Clay Stewart’s late grandfather called him Zeke. No one else in the family used the nickname, and none of them knew where it came from. When Stewart opened a barbecue trailer in Huntsville with his wife, Sara, in 2022, the couple wanted a meaningful name that was catchy. “In honor of my grandpa, we named it Zeke’s,” Stewart said. With Zeke’s Craft BBQ emblazoned in neon pink on the truck, Zeke is now what most of Stewart’s customers call him, and he stopped correcting them long ago.
Stewart isn’t new to the restaurant business. He worked for Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in Miami, Florida; Colorado; and Maui in the early 2000s. Stewart came back home to Texas in 2007 to attend the Art Institute of Houston’s culinary program. He and his mother, Debby Evans, opened Debby’s Prime Steakhouse in Conroe soon after. Hurricane Ike blew the roof off the new restaurant, and the great recession didn’t help the financials. After the steakhouse closed in 2009, Stewart went to work at his father’s machine shop, manufacturing oil field equipment. The new job turned into a career, which led to a long hiatus from cooking. Still, Stewart said, “I always knew that some point in my life, I was gonna go back to culinary.”
With more time at home in 2020, the Stewarts got themselves a small smoker. They started cooking barbecue for fun, and then for competitions. Things got serious, and Stewart ordered a new food trailer from SDG Trailers, in Georgia. It took several months to build and came complete with a smoker. After Stewart picked it up, the trailer sat in his driveway for months. Stewart was hesitant to pull the trigger on the next step, but the owner of Arnaud’s Food Park, in Huntsville, offered him an open spot. Zeke’s opened only on weekends at first, and Stewart maintained his position at the machine shop.
But the half measures weren’t enough. Stewart had lost his good friend James to COVID-induced myocarditis in early 2022. They had been friends since the ninth grade and had attended the Art Institute together. James had been in the photography program, but he didn’t make photography a career. “James never got to live his dream of being a photographer,” said Stewart. He didn’t want to lose the opportunity to pursue his own dream, so he told his father, “I think I want to make a real run at this.” He and Sara went into barbecue full-time. The food trailer is now open Wednesday through Friday, which allows the Stewarts to attend weekend barbecue events such as the Red Dirt BBQ & Music Festival, held in Victoria earlier this month.
Zeke’s opened with a focused menu of just four meats. The sliced brisket is tender and juicy, with a good, smoky bark. That’s a feat, given how little Stewart originally understood about the hot and cool spots in the cabinet smoker that came with the trailer. When he called the pit builder to ask, the only advice he received was, “You’ll figure it out. It’s trial and error, but you’ll get it right.” Stewart did eventually figure out the airflow, and he determined that oak and pecan wood made the right mix for fuel. “I use oak for the smoke and pecan for the flavor,” he said.
As juicy as the brisket is, the shredded pork requires a squirt of the sweet barbecue sauce for moisture. I prefer the St. Louis–cut pork ribs. If you ask for no sauce, you’ll get ribs with a well-formed bark and a balance of sweet and savory flavors. If you like them super sweet, by all means request a layer of sauce brushed on top.
Stewart didn’t like potato salad until he tried the loaded baked potato version at Heim Barbecue, in Fort Worth. His version, called Hill Country Potato Salad, is a good one, with a similar mix of shredded cheese, bacon, ranch dressing, and green onions. Thick-cut potato chips are made in-house from a recipe Stewart developed over many years. He uses a deli slicer for the potatoes and fries them in a big batch on Wednesdays only. They’re chunky and crunchy, with a dusting of house seasoning. Students from the Sam Houston State campus nearby love the barbecue-topped nachos, but you can order them as “Panchos” if you want to switch out the tortilla chips for the house-made potato chips.
Daily specials include brisket fried rice on Fridays. Sara didn’t love any of the fried rice options at the local Chinese restaurants, so Stewart spent a couple days developing his own version with chopped brisket. It was so good, they added it to the menu. Wednesdays feature the Sara Special, for which the Stewarts form shredded potatoes, bacon, cheddar, sour cream, and butter into balls for breading and frying. The loaded potato balls are then topped with chopped brisket, queso, and green onions.
The couple took a meandering path to their shared barbecue career, but Stewart said he’s grateful for all the lessons they learned along the way. “I wouldn’t change a thing, to be honest with you,” he said. Business was slow after school let out in the spring, and the Stewarts took a couple months off in June and July to escape the heat. They realize now that the decision cost them some momentum, which they’re trying to get back. “We’ve managed to survive, and we’re almost to the point where we’re beginning to thrive,” Stewart said.
Zeke’s Craft BBQ
2615 Montgomery Road, Huntsville
Phone: 936-355-4544
Hours: Wednesday–Friday 11–7
Pitmasters: Clay and Sara Stewart
Method: Oak and pecan in a cabinet smoker
Year opened: 2022
