Jump to content

Texas BBQ


Washpark

Recommended Posts

We were down at Texas State for the baseball game and a family day function.  Lunch catered by San Marcos BBQ.

I was really impressed, especially for a catered meal.  Brisket was moist and seasoned well.  Sausage was a perfect - what you would expect from a Luling native who worked in his grandfather's barbecue joint, Chisholm Trail BBQ, as a kid tying sausage rings.  Here's a write up from Daniel Vaughn from a year ago - Texas Monthly article.   

I will have to stop at one of their two restaurants and get a fresh plate of barbecue on a future trip down there.

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

PSA for anybody thinking of a Snow’s run in the coming weeks. They will be closed 4/27, 5/4 and 5/18. I think Kerry’s daughter is getting married one of those weekends and then there’s a town-wide event in Lexington that makes it tough for them to operate as normal. I’m not sure why they’re closed the other weekend.

Would hate to see somebody go all the way there only to find it closed.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, C-Man said:

PSA for anybody thinking of a Snow’s run in the coming weeks. They will be closed 4/27, 5/4 and 5/18. I think Kerry’s daughter is getting married one of those weekends and then there’s a town-wide event in Lexington that makes it tough for them to operate as normal. I’m not sure why they’re closed the other weekend.

Would hate to see somebody go all the way there only to find it closed.

Troubadour Festival is on May 18th.  I would love to go, but its in College Station.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A tale as old as time. Become successful, expand beyond your means, product declines, then go out of business or change management. So long, Valentina's. I loved going to the trailer on Menchaca, but never made it to their place in Buda. 

https://www.facebook.com/share/MFmXGBPNT22vgK34/?mibextid=oFDknk

Quote

Loyal customers, 

 

When we started Valentina’s in 2013, our focus was two things: food + family. We wanted to make Tex Mex BBQ that would bring families together, while representing Tejano culture - the biggest inspiration for Valentina’s. That has never changed, even when we grew from a food truck to a brick-and-mortar. 

 

We’ve been at this for a long time, and we work really hard, but this last year has been harder than ever. Small business owners know that it’s never easy. For us, scaling our business from 600 sq. ft. to 6,000 sq. ft. has proven more than we can manage, and we recognize and admit to the many issues and challenges Valentina’s has had since we’ve moved. We can no longer continue to give our loyal customers sub par customer service and food. 

 

Starting on April 25th, Valentina’s will be under new management. We’ll be closed from today until May 8th as we make this transition. Don’t worry, you’ll still see us around smoking briskets in the silo, or coming up with a new drink for the menu, and we are going to come back stronger and better than ever. 

 

We want to thank you for your loyalty. If you have come by over the last year and didn’t have a great experience, we hope that you give us another chance. We KNOW we can do much better going forward. We’re excited for this new chapter, where we get back to the heart of Valentina’s - food + family, hecho con amor. 

 

Thank you all so much for continuing to support our family business. We couldn’t have made it this far without y’all. 

 

Miguel & Modesty Vidal Vidal

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved Valentina's.  Always good at the trailer.  Always good at the Austin FC games.  They struggled from day one when they opened the new, large location in Buda.  I've been to the Buda joint three times.  First time was excellent.  Second time was embarrassing.   Final time was just okay.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

I loved Valentina's.  Always good at the trailer.  Always good at the Austin FC games.  They struggled from day one when they opened the new, large location in Buda.  I've been to the Buda joint three times.  First time was excellent.  Second time was embarrassing.   Final time was just okay.

It's hard to stay up and running when you have to stop stealing your employees' tips. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

Screenshot 2024-04-25 at 10.13.04.jpeg

Long overdue.

The new place was a disaster nearly from the get-go, and whoever was running it nearly destroyed that brand. They certainly harmed its reputation.

I was rooting for it living in the area and having known the food truck well for years. But the food and service here was routinely slower even than the food truck, or absurdly late (like 1 hour for two tacos in our experience) or never available -- that's not unusual for BBQ but if you have a big brick and mortar open 6 days a week you need to figure that out.

Staff looked confused or idle or disinterested a lot.

And old man thoughts, but the music was way too loud. Had to yell to have a conversation. 

Hope they turn it around.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, gofuckyourself said:

Long overdue.

The new place was a disaster nearly from the get-go, and whoever was running it nearly destroyed that brand. They certainly harmed its reputation.

I was rooting for it living in the area and having known the food truck well for years. But the food and service here was routinely slower even than the food truck, or absurdly late (like 1 hour for two tacos in our experience) or never available -- that's not unusual for BBQ but if you have a big brick and mortar open 6 days a week you need to figure that out.

Staff looked confused or idle or disinterested a lot.

