What’s new in Orlando BBQ: 3 smokin’ options
Wess St. Victor was about 10 the first time he tasted rib tips, the short sections trimmed from the ends of the slab-like servings Americans are so fond of, particularly this time of year.
His family had emigrated from Haiti to Chicago two years earlier, and on this fateful day, St. Victor’s brother came home from football practice with a take-away box.
“It was the best thing I ever ate,” St. Victor tells me. “I was hooked.”
Fortunately for the young fan, The Windy City is rife with options for exploration, but a few years later, when the family moved to Central Florida, teenage St. Victor was at a loss.
“It was years before I found Keller’s, which at that time was on Goldenrod and University,” he says.
These days, there are far more barbecue joints around the Orlando metro. His St. Vic’s Smoke Shack, which opened on Orange Blossom Trail back in October, is one of them.
Good barbecue takes a long time. It’s a statement that can be interpreted in a number of ways, all of them true.
Acutely, a good brisket might take 10 hours to smoke. Ribs? Maybe six. But these classic items off the smoker, like the ones St. Victor’s daughters hand off through the small window of their dad’s cute if smoky shed, are also generally the product of love, plus commitment to both the craft and the customer. And that’s a process, too.
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St. Victor, whose family came here to find a better life, worked seven days a week for seven years between the day job he had for more than 25 years and the passion that was born of that takeout box, before going full time in a field fraught with instability.
Which means the barbecue might not even be the most American thing about his story.
St. Vic’s Smoke Shack
St. Victor credits his wife with advancing his journey toward pit-masterdom. It began with the $30 bullet smoker she bought him at Wal-mart and escalated from there.
Eventually, “there would be like 90 percent of our church coming to our backyard to eat.”
Between jobs, and with encouragement and financing from his father-in-law, St. Victor got himself a food truck. From Ocoee to Orlando’s Audubon Park, Winter Garden to Curry Ford West, it was an odyssey during which time he cultivated regulars and friends, leading to the eventual plunge into his diminutive brick-and-mortar operation.
“We opened the shack on a Saturday, and it was the most incredible day ever,” he says. “So many people.”
The next day, his sister called from Illinois. His mother had suffered a major health incident. Wrestling between caring for his family, his full-time job and the new business, St. Victor finally decided it was time to be singular in his barbecue mission.
“There have been a lot of weeks we had to push through,” he says. “But by the grace of God, we’re still here.”
Also by the grace of his unique brand of barbecue, which draws on his Haitian roots in places, as well as other cultural influences, like the sour orange in his chicken, or his herb-forward way of cooking. “And always garlic, regular or black,” he tells me. “That’s my taste buds. I want to taste the cilantro, the garlic and everything else I’m accustomed to cooking with at home.”
St. Vic’s Smoke Shack: 1858 N. Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, 407-590-7638; facebook.com/stvicssmokeshack, instagram.com/stvicssmokeshack. Catering available.
Brock’s Florida Barbecue
Whenever I hit a place, in particular when its barbecue and tummy real estate is at a premium, I’ll ask the folks working there what I should order. That’s how it went at Tasty Takeover when I ambled up to the Brock’s Florida Barbecue truck, where owner Jason Brock’s bearded face greeted me.
“So, staples, right?” I said, perusing the menu. “Like ribs and brisket over something like mojo pork steak?” I couldn’t get everything.
“I dunno,” he said, contemplating. “I’d say the pork steak is a staple, too.”
I had it. And sliced up with a drizzle of Brock’s house-made citrus mojo sauce, this tender triumph is a must-try. So, too, the brisket, which I was simultaneously sorry to finish and grateful to have gone. Fattyjuicywonderful is my new word mash up. And I dug that mustard sauce. But don’t just dump it on like a savage.
Brock, like all the purveyors presented here, crafts some fine condiments, but doesn’t slather the meat in any of them. He lets the customer make the call, and the meats shine like the Florida sun.
“I’m using Florida wood, Florida beer for the sauces, Florida citrus for the mojo. I’m using Florida meat whenever I can. So, like the Texans doing Texas barbecue or people from Memphis doing their thing, I’m just staying true to where I’m at, and the flavors that we have here.”
Brock notes that being from Florida allows folks like him to let the leash out a little more than elsewhere, something he considers an advantage.
“It’s a different mindset than in places where there’s a lot of tradition built up. We get to try new stuff and experiment a little bit.”
Brock’s Florida Barbecue: facebook.com/brocksfloridabarbecue; instagram.com/brocksfloridabarbecue. Catering available.
Uncle Tony’s Backyard BBQ
It was, in fact, in Tony Thomas’s Arkansas backyard where this smoke-infused family adventure started.
They moved to Florida 21 years ago, but fed by the encouragement of those he fed — and perhaps by the cooking and competition shows his wife and partner LaShunda Thomas says he enjoys — what began as entertaining crossed the line when his own company asked if he could cook for employee-appreciation day.
Success inspired Thomas, then a full-time truck driver, to the catering and pop-up circuit back in 2018. A food truck entered the picture a year later.
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“It gave him the opportunity to be mobile,” she says, “to really get his food and name out there.” Which he did at all manner of events. And while COVID proved a death knell to so many burgeoning food ventures, it was the pandemic that allowed the Thomases’ brand to bloom.
“We were so surprised at how many communities were calling and reaching out,” she says. “There were 55-and-up apartments as well as so many people who were working from home. The whole family was chipping in to help out and it all just clicked. People were tired of being inside, and places would call us to bring the truck so they could just come outside and get some barbecue. We were busy, busy, busy.”
Things haven’t changed much now that they have a storefront. On the days I popped in, daughter Jasmine was behind the counter.
“Tell your dad I said hi,” a customer said as he took his leave.
She walked me through the menu, recommending the stellar collards (with smoked turkey, not pork) and cabbage fried right on the grill as sides straight from her mother’s side of the family. Ribs were fall-off-the-bone. Brisket tender, dry-rubbed in what Thomas calls the “Arkansas-Memphis, Tennessee” style.”
The wood, “mainly hickory, sometimes a little pecan or apple” hails from well outside the metro. “We either have it shipped or have to go get it.”
Sauces are plentiful, everything from sweet and tangy to mustard to hot to extra hot. All made in house.
“We pride ourselves in providing,” says Thomas. “We just want to make sure you feel welcome, like you’re part of our small, little family.”
Uncle Tony’s Backyard BBQ: 6807 S. Orange Ave. in Orlando, 407-601-0068; uncletonysbackyardbbq.com
Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.
