Johnnie's Pit Beef Pop-Up at Taurus • The Burger Beast

I was lucky enough to be one of the first folks to try out a few of the Johnnie’s Pit Beef sandwiches.

Chef Phil Bryant and Chef Veronica Valdivia invited me over to their home for dinner when they were starting to put together what would ultimately become The Original and Beef N’ Cheddar sammies from the menu.

I am a longtime fan of their food craftsmanship.

They were also the folks behind the incredible five-course meal that I hosted at the Burger Museum.

And on top of that, they are two of the most humble folks I’ve met in the food industry.

When they announced, they were doing a Sunday only pop-up of their Johnnie’s Pit Beef & BBQ at Taurus in the Grove; I was ecstatic.

Unfortunately, I was out of town when the first one happened, but there was no way I was missing the second go around.

AT LAST SOME PIT BEEF

My wife Marcela and I arrive before Cari (@FatgirlHedonist) and Jorge (@ElComelon305).

We take the table nearest to where Phil and Veronica are cooking and plating the dishes so we can watch the action up close.

It turns out that an old friend of mine (Rudy, whose family owned the iconic Ayesteran restaurant in Little Havana) was seated next to us.

Jorge arrives with his roommate first and Cari a little later since she stopped to grab some donuts from Donutty on the way.

We ended up with five folks at a table of four after Rudy gave us one of his unused chairs.

By the time they had settled, this guy, aka me, had already ordered one of everything on the menu.

I know this crew, and it was what needs to happen when you get some major food fanatics together.

THE ORDER

The Original with its white onions & horseradish mayo and the Smoked Brisket on Rye with its spicy brown mustard stole the show for me. If I could get into a Delorean time machine right now, I would go back and order enough to enjoy for the entire week till the following Sunday.

Now I know what you’re thinking, why wouldn’t I go back and get the winning Lotto numbers? Well, that would be stop number two, duh, priorities!

The smoked Cheddar Grits with the Texas Phil sauce and Appa’s Chili served all the way with those perfectly diced onions were the standouts for me on the sides portion of the menu.

Everyone had a different favorite sandwich and side, so you’ll need to go on and social media and ask them yourselves (that will be your homework assignment).

I’d follow Phil and Veronica blindly to whatever their new food project is. Well, that’s not exactly true. I wouldn’t follow them to Applebees if they were working there, but I highly doubt that would happen.

Anyway, they’re more of a Waffle House-type personality.

In other words, my kind of people.

Johnnie’s Pit Beef & BBQ Pop-Up at Taurus ran through December 2019.

Now we anxiously await their next moves.