And old man thoughts, but the music was way too loud. Had to yell to have a conversation. 

Hope they turn it around.

season 13 GIF

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm no business expert, but I can't understand why someone wouldn't just double the initial investment -- build a second food truck, serve a different part of town.  It's likely a survivable mistake if it doesn't work out.

Edited by jimmyjazz
  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'm no business expert, but I can't understand why someone wouldn't just double the initial investment -- build a second food truck, serve a different part of town.  It's like a survivable mistake if it doesn't work out.

Throw Away Make It Rain GIF
 

ask some of the posters around here about investing in a bbq business 

 

#toosoon

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
  • Haha 3
  • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, gofuckyourself said:

Long overdue.

The new place was a disaster nearly from the get-go, and whoever was running it nearly destroyed that brand. They certainly harmed its reputation.

I was rooting for it living in the area and having known the food truck well for years. But the food and service here was routinely slower even than the food truck, or absurdly late (like 1 hour for two tacos in our experience) or never available -- that's not unusual for BBQ but if you have a big brick and mortar open 6 days a week you need to figure that out.

Staff looked confused or idle or disinterested a lot.

And old man thoughts, but the music was way too loud. Had to yell to have a conversation. 

Hope they turn it around.

I drank free bourbon there one afternoon because they were short-staffed and didn't have anyone capable of operating the POS system.  Not that I am complaining about that afternoon!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'm no business expert, but I can't understand why someone wouldn't just double the initial investment -- build a second food truck, serve a different part of town.  It's likely a survivable mistake if it doesn't work out.

yeah, turn the initial truck into your commissary kitchen, roll out a second truck somewhere else (Buda?) and grow that slowly

going from that food truck to 6,000 sq feet was setting them up to fail

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Franklin didn't really extend its hours.  Still a serve-til-you're-out venture rather than attempting to support true dining room hours.

 

true but they upped their output a ton and the quality didn't suffer.  

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

16 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

Franklin

 

12 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Franklin didn't really extend its hours.  Still a serve-til-you're-out venture rather than attempting to support true dining room hours.

 

 

5 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:


his quality never missed a beat 

Franklin's has a very high quality standard.

also they absolutely did a huge expansion from a food truck style to the building - just on the # of smokers they were using/briskets smoking/etc

23 minutes ago, HRSchenker said:

Has a craft BBQ joint ever done a move + expanded hours without experiencing a decline in quality? I've never seen it in DFW. It's almost the kiss of death. 

looking at the last TMBBQ top 50 list's top 10:

  • Goldees: opened B&M
  • Interstellar: did they open in the strip mall?
  • Truth: B&M in Brenham --> B&M in Houston
  • Burnt Bean: opened B&M
  • L&L: Food Truck --> B&M in 2024
  • Cattleack: i think they opened at the B&M? not sure
  • Franklin: Food Truck --> B&M
  • Evie Mae: Food Truck --> B&M
  • Snows: always been what it is today
  • Panther City: Food Truck --> B&M

DFW has Daynes, Hurtado, Zavalas that i think all went Food Truck or pop up to B&M?

off the top of my head/looking at top 50 list

  • 2M opened as a B&M but did popups?
  • Sunbird was food truck now B&M
  • Eaker was food truck in Houston, moved to Fredericksburg and opened a B&M then made top 50
  • Guess Family was food truck to B&M
  • Stanleys and Slow Bone opened as B&M i think

Pecan Lodge for me is the biggest example of the flip over to large B&M that just never worked out quality wise. they had huge issues with like quadrupling their pit space when they moved and someone told me their lease required them to do B&M hours vs a "sell out when you sell out" model

here is the prior top 50: https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/the-list-the-top-50-barbecue-joints-in-texas/

 

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

true but they upped their output a ton and the quality didn't suffer.  

Sure but the model is still the same.  I'm not knocking the model, it works great for maintaining a very high level of quality.  But despite the increased quantity, Franklin still only serves until they are out, which ensures extremely low levels of waste and helps tremendously in maintaining quality.

It's a VERY different dynamic, than running a full restaurant with dining room hours open throughout the day and evening.  Which was the point of the original statement about that being a tough nut to crack for a lot of trailer operations that attempt to transition to full restaurants.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, NoName said:

Interstellar: did they open in the strip mall?

Yes.  John Bates switched from Noble Pig/Noble Sandwich Co. to InterStellar BBQ in the same space.  They have expanded the dining area, but that's about it.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While growing from a food truck to a brick and mortar can be a problem, adding the dinner service seems to be the biggest gamble.  The increase in manpower necessary to go from "until sold out" to 2 meal services is exponential.  Valentina's not only did that, but they also added a bar and increased the size 10x.

