Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn is used to hearing, “come on, haven’t you tried that fellow with a barbecue truck in such and such a place?” Always someone talking about that obscure or less-well-known pitmaster in some remote location.
Well, when it comes to that proverbial guy with a barbecue truck in some remote Texas place, Vaughn may have found him, or someone quite like him. He joined the Standard with the details on Weaver’s BBQ.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Tell us a little bit about Weaver’s BBQ. Where did you find this guy?
Daniel Vaughn: Man, Weaver’s BBQ. Little old food truck just right alongside the road, right next to a gas station north of Dayton. Right in between Dayton and Cleveland, northeast of Houston. And this is actually in such a small town that it has a Dayton address but it is in the town of Kenefick.
When you walked up, were there lines? What was the deal?
There wasn’t anybody there. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon. I really wasn’t hoping for a whole lot. It had been recommended. It had been nominated for our top 50 search.
But you’ve heard this stuff before – people recommend it. And so your expectations going in were kind of low?
Yeah. I mean, I always go in hopeful, but I can’t go in with too high of expectations generally when I’m getting this sort of recommendation.
And, you know, then I ordered the food, waited in my car and he brought it out in a bag. You know, he wanted to talk a little bit, handed it through the window. And so I’m here opening up these containers, right. It’s not like a big, beautiful barbecue tray out in front of me that I can already assess.
And it was like each package was its own little surprise – a good surprise. Like the sausage, just, like, glistening with fat. This mustard sauce right next to it. And then the brisket, the ribs, like, all of it just looked fantastic in these little cardboard boxes.
Let’s talk about that sausage. What made it special?
Well, one of the things that made it special is a bite of it took me back to Vincek’s Smokehouse in East Bernard, a Czech place that has a really old-school recipe. It’s a very classic sausage of, you know, some beef and pork, black pepper, garlic and not a whole lot else.
So the sausage itself has to be really well made to be good, right? It doesn’t rely on jalapeños and cheddar or whatnot. And so that’s what this flavor of the sausage was.
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What about the pitmaster here? Was he Czech, or no?
No, not at all. Jesse Weaver has a strange history, actually. He’s a Texan, but he’s traveled all over the country as a traveler.
Not as somebody who’s on, you know, a first-class train ticket around the place: hitchhiking, jumping trains, jumping rides. He did that for almost 10 years. He said he visited all of the lower 48.
And so where did he have this epiphany that he was going to be a trailer pitmaster?
Well, really, he was in New Orleans and he saw an older gentleman pushing a shopping cart. And he just thought, you know, I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to change my life if I don’t want that to be my future.
Barbecue was his future? That’s what dawned on him?
He didn’t need a resume. If you’re going into barbecue, you can make your own fortune, right? It’s not always the best way to make a fortune, but you’re relying on yourself. You’re not relying on anybody else to give you a job. You’re just relying on yourself to make great barbecue and attract customers.
So with initiative and what money? I mean, where do you begin?
Well, his brother actually set him up, paid for a smoker to be built for him and the trailer. And he’s slowly paying his brother back with the profits that he’s making off the trailer.
How’s business?
He was sold out of a lot when I arrived, but, you know, I didn’t get the sense that business was particularly great. I mean, if you’ve ever been to Kenefick, it’s because you meant to go there. Like, even if you’re driving between Dayton and Cleveland, you’re not going to go through it. You have to go off like this, like a side road.
But do you think he could be a success if he were at a more popular location or something?
Yeah, absolutely. I think if he had more people who were just going to be stopping by, right, instead of having to drive specifically to him.
See, that’s the key. I love this segment because now everyone’s going to know about Weaver’s BBQ. Once again, where is it?
It’s in Kenefick. But the address is Dayton. So Weaver’s BBQ just about 45 minutes northeast of Houston.
