Award-winning chef and pitmaster Eric Hunter opens new barbecue restaurant in Hico.
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
A new restaurant in Hico is dishing up some amazing authentic Texas barbecue.
Sidecar Smoke Shack opened in March on 2nd Street in Hico.
Chef Eric Hunter converted the former Chicken Express attached to the Chevron station into the restaurant.
A Texas native, Eric has devoted his life to the craft of cooking and is also the head chef at Hico’s Midland Chophouse.
“I didn’t think I had enough to do, so I started this,” he joked.
Sidecar serves a variety of smoked meats like brisket, sausage, chopped pork, ribs and handmade sides like coleslaw, potato salad, mac and cheese and cowboy beans.
“Everything is made from scratch,” Eric told Beneath the Surface News.
“The only thing we don’t make in-house are the buns; those come from Two Clay Birds, a local bakery in town.”
Eric says one of the unique things that goes into his Texas-style barbecue is attention to detail.
“We are still small enough to make sure everything is always on point,” he said.
One of Sidecar’s bestsellers is a sandwich made with thick cut bacon that’s cured in-house, steak and coleslaw made with Honeycrisp apples and blue cheese.
“But brisket is our number one seller and it’s my favorite as well,” he said.
Eric has been a chef for more than 20 years, with the majority of his career spent in fine dining.
“I started cooking in the kitchen when I was 29, and before that, I had never stepped foot in a kitchen,” he said.
And boy, how things have changed.
Stop by Sidecar and check it out. You’ll be glad you did.
Sidecar Smoke Shack is open for breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
To place an order ahead, call 254-795-9404.
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