A lot of folks wonder how in the heck I got into the food business, much less barbecue. I was a broadcaster in radio for 30 years prior and worked most recently at KKBN in Sonora. I had worked previously in Austin, Houston, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles, Little Rock, and Chattanooga. In radio we move a lot. We are kind of like carnival workers, except with teeth! Anyway, when KKBN let go of the General Manager that hired me, the new one came in and canned me because he thought I was "Too homespun for this market!" Well I said to myself, "We like this place and we're gonna stay!" I just had to figure out what a guy with 30 years of radio experience and a Drama degree was going to do in Tuolumne County!
I either had to get another job "working for the man" or do something on my own, so one night I got on the internet and after 3 hours and 4 beers, I hollered out to my wife, "Guess what honey, I just bought a hot dog cart with my credit card and I'm gonna be a weiner slinger in Sonora!" She nearly died laughing!
I started out in front of the Veterans building on Washington then moved in front of Grocery outlet, then finally in front of Cost-U-Less Grocery on Mono Way. I used to wear a big weiner hat but it made my scalp itch so I cut that out! Well, all went well and one day I asked the manager of the store if I could put a smoker out back, smoke spare ribs the Texas way and sell 'em in front of the meat department. He said "Are your ribs any good"?
I said "I don't know! Let's leave it up to your taste buds to decide!" Well, we did and he liked 'em plenty! I sold ribs, tri-tip and brisket in the store for about three years before opening a little carry-out stand next to theFuel Depot on Mono Way. That place sold 6 months later, so me and my buddy Ron Martin opened Doc's Texas Smoked BBQ & Burgers in July of 2006.
The Food
We do everything from scratch. We rub our ribs with a dry Texas-style rub and smoke them with oak for 6 hours , real slow. We do the same with the brisket, but smoke it for 12-13 hours, fat up. We also do pulled pork and beer smoked chicken. We do smoked turkey on Tuesday and Ron makes this chipotle cranberry sauce that'll make yer tongue slap the top of yer head plum off! We have Texas jalapeno sausage that will make a freight train run on a dirt track! We have smoked Hickory sausage too. We smoke USDA Choice Black Angus corn fed tri-tip as well. By the way, dont let anyone tell you that grass fed beef is better than corn fed. Corn creates marbleing (or fat) and fat makes it tender, flavorful and moist. Some folks say that the grass fed beef is better for you. So is Tofu but it ain't goin' in my piehole!!!!! Something's gotta be on your death certificate! Ya might as well go down grinnin'!
The Staff