- [Esaul Ramos] San Antonio is huge on barbacoa.
I was very nervous to do it,
especially in this city, especially knowing
how people feel about it.
My food isn't full-blown Mexican
but it definitely has Mexican flair to it.
Barbacoa does help me bring out those
influences that I grew up with.
I feel it brings out my heritage
in Central Texas-style barbecue.
("No Queda Nada" by Sr. Ortegon)
I knew that I wanted to do something different,
something that a lot of other people weren't doing.
I did it my way 'cause
in my mind it's the best way.
I was tired of just seeing white bread, ya know?
I grew up eating tacos, and then I was like
this is what I want;
I want tortillas, I want fresh ingredients
I want those southern flavors to stand out
in my product.
It's (taken) people a minute but I feel that
within time, they'll see what quality
and what passion goes into barbecue,
and they'll be able to see what it is
that we're trying to do here.
We get here around five in the morning.
First thing I do is I come in,
unlock the restaurant,
start getting the fire the way I want it to
and then from that point on
I'll start getting everything ready for my seasoning
and then I start pulling briskets out,
I start seasoning those, those are usually
on the pit ready to row by 6:30 a.m.,
sometimes seven o'clock depending on
how fast I wanna go.
I started working with John Lewis 2014.
I feel that the fact that he mentored me
definitely helped me gain the confidence
that I needed to be able to open up my own place.
That hardest part of learning barbecue is,
is the patience to overcome all the
obstacles that come in your way.
Whether you have wet wood that day,
whether your fire is not doing what it wants,
whether your briskets came in trimmed crappy,
whether the weather's disgusting,
whether your pit doesn't have a good draw,
whether your seasoning isn't sticking right,
it's patience man.
It's being able to stick through it
and knowing that if you do it right,
the end product is gonna be phenomenal.
("As Day Breaks" by Jack Elphick)
The Smokehouse, we built it from the ground up.
After a good solid month of Joe and I just
being in there 24/7, all the time,
we said, "You know what?
If we're gonna live here, we gotta at least
make it feel like home."
My landlord, he has the business right next door to us
who owns a mattress place,
he gave us our first mattress so that's how we
slept at night, we just threw that mattress
on the floor and from that point on,
it just felt more like home.
("Dazed Summer" by Jack Elphick)
♪ I'm waiting ♪
♪ I'm waiting for you ♪
♪ I'm waiting ♪
♪ I'm waiting for you ♪
♪ I'm waiting ♪
♪ I'm waiting for you ♪
♪ I'm waiting ♪
♪ For you ♪
(fire crackling)
(song ends)
Every Sunday, when I was a kid,
we go to the melinos, we pick up barbacoa,
and a Big Red, it's always barbacoa and Big Red.
And I had an uncle of mine who would dig a hole
and put the cow head and put the banana leaves
in there, we cover it up and we'd cook it that way.
I wish I could do it here that way, but we can't.
And I started getting older and it got to
the point where the chicken just started
getting too dark by the end of the night,
and it eventually got to the point where I just kinda
told him, "Let me start cooking.
Let me figure this stuff out."
And I knew in that moment what was going on
this grill was something magical.
(relaxing music)
Barbecue is Texas. It's a way of life here.
It's very important to us, it's embedded in our
blood, or I guess our genes,
I don't know man people just love it.
I know I do.
(upbeat music)
The success that we've had is
definitely been surreal.
It's a huge accomplishment and as far as us
putting San Antonio barbecue on the map,
I mean, I'm just trying to make good barbecue.
I grew up in this city, this city means
everything to me, so to be able to contribute
to it, in this way, is phenomenal.
("No Queda Nada" by Sr. Ortegon)
So much has happened, so many things that I would
think about and dream about years ago that
are happening now, and it just blows my mind.
I'm very appreciative for it and I'm gonna keep
busting ass and just tryna be as good as I can,
just getting better and better each day.