Texas BBQ comes to the Seacoast
Immediately after speaking with Will Myska about his new role as Executive Chef and pitmaster at Ore Nell’s, a Texas-style BBQ joint opening on Badger’s Island, if all goes as planned, in late March, I hopped in the car to go get some smoky brisket dripping with grease.
I have so many choices around my East Austin home. Do I go to J. Leonardi’s right nearby for the brisket, sausage and smoked cabbage? Should I make an attempt to get La Barbeque’s pork ribs? No. Unless I want to stand in line, I really need to pre-order. And forget Franklin BBQ. It’s close to my house, but I should have queued up at 5 a.m. In the end, I go to Micklethwait Craft Meats, a trailer and huge smoker combo about a mile away. By the time I get to the window, they’re out of everything but the brisket, which is fine by me. I posted a picture of my brisket on Myska’s Facebook page and he responded, “Yum! Look at the smoke ring and black pepper on those bad boys!”
So here I sit in Austin, Texas, writing about a chef and a “coming soon” restaurant far away in southern Maine, one that that will feature Central Texas BBQ. Shane Pine and his daughter Alyssa are set to open Shane’s Texas Pit in Hampton this spring as well, part of a new wave of Texas BBQ love we’re seeing in major cities like NYC and Boston.
I’ve known Will Myksa and his work in local restaurants for his entire career. In his light Texas drawl, he reminded me of all the places he’s worked and learned from – culinary school at McIntosh in Dover, with chef Evan Hennessey at the Dunaway in Portsmouth and Stages in Dover, at Ristorante Massimo with chef Jethro Loichle, and more. For the past five years he’s been at Vida Cantina with Executive Chef David Vargas, most recently as the chef de cuisine. What I did not know about Myska (more likely I knew but forgot) is that he has strong Central Texas roots and that he’s the big reason we’ve been seeing barbeque specials at Vida on the weekends.
“I grew up outside Houston. My first job was as a dishwasher at a barbeque restaurant and I’d spend summers with an uncle in Coupland, Texas,” he told me. He moved to the Seacoast at age 19 (he’ll turn 30 this March) and began his culinary career, now working in the Jay McSharry restaurant group. It was McSharry who asked if Myska could barbeque and voila! In true McSharry fashion, we get a new restaurant headed up by restaurant family talent.
“We’ve played with barbeque for a while now at Vida," says Myska. “The thing to do is stay up all night and smoke a brisket for 9 or 10 hours. I do Central Texas barbeque using post-oak wood and a dry rub. We’ll serve it with the traditional white bread and pickles with sauce on the side. Like a good steak, you have to try it on its own.”
Post oak is the wood used by pitmasters like Austin’s Aaron Franklin whose Franklin BBQ gets those long lines, plenty of press and even a James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest in 2015 for Franklin. It’s a type of wood commonly used in Central Texas BBQ and gives a mild flavor to the meat rather than say, hickory, which can overwhelm a brisket. Of course, debates run rampant about wood type, rubs and sauce.
“For our smokers, we’ll have one outside and a Southern Pride smoker inside under the hood vent. It’ll get that good smoke on it," he says. “We’ll do brisket, 1/2 chicken and pulled pork but also a vegan barbeque made from tempeh. If you come with a party of six and one person is vegan, well, no one wants to just eat sides.”
Although the sides will be satisfying, too, with choices like a loaded baked potato, potato salad, pinto beans and slaw as well as the great kale salad from Vida Cantina.
“We’ll also have non-traditional specials using ingredients from local farms like a smoked butternut squash appetizer,” says Myska. The beverage program is designed by Vida’s Cait Reagan and, rest assured, there will be Texas brews to go with the barbeque. Myska might even offer another Texas specialty, the kolache, a pastry that originated in central Europe and can be found all over central Texas, primarily fruit-filled, but with variations like smoked sausage and brisket, too.
The space is perfect for barbeque. The former Blind Pig Provisions space is right on the Piscataqua River with outdoor seating and is rustic and cozy inside like the Texas BBQ spots Myska grew up with. The name of the restaurant, Ore Nell is an homage to Myska’s 90-year-old grandmother.
“I had Jay on my left and chef Vargas on my right and they’re asking me about my grandma’s name and grandpa’s – trying to think up the right name for the restaurant. I told them my grandmother’s name is Ore Nell and that was it! Texas barbeque places are usually a last name for a first name. This is what I grew up with and now here I am on the Seacoast doing barbeque. I had been looking for my niche and I found it. It’s humbling. My grandmother is beyond excited. My grandfather was more the pitmaster and my grandmother made the barbeque sauce and steeped the sweet tea in the sun.”
Rachel Forrest is a former restaurant owner who lives in Exeter, NH (and Austin, TX). Her column appears Thursdays in Go&Do. Her restaurant review column, Dining Out, appears Thursdays in EDGE magazine. She can be reached by e-mail at rforrest@gatehousemedia.com
