Here are more bare-bone details on the new Goldee’s BBQ’s Fort Worth rib house by I-35W

When you’re Texas’ No. 1 barbecue restaurant, what do you do next?

The owners of Goldee’s Barbecue knew what they would never do: open a second location.

“If we tried to spread ourselves too thin with another Goldee’s, it’d just make them both worse,” said Jonny White, one of the triumvirate of former Arlington elementary school classmates among the co-founders of Goldee’s and now the new Ribbee’s Smokehouse.

Ribbee’s, 923 E. Seminary Drive east of Interstate 35W in Fort Worth, won’t be a barbecue joint. It’ll just be a rib joint.

The new restaurant in a 50-year-old former Sonic Drive-In will serve only baby-back ribs five different ways, macaroni-and-cheese and french fries.

Ribbee’s will be different enough to give diners a reason to visit before or after a trip to Goldee’s, 8 miles down Business U.S. 287 at 4645 Dick Price Road south of Kennedale.

Ribbee’s also will be open for lunch and dinner Wednesdays through Sundays, longer hours and days than Goldee’s.

To White, Jalen Heard and Lane Milne, classmates since Wood Elementary, Boles Junior High and Martin High School, it’s a chance to develop a ribs-forward restaurant and try different sauces and rubs.

“Brisket — you don’t mess with that. That needs to be your best brisket every time,” White said. “So we thought it would be fun to serve ribs in different flavors.”

For example, Ribbee’s might serve a choice of ribs in sweet, spicy, tangy and dry-rub styles, plus a rotating sauce of the month.

In Fort Worth, Ribbee’s firmly establishes Interstate 35W as the Broadway of Barbecue.

From the south, Burleson has a Hard Eight BBQ now and a new Heim Barbecue under construction.

Closer to downtown, top 10-ranked Panther City BBQ, Brix Barbecue, Robinson Bar-B-Q and Smoke-A-Holics BBQ are within a mile of the highway either way.

White said the partners found the Ribbee’s location, formerly home to a variety of barbecue, Indian and Chinese restaurants, when it was advertised on Facebook Marketplace.

That stretch of East Seminary Drive is now best known as the home of ice cream favorite Alma’s Paleteria, 1215 E. Seminary Drive.

But it’s also where the barbecue landmark Sausage Shoppe drew patrons for 20 years of house-made beef sausage plates. Sausage Shoppe is now in east Fort Worth at 6513 Brentwood Stair Road.

White said the partners saw new small businesses opening along East Seminary Drive and viewed the old Sonic with its drive-in bays as a good deal in an improving location.

The restaurant is only 2 blocks east of Interstate 35W on East Seminary Drive, a busy route to a Tarrant County College campus, a high school sports stadium and the La Gran Plaza mall.

It’s a contrast to Goldee’s rural backroad.

“The location is a lot better than Goldee’s,” he said.

Milne and White planned Goldee’s in 2019 along with another Arlington friend, Dylan Taylor. All had worked in Austin’s best barbecue restaurants, including Franklin, Valentina’s, La Barbecue, Freedman’s and Micklethwait.

They brought that flavor home to Tarrant County when Goldee’s opened in early 2020. But it was open only three weeks before restaurants shut down due to the COVID pandemic.

For months, there was no line. There were even a few weeks when Goldee’s seemed at risk of closing.

Crowds picked up along with dining room reopenings, and then came a No. 1 ranking in Texas Monthly magazine’s November 2021 issue.

That opened the door for barbecue patrons to discover more Fort Worth restaurants, including Panther City BBQ and Dayne’s Craft Barbecue in far west Fort Worth and soon, Aledo.

Ribbees is expected to open in late November, White said.

A later update will bring beer along with added menu items, such as giant beef ribs and maybe pork rib tips, he said.

Goldees is open only for lunch Fridays through Sundays; goldeesbbq.com. The best time to go is about 1 or 1:30 p.m., after the early lunch line slows down.