It will be interesting to see how LeRoy & Lewis does.  Their model has always been based upon providing high quality, yet cheaper cuts of meat (beef cheeks and now chuck roasts and flat iron).  Rotating the protein special should help as well.  I think they'll be able to pull it off, but that full day service still might be a problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, NoName said:

 

  • Interstellar: did they open in the strip mall?
  • L&L: Food Truck --> B&M in 2024

 

Interstellar was never a trailer, the owners replaced Noble Pig with their BBQ concept in the same strip mall location.

L&L is going to be interesting to me.  I sincerely hope they can make the leap.  Maybe it helps that they're keeping the food truck open.

1 minute ago, Jerry Callo said:

While growing from a food truck to a brick and mortar can be a problem, adding the dinner service seems to be the biggest gamble.  

Absolutely.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have some pretty close ties to a restaurant that for years only did 5-10 pm service 7 days a week.  Then their demographics changed and they decided to add lunch service M-F and do full service 11-10 on Saturday and Sunday.  It really changed their operations a bunch.  Additional managers and employees.  Not always easy to find people that can wave the flag as well the originals.

Edited by DalTxHornFan
  • Hook 'Em 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, NoName said:
  • L&L: Food Truck --> B&M in 2024

We'll see how that goes.  As good as the food was when I went a couple of weeks back, their ordering process is all kinds of fucked up and backwards.  3 minute process takes 10 min easy.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Craft BBQ, full hours, and a full bar operation seems to be a difficult puzzle to solve.  Valentina's has a great physical layout.  Perhaps they need to add other foods to round things out?

editing to just talk about the full bar part of things.

Top 50 spots I think that have a full bar

  • Pinkertons
  • Terry Blacks
  • Stanleys
  • Truth in Houston
  • Killens?
  • L&L (new spot)

who else has a full bar that's in the top 50?

--
ignore this below, had to do with hours that Jimmy put together and i misunderstood something

Spoiler

glancing at smoking ho's top 50 chart w/ hours (not sure when it was last updated but it was updated when they released the last top 5) here is who is open on Tuesday w/o a "sold out" timestamp or until evening hours

  • Baker Boys in Gonzales (10-6)
  • Desert Oak in El Paso (11-7)
  • Feges (11-9)
  • Hays Co (11-7)
  • Hutchins (11-9)
  • Terry Black (11-9)

If you look at Wed, that adds:

  • L&L (11-9)
  • Guess Family (11-7)
  • Helberg (11-8)
  • Pinkertons (11-9)

Thursday only adds in Zavalas BBQ but they have a split lunch/dinner

edit: updating the "sold out" list

  • Truth in Houston has a bar
  • Corkscrew
  • Kileens (full bar i believe)
  • Smokey Joes in Dallas
  •  

i think Terry Blacks and Pinkertons are the only ones who have a full bar?

edit: looks like the sold out thing may change things. Stanleys has full bar and is until sold out on M-Sat so re-checking and editing above

 

Edited by NoName
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, NoName said:

editing to just talk about the full bar part of things.

Top 50 spots I think that have a full bar

  • Pinkertons
  • Terry Blacks
  • Stanleys
  • Truth in Houston
  • Killens?
  • L&L (new spot)

who else has a full bar that's in the top 50?

--
ignore this below, had to do with hours that Jimmy put together and i misunderstood something

  Reveal hidden contents

glancing at smoking ho's top 50 chart w/ hours (not sure when it was last updated but it was updated when they released the last top 5) here is who is open on Tuesday w/o a "sold out" timestamp or until evening hours

  • Baker Boys in Gonzales (10-6)
  • Desert Oak in El Paso (11-7)
  • Feges (11-9)
  • Hays Co (11-7)
  • Hutchins (11-9)
  • Terry Black (11-9)

If you look at Wed, that adds:

  • L&L (11-9)
  • Guess Family (11-7)
  • Helberg (11-8)
  • Pinkertons (11-9)

Thursday only adds in Zavalas BBQ but they have a split lunch/dinner

edit: updating the "sold out" list

  • Truth in Houston has a bar
  • Corkscrew
  • Kileens (full bar i believe)
  • Smokey Joes in Dallas
  •  

i think Terry Blacks and Pinkertons are the only ones who have a full bar?

edit: looks like the sold out thing may change things. Stanleys has full bar and is until sold out on M-Sat so re-checking and editing above

 


pinkerton should have built a bigger bar / better lay out 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also think you have to take in to account going from a trailer to a HUGE restaurant.  There maybe should be some kinda step up in scale but maybe not the huge leap some joints are trying. 

 

Sunbird is a pretty good description of going from a food truck to a building without trying to be the taj mahal in the process.  Sure if their business takes off they can always move/build at even bigger location.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...