Steve’s BBQ - Denton, TX
Time for a story from the 2001 Unwound tour… On September 23, 2001 Vern and I were in Denton, TX doing laundry and looking for something to eat (Unwound had played the previous night at a place called Rubber Gloves). Vern and I had been driving seperately from the rest of the band in a much faster car, so we usually had time to hag around town a bit the next day. On this day while cruising around Denton I saw this place out in the middle of industrial wasteland…
Steve's BBQ - Denton, TX
Myself, being a sucker for odd hole in the wall barbecue joints had to eat here and Vern agreed. We walk into this tiny little place up to the counter to find Steve, the owner and cook, sitting on a nasty old recliner watching television. I don’t remember exactly what his greeting was, but before ordering Vern asked if he served beer in which Steve replied ”no, but you can surely bring your own!” We decided to run down the street to pick up a six pack. Before leaving Vern asked Steve if he wanted any beer, Steve replied “No thanks boys. I’m on a gin only diet!” We still use that line to this day.
Anyway, so we come back with beer in hand and order our food. I think both Vern and I got some type of BBQ beef with a couple of sides. If my memory serves me correct, Steve only did beef barbecue and no pork. Steve tells us to go have a seat were ever we’d like and disappears into the back. There was no one else in the place so we choose to sit on the patio outside. It was a nice little patio with lots of shade from the extremely hot Texas sun. One problem, there is a speaker out there that is absolutely blasting some radio station. Steve is no where to be found so this prompts Vern to snoop around the place looking for the receiver, which he fortunately finds and turns it down to a reasonable level. A few minutes later Steve returns from his cave with two delicious plates of BBQ goodness. We quickly devour our lunch and then relaxed for a while chit chatting and having a few beers.
Now the food wasn’t by any means the best BBQ I’ve had, but with the unique charm of Steve and the environment around us, this was one of my most memorable meals. Before leaving I grabbed a business card and said thanks to Steve. I think Vern took a few photos of the place (I’ll have to ask him if he still has them) and off we went to Fayetteville, AR.
Have a snack and you'll be back.
A few years ago Steve’s came to mind when I stumbled across his business card so I decided to do a little research online and found out the place had burnt down sometime around 2004 and to my knowledge has never reopened. Sad. RIP Steve’s BBQ… “Have a snack and you’ll be back.”
Here’s some video of Unwound playing in Denton the night before. Also here’s the Unwound food tour diary (for whatever reason I did not take part in it, but pretty much ate like Vern).
