Legend has it that shortly after the horrendous mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Burnt Bean pitmaster and co-owner Ernest Servantes was asked to serve barbecue to law enforcement officials in Uvalde. According to sources, Servantes, himself an Uvalde native, refused to serve anything to the milksops whose cowardly inaction resulted in the fatal shooting of 19 students and 2 teachers, and the injuring of 17 others. Servantes wasn’t around when my new friend and dining companion Melinda Martinez and I finally completed our time in the purgatory of a queue that snaked to the end of the block. We asked one of the restaurant’s servers, but he was unable to either confirm or refute the story. At any regard, it’s a good story that endeared me to a pitmaster whose reputation places him in a heroic pantheon.
There are several certifiable, irrefutable truths about Servantes and his partner Dave Kirkland that transcend legend. In 2022, less than two years after its launch (during the Cabrona Virus), Burnt Bean garnered the number four spot in Texas Monthly’s 50 Best Barbecue joints. Cognoscenti consider “best in Texas” synonymous with best in the universe. Fourth best means it’s on the Mount Rushmore of Texas barbecue. In 2023, Chefs Servantes and Kirkland were finalists–among the five best chefs in the Lone Star State–for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef-Texas” award. Denizens of the Lone Star State follow the wafting aroma of post oak barbecue with the same passion the Crusaders had for looting Constantinople. Queues up to a block long aren’t uncommon. UPDATE: In November, 2024, Burnt Bean earned a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand rating denoting restaurants serving high-quality fare at moderate prices. Bib Gourmand ratings are often personal favorites among Michelin inspectors when dining on their own time.
Despite catching a 5:30AM flight from Albuqurque, I didn’t reach Burnt Bean until a couple minutes before noon. Research had told me many of the items on the fabled Sunday breakfast would be gone by the time my place in the serpentine queue reached nirvana. Fortunately, a very comely woman named Melinda Martinez was in line just ahead of me. We hit it off right away, making time in line go much faster than it otherwise would have. Two years ago, Melinda moved to Seguin from Lockhart, Texas, the undisputed barbecue capital of Texas. It was her first visit to Burnt Bean. Like me, she was hoping to partake of Burnt Beans amped up version of huevos rancheros, a creation that includes barbacoa, brisket, refried beans and more ingredients that make this breakfast dish the best part of waking up.
Making your way to the front of Burnt Bean’s hallowed front door is akin to winning a lottery. That thrill is dashed somewhat when you espy the slateboard menu with several items scratched off. The restaurant had not only run out of “The Cassanova” (the aforementioned huevos rancheros), but the Beef “Dino” Rib, a whopping $36 per pound. Three–barbacoa, molleja, carne guisada–of the Sunday breakfast menu tacos were also gone as was turkey. It’s hard not to think you’re settling for Miss Congeniality when all your preferred choices are gone and you have to settle for something else, but there’s just so many intriguing items on the menu that you’re inevitably going to find something to love. In Melinda, I found someone after my own heart. She contemplated the merits and virtues of every item, approaching her ordering process methodically.
We eventually made it through the queue inside the restaurant. At the station where you place your food order, we got to watch as a deft knife-handler sliced tender, glistening brisket into whisper-thin shards for the brisket tacos both Melinda and I ordered. We watched the construction of a conchita bowl (cowboy beans, conchitas, chopped brisket, queso fresco, pickled jalapeño). Melinda had to educate me that a conchita is not a Mexican sweet roll that resembles a seashell. Conchitas are a pasta shaped like seashells. Our server also put together the intriguing street corn pudding (sometimes called pan de elote). It’s a large scoop of buttery corn cake which straddles the line between a warm corn pudding and cornbread perfectly. Chef Servantes has decribed it as “It’s like Mexican street corn and cornbread had a baby.” Available toppings include crema, Tajín and crumbled queso fresco. You can pick and choose what you’d like.
Melinda’s plate included two items I didn’t order, but which she shared with me: cowboy beans and sausage. Burnt Bean offers beef or jalapeño cheddar sausages. As with just about all Texas sausage, the casing is natural hog casing from cleaned and processed pig intestines. Yeah, that’s probably not something you want to read, but natural casing is one of the things that distinguishes Texas sausage from sausage anywhere else. Burnt Beans’ rendition is superb! (So, too are her brother’s tamales which Melinda boasted “deserve a review on Gil’s Thrilling.”) The brisket taco crafted on a flour tortilla was magnificent. Note: denizens of the Lone Star State who live either side of Interstate 20 (which bisects the state right in the middle traveling East to West) have drastically different views on what constitutes a taco. If you’re from north of the I-20 dividing line, you’re on Team Burrito and if you’re south of that line of demarcation, you’re on Team Taco. This theory applies solely in Texas.
Burnt Bean offers a number of tempting desserts prepared by a baker who could probably win every blue ribbon in most Texas counties. Fearing I wouldn’t be able to put a dent on dessert, I passed. Melinda didn’t. She ordered the Bourbon Peach cobbler taco with dulce de leche ice cream and she made me eat half of it. This is an inventive taco. Its canvas is a fried flour tortilla sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. A flaky struesel was strewn atop the dulce de leche and the peach cobbler. Melinda told me the ice cream comes from HEB, an “everything is bigger (and better) in Texas” sized store where men actually enjoy shopping. That ice cream is fabulous!
You may be wondering where the name “Burnt Bean” originates. The restaurant’s website says it best: “Commonly mistaken for a coffee shop, the Burnt Bean Co. was inspired by a former co-worker of Ernest’s. One day after asking him what he was planning on cooking at an upcoming BBQ competition, Ernest said, “Brisket, ribs, chicken and beans.” In Spanish, she responded, “Hey fat boy, you’re probably going to burn the beans.” And just like that, the English translation of frijoles quemados gave root and the name Burnt Bean Co. was born.” There’s no mistaking Burnt Bean for anything but outstanding barbecue and sensational sides. I may just have to move to Seguin.
Burnt Bean
108 South Austin Street
Seguin, Texas
(830) 609-7189
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LATEST VISIT: 15 September 2024
# OF VISITS: 1
RATING: N/R
COST: $$
BEST BET: Beef Sausage, Bourbon Peach Cobbler Taco, Cowboy Beans, Conchitas Bowl, Brisket Taco, Street Corn Pudding, Big Red Soda
REVIEW #1417