Pizzitola’s Bar-B-Cue has been serving Houstonians for 90 years.
The Classics is an occasional collection that spotlights and celebrates Houston’s oldest bars and eating places.
The scent of smoked meats, rows of historic pictures, businessmen speaking, households laughing, and nice customer support—it’s what Pizzitola’s Bar-B-Cue is all about. The Houston restaurant is celebrating its ninetieth anniversary this yr, and—after altering palms in 2020—has rebranded as Pizzitola’s Heritage Barbecue, to honor its historical past and significance to town.
The restaurant opened its doorways in 1935 because of John and Leila Davis. It was first referred to as Shepherd Drive BBQ and was positioned on the nook of Lengthy Road and Shepherd Drive. Segregation was nonetheless in place on the time. The couple, who have been Black, served their Black clients in the principle eating room, and their white clients via the again door. As soon as segregation ended, the eating room grew to become a unified hub for households, enterprise leaders, and different hungry Houstonians.
John hit a roadblock not too lengthy after. To construct out I-10, the federal government bought the property the place Shepherd Drive BBQ was positioned. John didn’t need to transfer too removed from his authentic area, so in 1959, he purchased a former lumber yard that was down the road, the place Pizzitola’s stands right now.
The restaurant didn’t reopen till 1963—it took time for John to construct the brick pits by hand (that are nonetheless in use). In 1979, Leila handed away, leaving John to are inclined to the enterprise on his personal till his personal dying simply three years later. Their daughter Lois Davis stepped in to guide the day-to-day operations, however in 1983, longtime buyer Jerry Pizzitola swooped in and provided to assist proceed the Davis legacy. To represent the brand new period, he gave it its present identify.
“Jerry and his dad had a love for going to barbecue locations throughout city, and this was their favourite,” says normal supervisor Tim Taylor. “He had been coming right here since he was a younger boy, and he simply developed a love for Shepherd Drive BBQ, so when it grew to become accessible, he seized the chance.”
Pizzitola’s moved to its present location in 1959, however did not reopen till 1963.
Pizzitola operated the joint for nearly 40 years earlier than deciding to step down as proprietor in 2020, handing the keys over to Willie Madden and James Maida. The duo labored exhausting to protect the earlier house owners’ legacies and get the enterprise via the COVID-19 pandemic. However Madden died all of the sudden in 2021, leaving solely Maida to run the enterprise. He got down to end what the 2 began with the assistance of Taylor.
To today, because of Pizzitola, each visitor is given a heat moist towel to assist them clear off the finger-licking-good barbecue. The restaurant nonetheless makes use of the identical recipes from the Davis household, though the Pizzitolas additionally made their mark on the meals: Pizzitola’s mother helped behind-the-scenes, perfecting the restaurant’s desserts. You may nonetheless discover her banana pudding—dubbed Mama Pizzitola’s Well-known Banana Pudding—on the menu, in addition to her recent pineapple and coconut cake and Texas chocolate sheet cake.
“These are untouchables,” Taylor says.
Each dish at Pizzitola’s is cooked within the brick pits within the again (besides the banana pudding). These are very particular: Taylor says you may’t legally construct them anymore. Eating places are actually required to have the firebox exterior the constructing, and Taylor jokes that they’re basically setting a fireplace to the restaurant each morning by utilizing their pits. As a result of age of the brick pits, there’s additionally no thermostat management, no temperature gauges, and no mechanization.
“It’s that pit that enables us to supply the ribs that we promote which can be one of the best ribs within the metropolis,” he says. “Our ribs are the traditional rib for town of Houston.”
Over the past 5 years, Taylor says they’ve labored to evolve the menu to maintain up with the occasions. This consists of the addition of a number of new plates just like the brisket enchiladas, the home grind brisket burger, brisket queso and chips, and the brisket mac and cheese.
“Our clients’ expectations are altering,” Taylor says. “You understand, 90 years in the past, you could possibly serve brisket and hen and ribs and sausage and be completed. You may’t try this right now. It is advisable have a extra different menu.”
There’s a lot to like in regards to the smoked meats at Pizzitola’s.
The restaurant stays a fan-favorite amongst Houstonians and has hosted varied distinguished figures through the years—together with former mayor Sylvester Turner. Taylor says that Turner ate on the restaurant each week for nearly 30 years and even had a meal there on the Friday earlier than he died. Throughout Turner’s mayoralty, he declared July 10 as “Pizzitola’s Bar-B-Cue Day.” The restaurant additionally earned the popularity of Texas Treasure Enterprise by the Texas Historic Fee, an award given to locations which were in steady for-profit operation for at least 50 years.
Taylor thinks the love from town is what has helped Pizzitola’s keep in enterprise all these years. Not like others barbecue joints, the place there’s often cafeteria-style service and a line exterior, Pizzitola’s has tables prepared to provide diners a extra traditional restaurant expertise. Taylor says his workers treats a buyer the identical means they might deal with a visitor in their very own house. They go the additional mile and even name their regulars in the event that they go just a few weeks with out seeing them, simply to ensure they’re OK. “Now we have constructed a singular household between our house owners, the purchasers, and the staff,” he says.
There aren’t many locations in Houston that may say they’ve been round earlier than the interior loop was even a factor, and have withstood World Conflict II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the Nice Melancholy.
“Folks have to grasp that Houston is just not a metropolis stuffed with historical past,” he says. “We’re a touchstone for lots of people who’ve loads of reminiscences on this room. You must help locations like that, as a result of after they’re gone, there gained’t be one other to return again and take our place.”
