Pizzitola’s Bar-B-Cue
“Do one thing, and do it well,” is not a phrase often associated with Texas barbecue.
Certainly, Texas is known for doing barbecue spectacularly well. But when it comes to menu choices, there is a lot to choose from. Indeed, the most famous item is the Texas trinity — a three-meat plate featuring brisket, pork ribs and sausage.
Furthermore, tradition stipulates a minimum of three side dish options: potato salad, coleslaw and beans. Desserts also come in threes: pecan pie, banana pudding and cobbler.
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But what if that tradition of threes was pared down to one? That’s the idea at Ribbee’s, a new barbecue joint in Fort Worth that specializes in one item: baby back ribs.
GUIDE: Houston's best barbecue joints
Though it may be novel to barbecue, this is a well-known business model in the restaurant industry that started to take off in the 1990s.
Take Raising Cane’s. Originally, fried chicken was dominated by chains like Popeye’s and KFC with a full menu of chicken pieces, including legs, breasts and thighs. Sandwiches and bowls were eventually added. Later, chicken “tenders” or “fingers” appeared on menus.
Raising Cane’s had the bright idea to focus on that one wildly popular menu item, the chicken finger. Similar strategies underpin brands like Wingstop, which took a menu item that was a mainstay at bars, the chicken wing, and turned it into its own restaurant concept.
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Ribbee’s
923 E. Seminary Dr., Fort Worth
Open Thurs.-Sun.
Pizzitola’s Bar-B-Cue
1703 Shepherd, Houston; 713-227-2283
Closed Sundays.
There are benefits to such specialization. The kitchen equipment needed to cook one type of menu item is simplified. Procurement of raw product is also easier, since you’re not juggling pricing and availability of multiple products. Labor factors are streamlined because you only need to train someone to cook one item.
Variety is introduced not by offering multiple menu items, but rather variations on the same item. Think of all the sauce options when ordering chicken wings. More recently, this concept can be noted in the many Korean-style fried chicken joints that are opening around town.
The same idea will be applied at Ribbee’s, where the ribs can be ordered with multiple sauce options. Such specialization is well-suited to the barbecue cooking process. By concentrating on one protein, joints like Ribbee’s can standardize on semi-automated rotisserie pits. Similarly, having to train staff to cook one protein is more efficient than multiple items like ribs, brisket or sausage.
That’s not to say that Texas barbecue joints haven’t specialized in certain items in the past. Many places have signature items for which loyal customer will return again and again. Pizzitola’s Bar-B- Cue is a good example.
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Their specialization is literally written on the side of the building: “Houston’s home for spareribs.” Sure, they have the full Trinity option, as well as other specials such as brisket burgers and enchiladas. But when I’m craving a straightforward tray of old-school, salt-and-pepper pork ribs cooked on traditional brick pits, Pizzitola’s is the first place that comes to mind.
It may seem counterintuitive to stand out from the crowd by paring down and simplifying. Texas barbecue, after all, is not immune from the “shiny new object” syndrome in which complicated concepts are trotted out for the barbecue cognoscenti to photograph and launch out into the social media stratosphere.
Sometimes focus, concentration and specialization are the ways forward, even in the sprawling menus of traditional Texas barbecue joints.
How Texas barbecue joints are sharpening their focus to stand out
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07.03.2024
Pizzitola’s Bar-B-Cue
“Do one thing, and do it well,” is not a phrase often associated with Texas barbecue.
Certainly, Texas is known for doing barbecue spectacularly well. But when it comes to menu choices, there is a lot to choose from. Indeed, the most famous item is the Texas trinity — a three-meat plate featuring brisket, pork ribs and sausage.
Furthermore, tradition stipulates a minimum of three side dish options: potato salad, coleslaw and beans. Desserts also come in threes: pecan pie, banana pudding and cobbler.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
But what if that tradition of threes was pared down to one? That’s the idea at Ribbee’s, a new barbecue joint in Fort Worth that specializes in one item: baby back ribs.
GUIDE: Houston's best barbecue joints
Though it may be novel to barbecue, this is a well-known business model in the restaurant industry that started to........
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