Sandwich Sojourner down South: East Texas BBQ on a bun

Ernie’s BBQ in Greenville, TX is a survivor, a local institution in this town fitfy miles east of Dallas that has somewhow managed to outlast the end of the cotton boom as well as the onslaught of all-you-can-eat buffets and chains. A lonesome place, Ernie’s is tucked in an anonymous strip center and in all of the years I’ve been passing through here, I’ve never seen more than five people inside the restaurant. But somehow, like the rest of the town, it seems to just keep going.

Of course, Ernie’s staying power is easy to appreciate when you sample the house specialty -- a Texas favorite – BBQ brisket on a bun. Brisket on a bun seems to capture some kind of ideal state of being that is revered in Texas: with just meat on a generic hamburger bun (no greens, no sauce – other than BBQ) it as no-nonsense, cut the b.s., and get straight to the point as you can get. One gets the impression you are only lavished a bun is because eating the bbq with a knife and fork would be too cumbersome and even effete. That there bun is just for grabbing the beef with, son.

And, without a doubt, the BBQ definitely demands the center of the attention. The brisket is slow cooked over mesquite (a kind of brush wood favored in Texas BBQ over the Hickory and other hardwoods used in elsewhere). The sauce is also of a classic Texas style, meaning that its flavor has a vinegary tang with a subtle taste of pepper, as opposed to the sugary molasses based sauces found elsewhere. There is simply nothing like it anywhere else.

Ernie’s Pit Barbeque is located at 8707 Wesley Street, Greenville, TX.