Longhorn Barbecue

Section:Gallery

Sun., July 16, 2023

Erin Everhart mops barbecued chicken quarters with barbecue sauce at the Longhorn Barbecue restaurant at 2315 N. Argonne Road. Everhart and Zac Smith are now owners and operators of the restaurant, which has belonged to Bill Miller and Randy Ingraham. The restaurants and the large production center that makes barbecue foods and sauces for sale in grocery stores and retail outlets like Costco all started with the Lehnertz brothers who moved to Spokane from southern Texas. The original Lehnertz brothers have died, but elements of ownership are still traceable to the Lehnertz family.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Revi
Pork ribs with barbecue sauce are warmed in the pit at the Longhorn Barbecue restaurant at 2315 N. Argonne Road. Erin Everhart and Zac Smith are now owners and operators of the restaurant, which has belonged to Bill Miller and Randy Ingraham. The restaurants and the large production center that makes barbecue foods and sauces all began with the Lehnertz brothers who moved to Spokane from southern Texas. The original Lehnertz brothers have died, but elements of ownership are still traceable to the Lehnertz family. The barbecue pit at the restaurant is still woodfired.

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Relatively new to ownership at the Longhorn Barbecue restaurant at 2315 N. Argonne Road are Zac Smith, left, and Erin Everhart, taking over for owners Bill Miller and Randy Ingraham. Above their heads are old photos of the Lehnertz family, the five Lehnertz brothers who founded the popular barbecue restaurants and the production facility that prepares barbecue favorites to grocery stores and major retail outlets around the country.

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Pulled pork, barbecued ribs and a Longhorn German sausage, along with a corn meal muffin, find their way into the “Rustler” meal at the Longhorn Barbecue restaurant at 2315 N. Argonne Road. Erin Everhart and Zac Smith are now owners and operators of the restaurant, which has belonged to Bill Miller and Randy Ingraham in the past. The barbecue pit at the restaurant is still woodfired, which Smith said burns about 100 cords a year.

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David Allen Davis-Lehnertz holds a bottle of Longhorn Barbecue sauce, which the Longhorn manufacturing facility bottles on East Montgomery in Spokane Valley. The large production plan operates indepenently from the longtime restaurants of the same name around the region, mostly started by the Lehnertz brothers, of which Davis-Lehnertz's stepfather was one.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Revi
Hundreds of pounds of cooked pork ribs cool on racks inside the Longhorn Barbecue production plant on East Montgomery in Spokane Valley Tuesday, July 11, 2023. The production plant supplies grocery stores, restaurants and large retailers like Costco with ribs, sauces and other barbecue favorites in a completely separate production line from those operated by the large restaurants of the same name, but which sprang from the same family business years ago.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Revi
Inside the smoker at the Longhorn Barbecue production facility on East Montgomery in Spokane Valley, sausages cook on racks Tueday, July 11, 2023. The production facility makes hundreds of pounds of meat products each day for shipping around the country, even as far as Alaska and Japan.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Revi
David Allen Davis-Lehnertz opens the massive frozen food storage building at the Longhorn Barbecue production plant on East Montgomery in Spokane Valley Tuesday, July 11, 2023. The 20-below temperatures store much of the prepared barbecue meats that are produced at the plant and shipped around the country, some as far as Japan. The plant cooks pork ribs, sausages, chicken products, sauces and other foods under the name Longhorn Barbecue, but which are separate from the ready-to-eat foods served at the Longhorn restaurants. Besides operating the large production plant, Davis-Lehnertz also owns four Longhorn restaurants on the west side of the state.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Revi
David Allen Davis-Lehnertz tours the massive frozen food storage building at the Longhorn Barbecue production plant on East Montgomery in Spokane Valley Tuesday, July 11, 2023. The 20-below temperatures store much of the prepared barbecue meats that are produced at the plant and shipped around the country, some as far as Japan. The plant cooks pork ribs, sausages, chicken products, sauces and other foods under the name Longhorn Barbecue, but which are separate from the ready-to-eat foods served at the Longhorn restaurants. Besides operating the large production plant, Davis-Lehnertz also owns four Longhorn restaurants on the west side of the state.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Revi
David Allen Davis-Lehnertz closes doorway between sections of the massive food production facility owned by the Longhorn Barbecue company on East Montgomery in Spokane Valley Tuesday, July 11, 2023. The plant functions under stringent food preparation regulation and requires protocols for cooking and preparing pork ribs, sausages, chicken products, sauces and other foods, which are separate from the ready-to-eat foods served at the Longhorn restaurants. Besides operating the large production plant, Davis-Lehnertz also owns four Longhorn restaurants on the west side of the state.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Revi
David Allen Davis-Lehnertz checks on sausages cooking in the massive food production facility owned by the Longhorn Barbecue company on East Montgomery in Spokane Valley Tuesday, July 11, 2023. The plant functions under stringent food preparation regulation and requires protocols for cooking and preparing pork ribs, sausages, chicken products, sauces and other foods, which are separate from the ready-to-eat foods served at the Longhorn restaurants. Besides operating the large production plant, Davis-Lehnertz also owns four Longhorn restaurants on the west side of the state. Davis-Lehnertz's stepfather was one of the Lehnertz brothers who founded the chain of restaurants and line of barbecue specialty foods.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Revi
Texas emigrants Gene, Dave, Chic, Don and Claude Lehnertz owned and operated the Longhorn Barbecue on the Sunset Highway at its juncture with Spotted Road. They're seen here in an April 1969 photo.

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Longhorn Barbecue Drive-in at Argonne and Montgomery was the first drive in location for the Lehnertz Brothers, owner-operators of the Longhorn Barbecue restaurant west of Spokane on the Sunset Highway.

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