Authentic Texas barbecue is only a quick drive downtown for WSU students looking to satisfy their meat-tooth. Texas Beef and Cattle Company is a co-op model barbecue restaurant looking to bring real food Daytonians and engage with the community.
Owner and Pitmaster of Texas Beef and Cattle Company James Nuñez learned his tricks on the smoker after he joined the Navy and was transferred away from his home in Texas.
“I joined in 1984, but started smoking in 1985 when I was stationed in Virginia because they didn’t have any good barbecue places there,” Nuñez said. “I built my own smoker because I was a welder.”
After honing his craft in the military, Nuñez came back to Texas for school and found a home in Dayton when he started working in the finance world. Nuñez decided to break into the catering business after encouragement from his children.
“My oldest daughter said, ‘Why don’t you just sell your food? Everybody loves it,’” Nuñez said. “So we did. We started doing events at Fraze Pavilion. We did that for several years until it became cost prohibitive.”
With the relationships he had established working at the Fraze Pavilion, Nuñez worked in the catering business for years. Now, he’s set up shop in a brick and mortar restaurant at 1101 W Third street in Dayton.
“The restaurant is a different opportunity for us,” Nuñez said. “What we want to see with the restaurant is our active engagement with our community. We want to create opportunities, events and a sense that you belong here. We want to be inclusive of everyone.”
Texas Beef and Cattle Company focuses on the flavors of South Texas, which primarily uses mesquite wood for its smoke. To get mesquite, the Texas Beef crew travels to Texas, gathers the trees up and brings them back to Ohio to cook the menu. At the heart of this restaurant is a craving for authenticity.
“I want real meat, real sausage, real pork, real fish. I want healthy food, and I can give you that at a reasonable price that is competitive with any other barbecue restaurant in town. If not better than some. Even though I still go down to get sausage and mesquite in Texas, and still give you a better pig, and pay a living wage and engage our community and invite our members to support what we’re doing and be part of it.”
