At 21 years old, Eliana Gutierrez is the youngest female pitmaster in the Texas barbecue game, but she already has the passion and wisdom of a pro. Since she first experienced Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ, Eliana has been dedicated to the craft—and the joint. Valentina’s is…
Plus: two new barbecue sauce lines launch.
For my experiment, I used a beer marinade from Valentina's, a kalbi-style marinade from Roy Choi, and a simple rub.
How three of the city's most popular and beloved joints are trying to stay afloat during the pandemic.
Plus: the most influential Austin restaurants of the last decade.
Plus: LeRoy and Lewis’s big plans for a brick-and-mortar.
Plus, Texas Tech is to competitive meat judging what Alabama is to college football.
Exciting things are happening as pitmasters join the two cuisines together in new and delicious ways.
The most delicious trend in smoked meats combines Texas’s two favorite food groups in exciting ways.
Miguel Vidal of Valentina’s Tex-Mex BBQ in Austin provides a preview of his dish at the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest, and we discuss how his San Antonio upbringing informs his current Tex-Mex BBQ menu.
Valentina's is known for serving barbecue in tortillas. But for its newest addition, pitmaster Miguel Vidal looked to the Spanish bocadillo.
At the moveable feast known as Valentina’s—which still occupies a shiny truck but is headed for a brick-and-mortar home later this year—the term “fusion cuisine” has a very Texas twist. The cuisines getting fused are barbecue and tacos. Pitmaster Miguel Vidal’s fifteen-hour mesquite-smoked brisket, lush and moist, is at its…
Standing at the counter at Kreuz Market in Lockhart last week, I was asked, “Bread or crackers?” I thought about it for a moment, but all I wanted to say was, “How about some tortillas?” Instead, the large group I was with opted for a half sleeve of saltines (filling up…
Before the phrase “mesquite-grilled” became a common descriptor on hoity-toity menus of restaurants trying to prove their Texas bona fides, and before backyard cooks bought mesquite chips by the pound to add an “authentic smokehouse” flavor to their meat, the mesquite was a scraggly tree that people in the Southwest considered…
My first trip to Valentina’s was on a whim. I stopped at the trailer behind the Star Bar on Sixth Street in Austin on my way out of town. A friend was writing a story on taco variations, and I thought I might be able to add a novelty to…
