Ever notice how barbecue places announce themselves before you even get out of the car? It’s the smell of smoking meats wafting around that makes mouths water in anticipation of soft brisket, juicy pulled pork, and snappy sausage loaded with cheese and jalapeños. Well, the wonderful aromas are a bit more muted at the first storefront location for Vaqueros BBQ, a beloved food truck serving a mash-up of Mexican cuisine and Texas barbecue.
It turns out there is a good reason they tend to put barbecue restaurants in stand-alone buildings and not at the bottom of office buildings, or so Vaqueros owner Arnulfo "Trey" Sánchez and his partners at M Crowd Restaurants (the hospitality group behind Mi Cocina) learned when building out its new location.
Vaquero’s pit room, located at Watters Creek in Allen, required installing safety measures that are over and beyond what a barbecue restaurant typically has to do. "We built a two-hour fire-rated box to contain the pit room," Sánchez says. The heavily ventilated space sucks all the air out of the room with the smokers, filters it up through ducts, and into water-filled scrubbers that eject it as steam. The restaurant also had to replace the air in the pit rooms, and that’s how Vaqueros ended up with what Sánchez believes is the only air-conditioned pit room in existence.
What comes out of those pits is some noteworthy barbecue: fatty brisket so tender that it tears apart with the slightest of fingertip pressure, sausage loaded with a spice blend that turns it a brick red, pork belly with crispy ends and super-soft insides, barbacoa that goes into Mexico City-inspired tacos topped with a chile-infused sauce that eats like a mole, and its famous barbecue brisket birria tacos that melt in your mouth.
Right now, the windows from inside the restaurant are blocked off. However, passersby can peek through the giant glass panes out front to get a look at the pair of thousand-gallon custom backline offset smokers and an M&M rotisserie, all of which were customized by Ryan Newland of Backline Fabrication in Austin. It’s quite a sight: two pits stand on legs designed to resemble a monument to Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec god of fire. The pits themselves look like an ode to a masterful graffiti artist working on one of the nation’s great canvases — a train car — in grey and white. The rotisserie is painted to look aged, with rust and worn spots showing through, and the barbecue joint’s name sprawled in a Chicano-inspired font.
The secret flavor? It’s burnt tortilla, although no one would guess from the sweet, caramel-y flavor. Sánchez brings out a shaker of the tortilla bits used to top it, which taste like tiny bits of graham cracker. It’s just one more brilliant idea pushing the boundaries of what to expect at a barbecue joint.
Conclusion:
Vaqueros BBQ is a must-visit destination for anyone who loves barbecue, Mexican cuisine, and innovative twists on traditional flavors. With its unique blend of Texas-style barbecue and Mexican flavors, this food truck turned storefront location is sure to leave you wanting more.
FAQs:
Q: What makes Vaqueros BBQ unique?
A: Its blend of Texas-style barbecue and Mexican cuisine, as well as its innovative twists on traditional flavors.
Q: What are some of the menu items to try?
A: Fatty brisket, sausage, pork belly, barbacoa, and barbecue brisket birria tacos.
Q: What is the secret to Vaqueros’ success?
A: Its commitment to using high-quality ingredients, innovative flavor combinations, and a unique blend of Texas and Mexican cuisine.
Q: Is Vaqueros BBQ only available at the Watters Creek location?
A: No, Vaqueros BBQ is available at various food truck locations throughout the Dallas area, with plans to expand to more locations in the future.
