BBQ joint blending Mexican, Texas flavor makes list of US best restaurants

LOCKHART, Texas ( KXAN ) — A Lockhart, Texas, barbecue restaurant earned accolades as one of the country’s best restaurants.

Barbs B Q , known for blending Texas barbecue with traditional Mexican flavors, earned a spot on The New York Times’ list of America’s best restaurants.

“Growing up with a Mexican family, we gathered every Sunday. Carne asada tacos, jalapeño peppers, sausage, chicken, the good Mexican rice, charro beans, guacamole, salsas,” Barbs B Q owner Chuck Charnichart said.

Charnichart said the flavors experienced at her restaurant are influenced by a distinctive side dish on the menu inspired by her mother.

“Green spaghetti is so good. When I realized that it was not a common dish in Central Texas or just in general outside of the valley outside of Mexico, I knew that I was so lucky. It was just so perfect that no one had really put that on their BBQ menu yet,” Charnichart said.

Charnichart’s passion for the kitchen stemmed from both her parents; however, opening a restaurant wasn’t her original plan.

She moved away from her home in Brownsville, Texas, to study marketing at the University of Texas. While attending college, a side job at Franklin’s Barbecue in Austin set her on a different path.

“BBQ in general was not something I had my eyes set on. It sort of found me. I kept finding myself in BBQ scenarios,” Charnichart said.

After obtaining her degree, Charnichart got a job at Goldee’s in Fort Worth, which earned the top spot on Texas Monthly’s list of the state’s best barbecue restaurants in 2021 while she was an employee.

That experience would push her to open her own restaurant, with her family and Mexican roots being the inspiration to drive her business forward.

“Being the firstborn here sort of establishes another layer of realizing I have an advantage over my sisters to make something bigger. My sisters were restricted in everything that they did by being on DACA. Because I didn’t have those layers I felt pushed to go above and just try and make it worth it,” Charnichart said.

However, Charnichart knew that she could not run a business herself to keep up with the demand of BBQ-loving customers on the weekend, so she created an army of BBQ women.

“It didn’t mean to happen this way, where it is an almost all-woman crew, we sort of just found each other… We can see each other and learn from our mistakes and just push each other,” she said.

Charnichart is showing everyone the hard work that she puts in daily to run a barbecue restaurant, and that being a Latina or a woman will not stop her from achieving her dreams.

“The power dynamic was once very different, and it is very cool to see that things are changing,” Charnichart said.

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