Gerado Salgado smokes meat in the parking lot of Texas BBQ Grill in Chehalis on Tuesday afternoon.
Texas BBQ Grill's Terrific Tater sits on display at the Chehalis restaurant on Kresky Avenue on Monday afternoon. The Terrific Tater is a baked potato stuffed with barbecue pork and baked beans.
Brenda Salgado, owner of Texas BBQ Grill, leans against the counter next to her signature dish, the Terrific Tater, on Monday afternoon at the restaurant in Chehalis.
Brenda Salgado, owner of Texas BBQ Grill, pours barbecue sauce on one of her 'Terrific Taters' in the kitchen of her restaurant in on Kresky Avenue in Chehalis on Monday afternoon.
A Mossyrock woman is serving up traditional Texas barbecue with all the fixings to honor her family heritage at Chehalis’ newest restaurant.
Brenda Salgado opened Texas BBQ Grill on Kresky Avenue in the location that previously housed Saltzer Creek Seafood & Burgers last month.
Salgado said she learned to smoke meat about 10 years ago when her stepfather Joe Mays, a native Texan, and her mother, Isabell Mays, owned a barbeque catering business for events and fairs.
Salgado operated two restaurants in her native Honduras before relocating to Mossyrock in 2004.
When Joe Mays, who was a Mossyrock pastor in addition to a barbeque master, died in 2006, Salgado said, she decided to take over the business and continue working toward his dream of bringing a taste of Texas to Washington.
“For me, the family roots are most important in life,” Salgado, a mother of four, said. “It’s a family business. I’m proud of this.”
Now, Salgado is serving barbecued chicken, pork and brisket and the house specialty, the “Terrific Tater,” a potato stuffed with pork and baked beans at the new restaurant.
“All the people love this potato,” Salgado said. “Now, it’s kind of famous.”
Patrons may substitute chicken or brisket instead of pork in the one-of-a-kind stuffed potatoes. Along with the meat, which is smoked for eight hours at a low temperature, as mandated by Texan “low and slow” tradition, come all the classic fixings, such as potato salad, coleslaw and baked beans.
“People are coming to eat and they’re really happy we’re here,” she said. “They’re really enjoying the food.”
To keep up with customers’ growing appetites, Salgado’s husband, Gerardo, said he has been about smoking a total of about 350 pounds of meat in four weekly cookouts.
“The people love barbeque,” he said.
Salgado said she began with just four employees and has hired an additional three workers to keep up with the increasing demand. Additionally, she said, her entire family has pitched in, helping to decorate and paint the white walls with warmer colors.
“We want people eating good in a familiar place, like home you know,” she said.
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