Shortly after acquiring a 1,000-gallon smoker from Crozet’s BBQ Pit in 2017, Dee Dee and Troy Mulligan put the equipment to good use. When Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast, the Mulligans provided hot barbecue and side dishes to 400 affected people. It was the most barbecue Troy had ever smoked in one sitting, and Dee Dee said it was then that the couple’s vision for Third Coast Barbecue “became a small idea for the future.”
The smoker, dubbed the 3C Beast, is now a fixture at the couple’s apartment complex in Spring, about 30 minutes north of Houston. The business began in 2018 as a small bakery pop-up in Montgomery, north of Spring. In 2019, the husband-and-wife team found a permanent building for their budding business, but it was in an odd location a few blocks from the interstate. It was a single-family house in a residential area, but the previous owner rezoned the site for business use and operated it as a crawfish restaurant for one season only. The Mulligans took over the lease and were delighted to find a place near their home with a built-in kitchen and large outdoor seating area. This restaurant opened in early March 2020 when coronavirus was a hot topic.
“We didn’t know how it was going to affect us, but there was a lot of chatter all over the world,” Dee Dee recalled. Given the uncertainty, she continued her job as a legal analyst while Troy ran the smokehouse. The biggest challenge was finding staff, as we weren’t able to assemble a team before the shutdown began. Thankfully, Andrew Moreno arrived in May of that year and has been Troy’s right-hand man in the pit room ever since. The restaurant didn’t have a website for online ordering, a major drawback in a world that was rapidly becoming takeout-only. A neighbor offered to help. “He built our website in exchange for brisket,” Dee Dee said.
These days, it’s common to order at the window facing the parking lot. A large chalkboard menu displays dishes that blend Dee Dee’s hometown of Louisiana with Houston, which Troy has called home his entire life. Rather than po-boys, the restaurant serves foo-boys, hearty sandwiches filled with one or two of your favorite barbecue meats, chipotle slaw, and shiner bock cheese on a French bread roll from Gambino’s in New Orleans. . I love the combination of smoked turkey and brisket slices, and after one jaw-stretching bite, I realized that one Hoo Boy could easily feed two people.
Sliced brisket was a weak point when I visited last year, but I’ve noticed a significant improvement during my two recent visits. The Mulligans credited the change to Nolan Ryan’s beef company Goodstock, which became their new brisket supplier. Juices dripped from the tender beef, and there was plenty of pepper and smoke.
For their barbecue sandwiches, the Mulligans get a more modestly sized loaf from Houston-based Slow Dough Bread Co. The company also supplies Third Coast with soft, warm pretzels that are served on twist trays and contain a half-pound or quarter-pound of barbecued meat. Two different meats. If that’s not enough, it comes with barbecue sauce, honey mustard, chipotle ranch, and Shiner Bock cheese for dipping. Great pretzels are not what you would expect from a Tex-Cajun BBQ place, but once you try them, it’s hard to order anything else.
More in line with Third Coast’s Louisiana roots is the house-made brisket boudin link. This is a great version that pairs well with sides like chipotle slaw or a unique potato salad made of red potatoes boiled with crawfish seasoning and mixed with onions, peppers and other spices. “It’s not the kind of potato salad you’d bring to a church potluck,” Dee Dee said with a laugh.
The sweet and spicy pork ribs almost fall off the bone. For just $3.25, you can order a platter or add an extra rib. Rib ends and chine bones are placed in collard green stock. The stock is simmered for 12 hours, then Troy removes the bones and adds vegetables and seasonings. The rich pinto beans are finished in the smoker uncovered for extra flavor.
Dessert options are simple. The different fruit cobblers change over the weekend, but banana pudding is on the menu every day. However, this is no ordinary banana pudding. Troy smokes bananas and Dee Dee mixes smoked sea salt caramel into the pudding, giving the Texas barbecue classic a pleasant twist.
Unless you bring your own barbecue, you’ll be eating outside at a picnic table, and you may even have to share a table with a stranger. Wood chips and sawdust on the ground indicate that the Mulligans are building additional picnic tables to accommodate more guests. If you arrive on the Third Coast in the spring, you’ll find crawfish boils being held at Dee Dee and Troy on Saturdays. “We come from a big family group,” Dee Dee said, and that comes through in the communal feel of Third Coast.
Third Coast BBQ
25219 Oakhurst Drive, Spring
Phone: 281-699-8883
Opening hours: Wednesday 11-3, Thursday-Saturday 11-6, Sunday 12-6
Pitmasters: Troy, Dee Dee Mulligan, Andrew Moreno
Manufacturing method: Oak wood is used in an offset smoker
Opening year: 2020
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