Hurtado Barbecue's Argyle Plans Shift to Argyle Marketplace
October 1, 2026
October 1, 2026
The former St. Argyle's Cajun Kitchen building at 421 South Highway 377 was once planned as Hurtado Barbecue's Argyle location. The address had become familiar to residents following the project.
Owner Brandon Hurtado announced the change himself in late August: the fifth Hurtado Barbecue location, the one Argyle has been waiting on since a Facebook post first mentioned "our own zip code" back in November 2025, is now headed to the newly built Argyle Marketplace instead, with a patio facing the Argyle Nature Preserve. Ground broke on that development in June. Hurtado is now targeting spring 2027. If you've heard someone say the barbecue place already opened on 377, they're describing a plan that changed months ago.
The corner everyone was watching for restaurant news, the northwest intersection of I-35W and FM 407 at Harvest Town Center, did deliver on schedule. Chuy's Tex-Mex lists its Argyle address as 1061 Market Way with an August 24 opening date on the chain's own locations page. That makes it southern Denton County's first Chuy's, joining a corner that already had Chick-fil-A, McDonald's, Chase Bank, and a Tom Thumb that opened in March. It's a real corner now. Every name on that list is a company headquartered somewhere else, expanding into a fast-growing zip code.
Several restaurants have opened on the older stretch of 377 running through the Central Business District, including Little Joe's Farmstead.
Little Joe's Farmstead opened October 1, 2024, inside the old Johnny Joe's convenience store and gas station, a building most people in Argyle had driven past for decades without a second look. According to CBS News Texas, owner Jim Reid, a real estate developer with a habit of rescuing old buildings, remodeled it into something closer to a Napa Valley farmhouse, with rocking chairs on the porch and a full-service coffee bar inside.
The restaurant is named for Reid's late son Kevin, who was diagnosed with leukemia at three and a half and treated for years at Texas Children's Hospital. Every dollar of profit funds chemotherapy, radiation, and the everyday costs that pile up during pediatric cancer treatment for other families, the same model Reid built at Little Matt's in Houston back in 2009. According to reporting from the Cross Timbers Gazette, Little Joe's hit its three-year sales goal within ten months of opening.
The town noticed. In July 2025, Argyle granted Little Joe's a $100,000 reimbursement toward the cost of its new ice cream shop and other site improvements, a level of civic buy-in that doesn't happen for a restaurant nobody's using. That ice cream shop, called The Scoop, is now part of daily foot traffic on that stretch of 377. In April, a breast cancer benefit hosted at Little Joe's raised $250,000 for five women's treatment costs, according to the same paper. None of that made national headlines.
There's one more addition worth knowing if you haven't already found it. Quandary Kitchen & Market opened in November 2025 at 429 US-377, the former home of Kimzey's Coffee, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle. Quandary Kitchen & Market and Little Joe's have added dining options to the stretch of 377 through Argyle's Central Business District in under two years. Hurtado Barbecue is also planning a location in Argyle. Mayor Ron Schmidt has pointed to Hurtado and Quandary as part of the town's Main Street vision for a walkable stretch of businesses.
Here's what that corridor looked like in the last week of September 2026:
Part of the confusion traces back to the timeline itself. Hurtado's original plan really was on track for a spring 2026 opening at the old St. Argyle's building, and multiple outlets, including a WFAA report from late 2025, ran with that date at the time it was accurate. The site had sat vacant since July 2022, and taking it over made sense on paper. Hurtado's plans changed from the St. Argyle's building to a new location closer to the future H-E-B inside Argyle Marketplace, so some earlier coverage still reflects the original plan. If you're going by anything published before late August, you're going by a plan that's no longer the plan.
That's worth knowing even if you have zero interest in barbecue. It's a reminder that a restaurant announcement, a permit filing, or a construction start date is a snapshot, not a guarantee. The building at 421 US-377 is no longer the planned location for Hurtado Barbecue. Little Joe's, which opened in a converted gas station two years ago, has shaped how people on that end of town spend a Saturday morning.
If you haven't been to Little Joe's, it's open seven days a week, with breakfast and lunch service Sunday and Monday and full hours Tuesday through Saturday. The Scoop, the ice cream counter the town helped fund, sits right alongside it. Quandary Kitchen & Market is a few doors down in the old Kimzey's Coffee space. Chuy's is worth the drive out to Harvest Town Center if you want the chain experience, and 407 BBQ is still turning out the barbecue that built Argyle's reputation long before anyone was talking about a fifth Hurtado location.
Little Joe's, Quandary Kitchen & Market, Chuy's, and 407 BBQ are open now; Hurtado Barbecue is targeting spring 2027 at Argyle Marketplace.
If you're keeping an eye on how Argyle keeps changing, whether that's a new restaurant on 377 or what's happening a few blocks over on the housing side, Kaki Lybbert has spent nearly three decades watching this corner of Denton County grow and is always glad to talk through what's next. Let's Connect.
Known for her integrity, experience, and deep commitment to her clients and community, Kaki Lybbert has become a trusted name in North Texas real estate. Whether helping families buy or sell a home, mentoring other REALTORS®, or advocating for the future of the profession, Kaki brings the same dedication, leadership, and heart that have defined her career for nearly three decades.
