By Eric Griffey
Photography by Thanin Viriyaki
If Texas barbecue has become a language spoken around the world, Kelly’s Cambodian BBQ proves it can develop entirely new dialects.
For a time, one of North Texas’ most talked-about barbecue joints operated from a small kitchen tucked inside a Fort Worth liquor store. Despite the humble setting, customers traveled from across North Texas for a taste of Kelly Vorn’s distinctive blend of Texas smoke and Cambodian flavor. The restaurant attracted a devoted following, national media attention and the kind of word-of-mouth enthusiasm that can’t be manufactured.
The story begins with a family history shaped by migration.
Vorn’s parents fled Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge era before settling in Dallas, where she was born and raised. Food occupied a central place in family life. Her father taught her mother to cook, and home-cooked meals were an everyday expectation rather than an occasional luxury. By the time Vorn was a teenager, she was already preparing complete meals for her family, absorbing techniques and flavors that had traveled halfway around the world to North Texas.
Her partner and husband, Curt Bennett, brought a different culinary tradition to the table. His father worked as a barbecue pitmaster in East St. Louis, where smoked meats were woven into family history. Together, the two discovered that their seemingly different food traditions shared more common ground than either realized.
After selling food from their home, working festivals and building a growing reputation through pop-ups, they began experimenting with a concept that felt uniquely their own.
The result is not simply fusion. In fact, Vorn laughs at the idea that much of her food is American at all.
“The only American thing that I use is salt and black pepper,” she said.
Everything else comes from a pantry filled with ingredients more commonly found at Asian markets than traditional Texas smokehouses. Fresh herbs replace dried seasonings. Lime leaf, lemongrass and aromatic spices bring brightness and complexity to smoked meats. The flavors are bold, layered and unapologetically expressive.
Cambodian cuisine, Vorn explained, does not hide behind subtlety. Sweetness announces itself. Salt is unmistakable. Umami lingers. Diners often find themselves identifying new flavors with every bite, discovering notes they weren’t expecting in a tray of barbecue.
That willingness to surprise people has become one of the restaurant’s greatest strengths.
Many customers arrive with little familiarity with Cambodian food. They leave as converts. Some return multiple times a week. Others follow the restaurant wherever it goes. The loyalty is so strong that Bennett describes the business as having a cult following, built almost entirely through organic word-of-mouth and social media.
That support is proving especially valuable now.
Earlier this year, a dramatic rent increase forced Kelly’s Cambodian BBQ out of its Fort Worth location. Rather than view the setback as an ending, Vorn and Bennett are treating it as a transition. The pair is actively searching for a permanent home, with Arlington among the areas under consideration for their next restaurant. In the meantime, they continue to offer catering services while keeping customers updated on their next move.
For now, the best way to follow the journey is through Vorn’s popular “Get In My Belly Kelly” social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, where the couple regularly posts announcements about catering, pop-ups and future locations.
Wherever the next chapter unfolds, Kelly’s Cambodian BBQ has already proven that great Texas barbecue doesn’t have to fit neatly into anyone’s expectations. Sometimes the most compelling flavors emerge when cultures meet, adapt and create something entirely their own.
Kelly’s Cambodian BBQ
Catering and special events available.
@getinmybelly_kelly