When Charlie Geren opened Railhead Smokehouse in Fort Worth, he had already failed at his previous attempt at the restaurant business. Geren said he had just “lost his ass” in a “steak and beer joint” in north Fort Worth, but decided to partner with a pitmaster friend, Harry Pilcher, to take over an empty beer barn. Thirty years later, Railhead is still a Fort Worth staple, and the spot where Geren gets lunch everyday when he’s in Fort Worth.
Geren said he’s staying away from carbs, so his lunch yesterday was a smoked chicken breast with jalapeños and mustard, but no barbecue sauce. The yellow mustard seems to be a condiment specific to Fort Worth barbecue. A sandwich “all the way” at Railhead means dill pickles, diced onions, yellow mustard, and barbecue sauce which works great on their smoked salami, another Fort Worth barbecue signature.