D  e  s  e  r  t     E  x  p  o  s  u  r  e     May 2005

Deep From the Heart of Texas

Silver City's new Tejas BBQ is smokin'.

By David A. Fryxell

You can go into almost any small town in Texas and find a barbecue joint. The tablecloths will be red-checkered, the waitresses friendly and the atmosphere informal. If you have any trouble finding the local barbecue joint, just follow your nose: The sweet smell of wood smoke will lead you right to the eatery and its platters of smoky, tangy brisket, ribs, pork and chicken.

Tejas brings Texas barbecue to Silver City.

As I say, you can find these barbecue havens all over Texas—or you can step into the new Tejas BBQ in Silver City (at the corner, appropriately, of Market and Texas). From the checkered tables to the piles of smoked meat on your plate, you'll swear you've teleported a few hundred miles due east. That shouldn't really come as a Texas-sized surprise: Co-owner Brian Meyer hails from the Lone Star State. (We can thank partner Sherri Turner, a local, for bringing the joint to Silver City.)

The basic menu at Tejas BBQ couldn't be much simpler: The BBQ Plates come with one meat ($6.99), two meats ($8.49) or three (a bargain at $9.99), plus two sides or a basic baked potato, Texas toast, pickles and onions. The meat options are brisket, chopped pork loin, ribs, ham, sausage and chicken ("leg quarters while they last"). Sides include all the traditional choices you'd expect in any self-respecting Texas barbecue joint: ranch beans, baked beans, corn, potato salad, macaroni salad, a daily vegetable selection and of course coleslaw. Those with non-Texas-sized appetites can get their meat (brisket, chopped pork, ham or sausage) in a sandwich, served with one side and chips, plus pickle and onion. The "L'il Joe" sandwich is $3.95, the "Hoss" $5.95.

Our table tried, between us, various combinations of brisket, pork and ribs, all of which proved intensely smoky and satisfying. We slathered the brisket and pork loin with a thin, sweetly spicy barbecue sauce from a squeeze bottle on the table. The ribs eater had plenty of use for the paper towels that serve as napkins—a dispenser roll sits right on the table, just as it oughta.

Carnivores all, we came for the meat, but Tejas also makes a specialty of baked potatoes. Each of these seven menu items has a Wild West name, from the basic "Wyatt Earp" (butter, sour cream, bacon, cheese and chives, $2.99) to the more exotic "Pancho Villa" (butter, sour cream, beans, cheese and pico de gallo, $5.49) and "The Duke" (butter, sour cream, beans, chopped beef, chives and cheese, $5.99). The hometown "Billy the Kid" is half of "The Duke," for $3.99. There's also a salad bar, $5.99 as a meal or $1.99 with a plate or potato.

We didn't have room for dessert—there's a recommendation in itself—but Tejas does have cobbler ($1.89) and something called "The Outlaw" ($2.49). Tummies bulging, we were afraid to ask.

Tejas lacks a liquor license, but you can get soft drinks, coffee, tea or milk to wash down your barbecue. To us, this sort of place calls for iced tea, which the friendly waitress kept returning to refill.

The ultimate test of such an eatery, of course, is: What does a real Texan think of it? So we brought one along on our tasting. As he put his cowboy hat back on and pushed away from the table, our Texan proclaimed Tejas BBQ to be the real thing.

In a word, "Yee-haw!"

Tejas BBQ, 115 W. Market St., 534-4499, is open daily 11 a.m.-8 p.m. for eat-in or take-out.

David A. Fryxell owns four backyard barbecue grills,
including a smoker built in Texas.

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