60 SMITHSONIAN.COM | November 2019
love of the camp classic Big Trouble in Little China.
(“Pork Chop Express,” the name of Kurt Russell’s
truck in that fi lm, was an early contender for the
name of their barbecue restaurant; Hoang has the
truck’s logo tattooed on his forearm.)
The friends drifted apart after high school. Hoang
joined his uncle in a business selling and maintain-
ing high-end aquariums. The Wongs opened Glitter
Karaoke, a bar in Chinatown that became a cultural
meeting point. “Back then, Cantonese karaoke places
would only do Chinese karaoke. Vietnamese places
would only do Vietnamese. American would only do
American,” says Robin. “We’re ABC”—American Born
Chinese—“so we could enjoy all of it.”
In 2010, the brothers decided to move Glitter to
Midtown, where it quickly became a favorite af-
ter-hours hangout for Houston’s chefs. By then, the
Wongs had reconnected with Hoang, who had devel-
oped a reputation as a stellar home griller. He began
hosting pop-ups outside Glitter and experimenting
with barbecue techniques. Eventually one of the
Wongs heard about an old barrel smoker for sale for
$1,500. They off ered to split the cost with Hoang, to
see what he came up with. “And that was it,” says Rob-
in. “If we hadn’t bought that smoker, who knows what
we’d be doing.”
Hoang proved a quick study with the classic items
known as the Texas Trinity. That’s brisket, sausageRobin and Terry
Wong and Quy
Hoang leave
Houston’s
Hong-Kong Food
Market, part of a
shopping center
that includes
more than 100
Asian stores.GET A TASTE of Smithsonian’s new beer history
initiative at the National Museum of American
History at Smithsonianmag .com/foodhistory