Capelo’s Barbecue brings Texas flavors to Redwood City

However, success didn’t happen overnight, unlike their brisket.

The path to success started in Harlingen, Texas, where Capelo developed the fundamentals of cooking and barbecuing with his mother. There, he found a passion for cooking, and honed his skills as he grew older.

After graduating high school, Capelo attended college in Colorado and cooked for his friends at parties, entertaining them at the same time, and “wanted to bring everybody together through food,” Capelo said. He moved to the Bay Area in 2001 after college.

Combining his love of cooking with the desire to make some extra money, he began catering at private events on the weekends as a side hustle. He offered Tex-Mex or barbecue. However, he might as well have only offered barbecue because people began to fall in love with his smoked meat. Capelo said he worked diligently in coming up with the sauces and rubs for his flavors.

“In the beginning it was just more of my own flavors, what I liked, a lot of trial and error and just playing with different recipes,” Capelo said.

Texas-style barbecue, manager Hector Del Rio said, is described as “very warm” and “rich in flavor” compared to other styles.

After noticing a lack of authentic southern barbecue in the Bay Area, and with the catering business rapidly growing in popularity, Capelo doubled down and went full time in 2012. He purchased the current restaurant building to serve as a commissary kitchen and a food truck, which he modified to his liking before he hit the road.

For the first couple years, business was a constant grind. The team was doing their best to cater more events, and gather new customers with the food truck. However, the grind paid off, and business picked up quickly. People loved his flavors of Texas barbecue. Following the success of the catering service and the food truck, Capelo was feeling good; but everything came to halt in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“It decimated our business,” Capelo said. 

Catering services came to a sudden drop. The food truck was still grinding, but not enough to stay afloat. Capelo shut everything down. Not wanting to drop the 17 employees under his belt, once again, Capelo doubled down on his business and got to work. He looked at the commissary kitchen and saw potential.

“We had to make up some ground and it was a perfect opportunity as well for us to get creative,” Capelo said.

Everybody went to work on the demo of what was to become the restaurant and bar. Preorder and takeout was initially the only service available. As restrictions were lifted, outside dining followed and soon after inside dining in the bar area. After the pandemic, there was a large social boom that helped get the business back on its feet.

“I think the owner operators that were scrappy and making it happen during COVID came out far ahead,” Capelo said.

After sticking through the struggle of the pandemic, Capelo had created a three-headed titan with the catering service, food truck and restaurant. It was a spot for people to sit down, socialize with one another, watch the game or listen to live music.

“I want to have a fun, safe, cool place for people to work where they feel good about it,” Capelo said. “I want to have a place for customers to come and come as they are and enjoy themselves.”

The restaurant is the head of the business and is where all the meat is smoked, Del Rio said. On a regular day at the restaurant, the brisket is trimmed of fat at 1 p.m. and placed into the biggest of the three smokers, which they call “Big Red.” Weighing in at 6,300 pounds, this smoker comes equipped with 18-rotisserie racks, and can cook up to 1,800 pounds of meat at a time. 

The wood is also a big factor when it comes to the flavor of the meat. The wood they use is oak for brisket and a fruit wood, such as cherry wood or apple wood for sausages and ribs. All sourced locally. At 4 a.m., Pit Master Uriel Romero will check the meat to see if it is done and then it is wrapped in tin foil, to be cut upon serving.

For new customers, Del Rio recommends the “Plate” option, which is one entree served with two sides. His go-to is always the pork ribs, with a side of cilantro and mac and cheese. The restaurant will also throw in a piece of their cornbread for new customers to welcome them into coming back for more. 

Today, Capelo’s business is thriving and he is always working around the clock, still doing what he loves: Bringing people together over barbecue.

“Barbecue is an excellent way to slow down and get to enjoy other people, other company, and enjoy your community,” Capelo said. “And that’s basically what we’re doing. We feel really good about it because from COVID on to now, people need a place to come and be a part of their community.”