Tommie and Susan Battles are the owners of Pit Master Barbecue. They have been in the restaurant business for over 25 years, both in Houston and St. Louis, Mo.

Tommie grew up in Southeast Missouri near Memphis, Tennessee. There his father was a "Pit Master" and Tommie was introduced to the fine art of Memphis style barbecue at an early age. His early fascination with Southern style cooking eventually took Tommie to chef school and ultimately led him into the restaurant business.

After operating several restaurants in West Houston- The Backporch, Tommie's and Thibodeaux's River Cafe, the Battles moved to St. Louis, Sue's hometown.

In 1998, after discovering there wasn't any good barbeque to speak of in St. Louis, they built Pit-Master BBQ on Manchester Road. The restaurant was such a success that it won best BBQ in St. Louis two year consecutively.

Tommie and Sue longed to be back in Texas, so they sold the restaurant in St. Louis and returned to Texas and opened a new Pit-Master now located on Sawdust Road.

Pit-Master BBQ is unique to the area because it offers good old-fashioned Texas styled cooking as well as the family tradition of fabulous Memphis style pulled pork and ribs.

The restaurant is family owned and operated, with two of their grown children, Todd and Sissy Battles, assisting Tommie and Sue in the day to day operations.

The Battles' family would like to invite you to come and taste the remarkable flavor of barbeque smoked to perfection in the true Southern style, carrying on family traditions and secrets of outstanding cooking.