Folks are falling for Sisterdale’s BlackBoard Bar-B-Q. And we interviewed the couple behind it: Jake Gandolfo and Jo Irizarry.
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It wasn’t where we planned to go for lunch on that sunny afternoon trip to Fredericksburg, and yet it’s where we ended up. As it turns out, the happenstance of our weekday encounter with BlackBoard Bar-B-Q echoes the owners’ path to selling brisket, sausage, and sides.
“We took over the old Sisterdale Smokehouse about ten months ago,” said chef/co-owner Jo Irizarry. “We’d done a couple of supper clubs out here, private events. We were friends with owners. Jake [Gandolfo] and I are both trained chefs, and he was the executive chef at Sister Creek Ranch when this opportunity came up. We talked about it and then all of a sudden things started happening. I don’t know what it was. The Universe? God? It all just opened up for us, in abundance.”
As you might have guessed from the photo, chefs Jo and Jake are partnered in life as well as in business.
They rebranded the old smokehouse as BlackBoard Bar-B-Q and opened on the Fourth of July 2017.
Fame came swiftly, in a matter of weeks.
“We are completely thrilled with how the community has embraced us. Our success has been beyond our wildest dreams,” said Jo. “We’ve had all kinds of interest and Texas Monthly sent someone out here to cover us. Can you imagine how excited we were about that?”
Jo observed that she’s working out the ebb and flow of business out in Sisterdale, the kind of place one either stumbles upon when a big case of wanderlust strikes or makes an effort to seek out based on word-of-mouth praise.
Apparently, a lot of the latter has been happening.
“We’re seeing traffic patterns change seasonally, from weekday to weekend, and with the weather,” she said. “Right now, of course, people are loving our patio. And on Saturday? I tell people if they plan to eat out here after 3 p.m. then they better have a reservation. We run out of food. Same with Sunday. Sometimes it happens on weekdays, too. People don’t understand that we are a barbecue place, and we can only fit so much food into our coolers and heat storage.”
There are the special events, too, which can shut down the restaurant to casual foot traffic on the route between Luckenbach and Boerne.
“We host rehearsal dinners, buffets, and plated meals for graduation parties. We also serve catfish all day long on Thursday, but that tends to sell out. We try to put the word out on social media about what our schedule looks like, but the demand and interest has just gone above and beyond what we imagined.”
The couple has gone with a “divide and conquer” approach to the work load. Jo tends the front of house and serves up specialty items for her own recipes. (Think mouth-watering goodies like Bananas Foster Pudding.)
“Jake is in charge of the meat, though. He was on Master Chef for a season and he’s been on Bobby Flay’s show, so people know him from that,” said Jo.
Taking a break from the kitchen to join us at a table, Jake steered clear of talking about his experience with major league foodie fame. He preferred to focus on Black Board and what he loves about it. He talked a little about people he’s met, a mix of locals and other business owners. And, of course, he talked about customers and would-be customers.
“I want people to know what we do here is authentic, full of our passion for food and for this community,” he said, sipping an ice-cold Topo Chico. Neither he nor Jo are native Texans (both come from the Northeast), but he’s got a firm grasp on those values that have long driven Hill Country communities. “We are selling something beyond barbecue, bigger than barbecue. That’s what’s important, that sense of community and connection. It’s why we are who we are, why we do what we do.”
Known for eschewing traditional Texas barbecue sides for dishes like Asian-inspired slaw, pickled red onions, and mac-and-cheese, Jake said that he resists putting a label on the kind of food he prepares. “We call it ‘Southern comfort food.’ I like having fun with the sides. Is it upscale ‘Southern fusion?’ I don’t know. Maybe? At the end of the day, every day, Jo and I are going to make and serve what feels right. We’re gonna do it like that.”
Story and photographs by Pamela Price, founder of TheTexasWildflower.com. She loves cold lime Topo Chico, barbecue, and telling Hill Country stories.
