Stephen Montoya
Trevor Sales
Hindsight being 20/20, of course, Brix Barbecue owner Trevor Sales admits he was "naïve" in setting date for the opening of the restaurant's highly-anticipated brick-and-mortar location on South Main.
Given the process Sales says he is currently going through to retrofit this more than 2,000-square-foot space, it could be a few more months before the doors open.
The issue: the process with the city.
“When you buy a place like this, they kind of don’t tell you everything up front along the way,” Sales says Wednesday while prepping for meal service in his trailer in the parking lot of his current location at 215 South Main. “We can’t use the waterline going to the building for this system, we have to have a dedicated line that will have a certain amount of pressure going to it. It’s just turned into a debacle dealing with the city.”
It’s a no-brainer that a fire suppression system would be a necessity for a business that works around open flames all day. Yet, this necessity is one of the main reasons Sales says he hasn’t been able to put an "open" sign at 1012 South Main St.
Last year Sales announced that he would open this new location on the Near Southside, which he needed to appease increased demand for his product and assuage the almost two-hour wait time customers were enduring to taste his barbecue. This new location is set to include an indoor and outdoor bar, dining room, large patio, and a second smoker. So, you can see why everyone is biting at the bit to check it out.
The permitting process is known thorn to city officials. Elected officials and city staff have vowed to improve the process and say timeliness will improve with better logistics at the new City Hall just west of downtown.
It hasn't been all bad, Sales says. The city has been helpful in his endeavor to meet all requirements for the new spot, but everything is slow going.
“You have to choose a contractor from [the city’s] special certified list and then there’s all this paperwork and you have to get bonds, whereas my contractor said he could get all of this done for a fraction of the price, but that’s beside the point,” he says.
Sales was expecting to be up and running at his new building late last year. “Until this gets done, and the city is in control on when that gets done, I can’t give a date,” Sales says. “It was naïve of me to give a date last year for sure.”
Other plans Sales has in the works for this eatery is the implementation of his current Sunday menu, called “Brix After Dark” available for foodies all week. “It’s something different that we do, it’s kind of our niche thing,” he says. “We’ve kind of made a name for ourselves with ‘Brix After Dark’, alone, which is kind of a barbecue bar food.” In a town like Fort Worth that hosts some great barbecue, Sales says this is what sets his business apart from the others. “This is where we get the craziest lines."
One of the items on this Sunday menu that has patrons flocking to Brix Barbecue is its 100% prime-grade trim off the brisket Smash Burger.
“In this era of barbecue, it’s very en vogue to trim the brisket just to help it cook more evenly,” Sales explains. “As you can imagine, we have a ton of trim each week to work with.”
What Sales and his team do with the trim is pack into a patty without any additives and cook it like a regular burger.
"This in one of the reasons we have the following that we do," Sales says.
As for recent reports that Brix will actually open in March, Sales says he is doing everything he can to get things going.
“Look, no one wants this restaurant to open more than myself and the crew that works here, I can promise you that,” he says. “I have spent many a sleepless night just anxiously thinking about getting this new spot up and running. We are doing everything in our power to get open as soon as possible to feed people and give them a fun, safe place to hang out.”