Campo Smokehouse
Campo Smokehouse
The stellar ‘cue drew long lines at last April’s Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival event, and the food truck began serving in May near the spot of their soon-to-be-built restaurant next door to Press Café and Mellow Johnny’s Bicycle Shop.
Flores Barbecue, which started smoking in the city of Whitney in the Hill Country, had planned a big move to the Trailhead at Clearfork at 4801 Edwards Ranch Road. Now, renamed Campo Smokehouse, partner Chris Reale will be the one to carry that ball across the finish line.
The stellar ‘cue drew long lines at last April’s Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival event, and the Flores food truck began serving in May near the spot of their soon-to-be-built restaurant next door to Press Café and Mellow Johnny’s Bicycle Shop.
But barbecue fans were left scrambling when pit-master Michael Wyont abruptly departed the business in early September.
“The only thing that has changed is that Michael decided it would be best for him and his family if he headed back to Whitney,” Reale says. “Even though he said we could keep the name Flores Barbecue, I wanted to bring the Edward’s Ranch into the name.” Campo, which translates from Spanish to “countryside,” represents the crew’s love of the landscape in Fort Worth.
“We get to watch wildlife like bunnies hopping around near the trailer each morning,” Reale says.
Reale has been working to finalize details on the standalone restaurant with Crawford Edwards, Lou Lambert, and The Beck Group. The plan is to build a 3000-square-foot, full-service restaurant and bar, complete with a large screened-in smokehouse and river-view patio that will seat 100 people.
With Reale’s fine dining background, at both Del Frisco’s and Grace Restaurant, his vision is for a different kind of barbecue experience with no lines or cafeteria trays. He wants it to be a true sit-down dining experience.
Realistically, the new restaurant won’t be ready to inhabit until late 2020 or perhaps even fall of 2021. Until then, patrons can catch the Campo Smokehouse trailer at the same location, Thursday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or until sold out. By the end of the month, Campo will give evening service a try on Thursday and Friday nights, closing around 8 p.m.
“The menu has not changed. In fact, we are expanding it,” Reale says. “We’ve recently added barbacoa, and sides like cucumber and watermelon salad, and we plan to roll out some torta sandwiches soon with our barbecue, fresh avocado, and tomato on Mexican bolillo rolls.”
