A Small-Town Texas Barbecue Spot Pairs Glorious Smoked Meats With Unexpected Brews

Tiffany Leigh is a Toronto-based veteran of the culinary world and a freelance journalist who has reported on travel, food and drink, beauty, wellness, and fashion for outlets including Bon Appetit, Food & Wine Magazine, Travel + Leisure, Vogue, and Elle.

Every day, he and his team of seven do prep, which includes sourcing local and using suppliers such as Cameron Farms and 44 Farms, seasoning with his proprietary 16-ingredient spice blend, and letting the proteins rest in the fridge for 24 hours. The next day, they load 200 pounds of barbecue, including succulent homemade sausage, meat candy (unctuous burnt ends), fat-woven brisket, smoked-kissed ribs, juicy pork belly, Texas Twinkies (a feisty Frankensteinian of a jalapeno pepper hollowed out and recklessly stuffed with cream cheese before it is stitched up with bacon), and tender pork butt, into the smokers filled with a blend of pecan, hickory, and oak wood. He and his staff monitor the cook with rapt attentiveness. Through trial and error, he discovered the sweet spot for pulling proteins was at the five-hour mark, and 12 hours for the brisket and pork butt.

Belcher’s precise approach to barbecuing also permeates the sides and desserts. Dishes such as elotes, soul-food-style charro green beans, cilantro-infused rice, and brisket mac and cheese make up his menu. Among the desserts, crowd favorites include banana pudding, churro sopapilla cheesecake bites, and Texan chocolate pecan tres leche cake — all homemade, of course.

If all of this has got you salivating, then you first need to know that B4 Barbecue is situated in the verdant agricultural town of Mabank, Texas. An hour’s drive southeast of Dallas, Mabank has a population of just over 4,000 people, and cattle outnumber its residents. But since 2021, it’s become an unlikely destination for not only locals but “foodie” travelers lured by tantalizing imagery on Instagram and Facebook of glistening meat haloed by wisps of smoke coming off of Belcher’s two 1,000-gallon Red Devil off-set smokers. People from as far as Japan and Australia have made the pilgrimage for his barbecue. “I like to think of ourselves as a barbecue speakeasy hidden inside the Mabank Feed & Southern Glitz Boutique,” Belcher says. The folks who want to eat Belcher’s food have to work for it; he doesn’t have a sign posted.

Like someone stumbling across his unmarked barbecue joint, Belcher’s journey to barbecue was also one of discovery. In fact, he wasn’t much of a cook at all. “I couldn’t even make a bowl of cereal before,” he says.

A U.S. Army veteran, Belcher left military service in 2012, and soon parlayed his side hustle in the army of cutting hair into a business in Fort Worth. “I got my license and opened my barber shop, the Lion’s Den,” he says. Once that was off the ground, he started a licensed trucking business (aptly named B4 Trucking, where the “B” for any of his endeavors represents Belcher and the “4” represents the four members in his family) and volleyed his time between the two enterprises. “It was great because they were doing so well and I was earning a dual income,” he says.

“When I bought a traditional wood-fire smoker, I fell in love.”

But the prosperity all came to a screeching halt when COVID hit in 2020. “I sold off everything and we lived off the profits made from these two businesses, but eventually I got restless in lockdown,” Belcher says. So he decided he would start playing around with a pellet smoker for the heck of it. “Six months in, I didn’t like it and got bored with it quickly,” he says, “but when I bought a traditional wood-fire smoker, I fell in love.”

With his wife Emily’s encouragement, as well as YouTube tutorials from the likes of Meat Church, he began to tinker. “The beginning was just terrible; I’d like to say that many animals were unnecessarily sacrificed in my journey to mastering this kind of cook,” he says. While Belcher is 100 percent self-taught, he cites his upbringing as a key source of his discipline and successes. “Honestly, since my parents were always so busy, I’ve been [mentally] on my own since 11. I’ve always been the type where when I want to do something, I put my mind to it and I get it done. And I always give it my all,” he says. The learning curve was steep but manageable, and he began sending his friends and family his creations, they all assumed that he had purchased the barbecue. They were surprised to learn it was made by him. With their rave reviews, Belcher knew he was on to something.

In 2021, Emily and Nolan sold off their family home in Fort Worth, returned to their rural roots, and landed in Mabank. By November of the same year, with lockdowns easing, Belcher saw an opportunity to venture back out into the world. “I was going to return to the trucking gig but Emily encouraged me to pursue barbecue instead, so I could spend more time at home with my family.” Out of naivete, they chose to operate a barbecue food truck, which Belcher says was a blessing and a curse. “It was the most successful failure I’ve ever had because on one hand, I knew nothing about food trucks so I had no idea what I was doing. But on the other, we were super busy from the get-go and getting a lot of business,” he says. The challenge was compounded by the fact that the busiest hours at the food truck kept him away from his sons, Hunter and Lincoln. Within four months, he effectively quit. “I was feeling burnt out — like ‘I’m done’,” he says.

“[Starting a barbecue food truck] was the most successful failure I’ve ever had.”

Fans were upset by the closure. Among them was Kevin Carter, owner of Mabank Feed. “He’d eat with us at least twice a week,” Belcher says. Carter brought him to his shop and showed him the back room, a former archery range. “He said to me, ‘Here, would this help with your setup and allow you a more stable schedule?’ and I said ‘Yes.’”

By April 2022, Belcher had converted the space into a makeshift barbecue restaurant. B4 Barbecue & Boba was reborn — but with better hours that afforded Belcher opportunities for work-life balance. These days, 17-year-old Hunter helps with the family business when he’s not at school, while Emily manages the day-to-day operations and the kitchen. “Emily is actually the real boss and co-owner — I’m just the workhorse — I still attribute her as the reason why we exist and are successful to begin with,” says Belcher.

Whether you deem him a workhorse or a pitmaster, he’s always a gracious person who gives credit where it’s due. Case-in-point, that quirky boba tea pairing, which was actually Lincoln’s idea when Nolan was racking his brain for something to market and get on people’s radar. Back in Fort Worth, he and his family religiously frequented Noodles @ Boba Tea House. It proved to be a serendipitous inspiration when Lincoln, a boba fanatic, said that they should offer their own rendition. Barbeque and boba was born. Emily sources boba directly from Vietnam and flavors include their homespun flavors of horchata and taro as well as lavender, jasmine, and Thai tea using sweetened condensed milk. The drinks are a refreshing counterbalance to the rich proteins.

These days, Belcher remains busy and his aspirations abound. “We have some big things in the works that I cannot quite let on yet but in the meantime, we’re still trucking along, finessing our craft barbecue and running weekly specials (that also include non-barbecue items like butter chicken and paidakia) to further showcase our culinary creativity,” he says.

B4 Barbeque & Boba is located at 1100 N 3rd St. in Mabank, Texas.