photography by Kevin Marple
Hickory is by far the dominant cooking wood for barbecue in this area, but Travis Mayes chooses the state tree of Texas (pecan) to fuel his smoker. It’s a challenge to find the joint itself, much less a place to park. Ordering is done by shouting into a small screened portion of a soot-covered window. Then a figure appears in the smoky concrete box to hand over a brown sack full of perfectly smoked meat.