Houston pitmaster Joey Victorian took a long, winding road to open his first brick-and-mortar barbecue joint in the small town Mart, outside Waco.

Victorian, now 50, grew up in Pasadena and attended J. Frank Dobie High School. His childhood friend's father, Robert Herridge, was a house fiddler in the glory years of the club Gilley's who played with the likes of Mickey Gilley, Johnny Lee and Crystal Gayle. So when Victorian was 8, the Herridges brought him to a fiddling contest at the Astrodome.

READ MORE: It’s a long way from Houston, but this spot near Lubbock serves some of the best barbecue in Texas

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The contest happened to coincide with the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Back........

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