pepper jack—is legendary. They also offer house-made kielbasa, boudin, and have experimented with brisket-blue cheese, andouille, and Argentinian-style sausages. “Sausage is where we get creative,” says Scott.
The Burger Expansion
In 2019, during a slow Wednesday, Scott and his team tried out a smoked burger special. “We had a tiny flat-top and sold 75 burgers. It was insane.” Soon after, they launched Tejas Burger Joint, just down the street.
There, they serve two styles—smoked and classic smashburgers—plus sandwiches and rotating specials. It’s got its own loyal following and a vibe all its own.
The Tejas Compound & Tomball Love
Tejas Chocolate & BBQ isn’t just a restaurant—it’s a compound. There’s the 1907 cottage, a side patio overlooking the pit room, the original kitchen turned slice station, and two additional buildings—one for sides and one for chocolate.
Tomball, a historic railroad town, has embraced them as much as they’ve embraced it. “We live eight blocks away. I ride my bike to work,” says Scott. “It’s Mayberry with brisket.”
Parking is tight, but once you find a spot and smell that sweet oak in the air, you’ll know you’ve arrived somewhere special.
Social Media, Reviews, and Real Recognition
Despite running a multi-faceted operation with over 60 employees, Scott still manages the social media accounts himself. “I haven’t found anyone who can do it the way I want,” he says. With over 30K followers on both Instagram and Facebook, the connection is real.
As for reviews? “I used to fight back,” Scott admits. “But now, I focus on the people in the restaurant—their reactions, their feedback. That’s what matters.”
Catering, Exxon, and Beyond
Tejas caters everything from office lunches to golf outings. One particularly notable client? ExxonMobil. Since 2022, Tejas has served daily lunches and breakfast tacos to Exxon’s world campus in Houston. It’s become a Monday-Friday gig that’s streamlined, consistent, and adored by the staff.
Final Thoughts: Soul in Every Slice
From a backyard pit to becoming one of Texas Monthly’s top BBQ joints, Tejas Chocolate & BBQ is more than a restaurant—it’s a family story, a small-town dream, and a beacon of what makes Texas BBQ so sacred: tradition, flavor, and heart.
Come for the brisket. Stay for the chocolate. And don’t leave without a Chili Relleno sausage link.
Visit Tejas Chocolate & BBQ
Tejas Chocolate & BBQ
200 N Elm St, Tomball, TX 77375
Open: Tuesday–Saturday, 11 AM until sold out
tejaschocolate.com
Instagram: @tejaschocolate
Facebook: Tejas Chocolate
Want a burger too? Visit Tejas Burger Joint just down the street.
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