Is there barbecue being served in this town better than the smoke-made meats and eats at Smokemade Meats + Eats? No. No, there isn’t. Pound for smoky pound, no one’s doing it better than pitmaestro Tyler Brunache. His regional barbecue style focuses on Central Texas, where beef, sausage and sauceless proteins rule, just like the barbecue gods of the Lone Star State intended. And that means seasonings are kept to a minimum as well, so that the flavor of the meat (smoked over Florida oak) speaks for itself.
“Eat me!” said the brisket ($17) when I first laid eyes on its barky curves. Or perhaps it was the echoes of the lady I cut off when I parked in the restaurant’s narrow lot. In any case, eat it I did and, mother of Matthew McConaughey, this brisket was alright, alright, alright. In fact, on that first visit, I had no choice but to order the brisket as they’d run out of pretty much everything else. Just like at the legendary barbecue joints in Texas, folks start lining up outside the weekend-only Hourglass District smokehouse at 8 a.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
“Our ribs and turkey usually sell out first,” Brunache says, and this being 4 p.m. on a Saturday, I expected a thin menu. So I was grateful I was able to enjoy the fat, 16-hour smoked brisket, simply seasoned with salt, pepper and Lawry’s, with a side of zingy tomato-zucchini salad ($4) and superb Dijon-slicked cole slaw ($4) crunched with kale and red onions.
My next visit was on a Friday at 2 p.m. and the pickin’s weren’t as slim, though they’d already run out of ribs, turkey and pulled pork. My pal and I didn’t sweat it, but the dry-brined half-chicken ($13) we ordered clearly did. Over some hot coals, that is. The resulting smoky succulence had us both marveling at this mother of a clucker.
Next was the double-smoked hot gut sausage ($5), its beefy innards spiced with, among other things, cumin and turmeric. Brunache recommended we try it with the vinegar-based sauce spiked with chili flakes, and it was a spot-on suggestion. Hell, I enjoyed that tangy, mustard-based house sauce with the brisket the second time ’round.
Of the sides we were able to procure, we felt fortunate to score some cheddar grits ($4) as well as the pinto beans ($4) — the beans’ thick, chili-like consistency and sugarless sapor will please any Texan barbecue purist. Brunache was also offering a Friday lunch special — brisket cheesesteak ($18) on an Olde Hearth hoagie roll — that we couldn’t pass up. And, yes, it was great. It heated up well in the oven the following day too.
Also on our tray were four slices of yeasty white bread that Brunache’s crew bakes fresh daily. “This bread reminds me of my childhood,” said my teary-eyed wife on my third stop at the restaurant. “My grandmother would make bread like this.” We visited on this particular Saturday afternoon for another special — Black Angus beef ribs ($45 for 1.25 pounds). It’s rubbed with a blend of black pepper, salt, garlic and onion powder before being smoked for 10 hours in a 1,000-gallon Primitive Pit smoker out back. It’s then rested for 10 hours before sliced to order. Needless to say, the charred slab of brontosaurus was nothing short of incredible (and it paired well with a side of jalapeño-dill potato salad).
I will say that on every one of my visits, I’ve been unable to resist the lure of banana pudding ($6). Like most everything here, it’s made from scratch. While other desserts, like bread pudding ($6) and gooey butter cake ($6), are also offered, I’ll probably find myself ordering the banana pudding again. Unless it’s sold out.
Nevertheless, it’s glorious stuff, all of it. But Brunache is a humble guy, and he’s quick to acknowledge the influence Goldee’s Barbecue in Fort Worth has had on his success. “I could not put into words what they have meant to my barbecue journey,” he says about the highly lauded joint in which he staged. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to spend time with those guys.” Indeed, Smokemade Meats + Eats can be seen as the Florida wing of the James Beard-nominated restaurant that Texas Monthly crowned as the best barbecue joint in the state.
That might explain why he was out of ribs, turkey and pulled pork again on this third visit. Admittedly, I’ve had all three back when Brunache popped up with his smaller smoker at East End Market shortly after the pandemic. But a brick-and-mortar operation is a whole different animal, one that he and his crew are still trying to tame. When the man sleeps, I can’t say. But there’s no question that Brunache’s rapid rise to fame, and the consistent queues for his ‘cue, are smoking out the competition.
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Faiyaz Kara
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