Our Story

The Smoke Pit was an iconic barbeque restaurant located in Fort Worth Texas founded by Betty Mullen 1961. Betty Mullen’s granddaughter, Delanya Young, was literally born into the business. She was born in the back house of the restaurant and was raised in and around the Smoke Pit everyday of her early childhood. At the early age of 3 Delanya was known to help serve customers by bringing them food using her tricycle with her little red wagon in-tow.  Delanya was washing dishes by the age of 7 and helping to prepare and smoke meats at age 12. Delanya took over the restaurant 1994 while attending TCU. She ran it and owned it for 10 years making it one of the most popular and busiest BBQ Restaurants in Fort Worth.  When she moved to Southern California in the mid 2000’s, just like that little red wagon of hers, Delanya brought her Southern Pride smoker in-tow. She promised to keep the tradition alive with original recipes and preparations including her famous third-generation BBQ sauce that comes from the heart of Texas. Come visit us and taste the authenticity, love and tradition that goes into every meal we serve. It’s the best ever!

Delanya Young

Is a third generation BBQ chef with more than 30 years of experience.

Delanya’s BBQ provides “SoCal’s Best” authentic Texas Barbecue.

Delanya begins with using her experience to select the very best prime meats and seasonal produce. With a special blend of spices she creates a dry rub which enhances the barbecue flavor of the meats. The rubbed meat is then slow cooked with care for over 12 hours to create the absolute very best hickory smoked Texas BBQ on the planet. 

Our Mobile Smoke Pit

We can bring our mobile smoke pit to your next event and create the ultimate Western BBQ picnic or fine dining experience.