SLOW and low is the way to go. Just ask any barbecue buff. Alexander Chua, Jovanrey Abastillas and Vernon Jess Timaan toyed with the idea of opening a Texas-style barbecue joint when they were in culinary school in 2013. In Texas, barbecue always means brisket.
The challenge lies not only in turning one of the toughest cuts of beef into butter-like beef candy but also in using the right equipment. The trio’s first attempt at smoking meat was in 2014 when they made their own smoker out of old steel barrels. “It took us a lot of wasted meat back then to even get our first edible rack of ribs,” Chua recalls.
Their persistence paid off in 2016 after having secured a second smoker, this time using the biggest and heaviest metal scraps they could afford. They experimented with different kinds of meat and wood too. Last December, they finally opened the 30-seater Bleachers Barbecue.
“Bleachers, a cheap bench seat in a stadium; it’s the more affordable seat compared to the courtside seats in the same game. With Bleachers Barbecue, we always find ourselves utilizing the cheaper cuts of meat—beef brisket over rib-eye, chicken thigh over breast, pork ribs over loin etc.,” explains Chua.
Emphasizing simplicity above all else, the brisket at Bleachers is dry-rubbed with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder and other local spices just prior to being smoked for 12 to 14 hours under strict temperature control. No MSG, no meat tenderizers, and certainly no liquid smoke—just letting the smoker—and kiln-dried wood chips for that ideal moisture content—work its magic.
“We’ve got nothing to hide, so the sauce is on the side,” is another mantra of theirs. True enough, their USDA choice grade brisket has such a distinct taste and texture to it that it would be a shame to mask it with barbecue sauce. Although their tangy sauce—which is also made from scratch—melds well with the beef, the beef can stand and is outstanding on its own. Adequately seasoned, melts-in-your-mouth tender, laced with fat and liquefied collagen and sliced to the right thickness so one gets a bit of that beautiful crust—it’s a juicy rush of flavors with hints of smoke.
The pork spare ribs, smoked for five hours, are served “naked” as well. The trio tells us that properly cooked ribs should effortlessly pull off the bone with each bite but still have some resilience and chew. We let our forks test that nugget of barbecue wisdom and indeed, the degree of tenderness is not fall-off-the bone, but yields easily, and the flavor is that of pure meaty goodness.
Other items on the menu are smoked kawali, their take on a Filipino classic, smoked for five hours and sliced to order, then pan-fried for that extra crunch; pulled pork, a whole slab of pork shoulder smoked for nine hours, pulled apart and cooked doused with their barbecue sauce; and quarter chicken leg which is smoked for three hours. All solo meals come with a cup of rice and some pickled onions and carrots but there are five other side dishes to choose from—buttered corn, garlic mushroom, mashed potato, potato salad and cole slaw.
The guys at Bleachers Barbecue make it look easy, serving customers with slabs and slices of their meats sans garnishing, but now you know that the labor-intensive process involves far more than watching the time and slapping the fat cap of that brisket.
Pay them a visit any day of the week, from noon to 9 p.m. Bleachers Barbecue is located on Kaohsiung St., across the street from The Northwing, SM City Cebu.