- [Esaul Ramos] San Antonio
is huge on barbacoa. I was very nervous to do it, especially in this
city, especially knowing how people feel about it. My food isn't full-blown Mexican but it definitely has Mexican flair to it. Barbacoa does help me bring out those influences that I grew up with. I feel it brings out my heritage in Central Texas-style barbecue. ("No Queda Nada" by Sr. Ortegon) I knew that I wanted to
do something different, something that a lot of
other people weren't doing. I did it my way 'cause in my mind it's the best way. I was tired of just seeing
white bread, ya know? I grew up eating tacos,
and then I was like this is what I want; I want tortillas, I want fresh ingredients I want those southern flavors to stand out in my product. It's (taken) people a
minute but I feel that within time, they'll see what quality and what passion goes into barbecue, and they'll be able to see what it is that we're trying to do here. We get here around five in the morning. First thing I do is I come in, unlock the restaurant, start getting the fire
the way I want it to and then from that point on I'll start getting everything
ready for my seasoning and then I start pulling briskets out, I start seasoning those, those are usually on the pit ready to row by 6:30 a.m., sometimes seven o'clock depending on how fast I wanna go. I started working with John Lewis 2014. I feel that the fact that he mentored me definitely helped me gain the confidence that I needed to be able
to open up my own place. That hardest part of learning barbecue is, is the patience to overcome all the obstacles that come in your way. Whether you have wet wood that day, whether your fire is
not doing what it wants, whether your briskets
came in trimmed crappy, whether the weather's disgusting, whether your pit doesn't have a good draw, whether your seasoning
isn't sticking right, it's patience man. It's being able to stick through it and knowing that if you do it right, the end product is gonna be phenomenal. ("As Day Breaks" by Jack Elphick) The Smokehouse, we built
it from the ground up. After a good solid month of Joe and I just being in there 24/7, all the time, we said, "You know what? If we're gonna live
here, we gotta at least make it feel like home." My landlord, he has the
business right next door to us who owns a mattress place, he gave us our first
mattress so that's how we slept at night, we just
threw that mattress on the floor and from that point on, it just felt more like home. ("Dazed Summer" by Jack Elphick) ♪ I'm waiting ♪ ♪ I'm waiting for you ♪ ♪ I'm waiting ♪ ♪ I'm waiting for you ♪ ♪ I'm waiting ♪ ♪ I'm waiting for you ♪ ♪ I'm waiting ♪ ♪ I'm waiting ♪ ♪ I'm waiting ♪ ♪ For you ♪ (fire crackling) (song ends) Every Sunday, when I was a kid, we go to the melinos, we pick up barbacoa, and a Big Red, it's always
barbacoa and Big Red. And I had an uncle of
mine who would dig a hole and put the cow head and
put the banana leaves in there, we cover it up
and we'd cook it that way. I wish I could do it here
that way, but we can't. And I started getting older and it got to the point where the chicken just started getting too dark by the end of the night, and it eventually got to
the point where I just kinda told him, "Let me start cooking. Let me figure this stuff out." And I knew in that
moment what was going on this grill was something magical. (relaxing music) Barbecue is Texas. It's
a way of life here. It's very important to
us, it's embedded in our blood, or I guess our genes, I don't know man people just love it. I know I do. (upbeat music) The success that we've had is definitely been surreal. It's a huge accomplishment
and as far as us putting San Antonio barbecue on the map, I mean, I'm just trying
to make good barbecue. I grew up in this city, this city means everything to me, so to
be able to contribute to it, in this way, is phenomenal. ("No Queda Nada" by Sr. Ortegon) So much has happened, so
many things that I would think about and dream about years ago that are happening now, and
it just blows my mind. I'm very appreciative
for it and I'm gonna keep busting ass and just
tryna be as good as I can, just getting better and better each day.
