Arlington Restaurant Guide

Barbecue's Master Chef, Tollie Giddings, grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, watching, and trying to help, his grandfather prepare barbecue feasts for family and friends alike. "That is when he would let me." Chef Tollie recalls. "Papa was pretty particular and passionate about every piece of the puzzle."

That puzzle was to develop and fine tune the best barbecue rubs and the best techniques for smoking meat that he could make possible with every time he fired up the pit. "Papa Otis was as famous around Fort Worth for his barbecue as he was for his carpentry, and that's saying a lot." So famous and encouraged by everyone's love for it that he began to dream of the day when he could open his very own barbecue restaurant. His dream grew to become a passion. As he continued to develop his cooking expertise, he eventually began to build, by hand, the building that would house that dream. Sadly, at the age of 61 years young, Papa Otis passed away with the passion in his heart fulfilled, but his dream only partially constructed and not yet open for business.

The young 14 year old Tollie had lost his grandfather, but not his spirit or the inspiration from his hero, a World War II veteran. After college, ten years of marriage to his loving wife, Donna, the birth of their three sons, and a successful career in management with the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas, he amazingly, woke up one morning with that same dream. During the next four years, Tollie began recapturing those family smoking techniques, researching barbecue from all over the United States, and creating his own inspired recipes.