Smoke show: After years as a food truck, this Midlands BBQ joint thrives in a new home

They line up early on Methodist Park Road in West Columbia, out there under the state flags of South Carolina and Texas.

On a recent Saturday morning the line was at least 30 deep before the place even opened, with men and women, young and old, sitting on yellow benches that line a breezeway leading to the front door. They speak to each other with smiles and hushed tones, almost conspiratorially, as if they are in on a secret. Only, more and more, the secret is getting out.

And when the clock strikes 11 a.m. on that Saturday, the crowd springs to its feet and heads for the door, and the anticipation builds to a crescendo. City Limits Barbeque is open, and brisket awaits.

In the midst of the swirl is Robbie Robinson, the 49-year-old owner of the operation. With a City Limits cap resting on his head and an apron draped across the front of his body, Robinson and his small crew expertly man the initial rush. They chop pork, slice brisket, dish up mac-and-cheese and hash-and-rice, and point customers toward the cooler where they can grab an ice cold beer.

For Robinson, it’s a scene that’s at least seven years in the making. No longer nomadic, City Limits has found a home.

Robinson started City Limits as a food truck in 2016, and the business quickly made a name for itself among barbecue connoisseurs across the Midlands. Leaning heavily into the trappings of Texas-style barbecue (brisket, beef ribs, etc.) and the favorites of the Carolinas (pulled and chopped pork, hash etc.), appearances of the food truck became sort of a catch-me-if-you-can appointment dining experience, with Robinson notifying his fans on social media of where the truck might be on a given day. The truck would often appear at Craft and Draft on Devine Street in Columbia.

But now things have changed. Earlier this year, City Limits found a new, more permanent home at 1119 Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. That space has previously been home to other restaurants, including The Secret Garden and, more recently, Lil Duck Kombucha and Treehouse Cafe, which closed in early April.

Robinson and his City Limits crew spent the summer cleaning and fixing up the space and began serving smoky barbecue, savory sides and more there about two months ago. The restaurant has counter service, and diners can either take their food to-go or eat it on-site at outdoor picnic tables or tables under a covered porch. Space for an indoor dining room is currently being renovated, and Robinson hopes to have it ready in coming months.

The restaurant is only open on Saturdays and Sundays. Texas and Carolina barbecue, with the accompanying sides and desserts, are the focus on Saturdays, when the restaurant is open from 11 a.m. through the mid-afternoon. (When they run out of a particular item, they’re out.) And from noon to 3 p.m. on Sundays, hot dogs and sides are the focus, with a hot dog featuring brisket chili and sweet jalapeno slaw — a different spin on the dogs once offered at Columbia’s now-closed Sandy’s — proving to be a favorite.

With the limited days and hours at the Methodist Park Road spot, City Limits fans and new converts have been lining up on the weekends, waiting to get a taste of the smoke. Robinson has taken notice of the crowds.

“It’s been awesome,” said Robinson, the Lexington native who lived in Texas for several years and who has attended Texas A&M University’s lauded Camp Brisket instructional program. “I’m humbled by how many people have been coming out.”

‘A proclivity for good barbecue’

Columbia’s Jabarie Glass was among the first wave of customers in line at City Limits on a recent Saturday morning. He had his eye on some brisket and pork belly burnt ends and wanted to make sure he got there in time to get his hands on them.

Glass said he’s been a regular with City Limits for quite a while. He’s a guy who takes his barbecue seriously.

“It’s fantastic barbecue,” said Glass, an affable man with an easy smile. “I’m from Memphis, so I have a proclivity for good barbecue. I’ve been visiting a few places around here, and I saw this on Facebook. I came and checked it out, and it was really fantastic. So, I kept coming back. I’ve become a loyal customer.”

Glass’ status as a regular was evident when Robinson’s son, Henry, came up to Glass as he was leaving and wrapped him in a hug, and they called each other by name. Glass said it’s a familiarity he’s come to expect.

“Even when I just came up to pay, they said, ‘Hey Mr. Glass, welcome back,’” Glass said. “That always adds to the vibe, when you know the customers and the customers know you. It’s great to have a familial environment like this.”

Family is part and parcel to the operations at City Limits. Robinson’s wife, Blair, bags up orders, daughter Mily runs the cash register, and Henry serves as a sort of de facto host, greeter and ambassador.

Also among those in line on a recent weekend morning were Jason Snyder, who is a vice president at Columbia’s Peak Drift Brewing, and his son Braxton. Offerings from Peak Drift are among the local and regional canned beer choices at City Limits. Snyder’s barbecue order included a pound of sliced brisket, some chopped pork, and Texas beef ribs that were so big Snyder said they “look like something a dinosaur would have had.”

Snyder said he used to visit City Limits when it would post up the truck at Craft and Draft, and he wanted to check out the new location. He said the barbecue has always been on-point.

“I have a friend from Houston who lived here for about 20 years who said this is the closest thing he ever had (to Texas barbecue) outside of Texas,” Snyder said. “It’s totally different than what we typically think about. The ribs are, like, crazy.”

City Limits’ new digs have even drawn the attention of social media sensations. On Oct. 7, Orry Lee Kennedy, known to nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram as the Cornbread Cowboi, stopped by and grabbed some brisket, ribs, sausage, hash, apple cobbler and more. Kennedy, whose online persona winkingly leans into to a sort of NASCAR-and-cold-beer Southern nostalgia, later rated City Limits a “10/10” in an Instagram post.

“I’ve been talking to Robbie for a while, and I appreciate a good BBQ place that’s open on the weekend and, when it sells out, it sells out, because it’s so darn good,” Kennedy told The State, noting he was raised on whole-hog barbecue but has recently developed a taste for brisket and beef ribs.

‘Preaching and professing’

For Robinson, City Limits has been something of a passion project. He’s a numbers guy by trade, with a day job as a regulatory consultant in the insurance industry. He’s also worked as a commercial photographer, a skill that has helped foster a critical social media following for the business.

But barbecue has infused itself on his soul. His reddish mustache twitches when he smiles and talks of cooking meat over coals. He calls West Columbia “West Coalumbia,” because of the wealth of barbecue spots — City Limits, Hite’s Bar-B-Que, True BBQ, Maurice’s — within close proximity to each other in the area. And he talks of “preaching and professing” the glories of Texas-style barbecue, even in the early days when his food truck was just getting started. He even has a personalized license plate on his pickup truck that reads “BRISKET.”

”I’m very fortunate to have realized that this is, I think, what I am supposed to do,” Robinson said. “More than once I’ve wanted to give up. It’s a tremendous amount of work. ... But, I’m doing this with a goal of putting it on the map.”

Part of the sauce (no pun intended) of making it all work is a simply a desire to make folks happy with food. Robinson said he puts the customer experience at the forefront

“People walk in, and I look at them and say, ‘Hey, how are you doing? I’m about to make your day better,’” Robinson said. “’I’m sorry you had to wait in line, but I’m about to serve you the best thing I’ve got. If you don’t like it, you come back and let me know personally, and we’ll fix it.’”

As City Limits, which was recently featured in the magazine Texas Monthly, has transition from truck to restaurant, it seems more than a few people have had their days made better. Chapin’s Ryan Bell was among those at the restaurant on Oct. 7. He said he initially met Robinson several years ago when he spotted Robinson’s “BRISKET” license plate at a red light and rolled down his window to talk with him.

In the years since, he’s become a frequent customer

“I go all over the state eating barbecue, and North Carolina and Georgia,” Bell said. “I love Texas-style brisket and I love pork, and this is the best I’ve had, by far. Even the sides. It’s nice to find someone who knows how to cook collards. That’s pretty rare.”