Barbie & Cue
Shorty's Texas Bar-B-Q is smoking in a gas station in Sunnyvale
Shorty's occupies an old gas station, a configuration that has an enthusiasticfollowing.Photo courtesy of Shorty's Texas Bar-B-Q
A rack of ribs at Shorty's Texas Bar-B-Q in Sunnyvale.Photo courtesy of Shorty's Texas Bar-B-Q
The roadside Shorty's Texas Bar-B-Q fills two much sought-after niches in down-home Texas dining. The first, obviously, is barbecue. The second: restaurants that occupy former gas stations. That category includes local favorites such as Bolsa, Rusty Taco, Ellerbe Fine Foods and Chef Point Cafe in Watauga, which was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
Shorty's location at 780 E. US-80, east of 635 on the line between Sunnyvale and Mesquite, was also a gas station, says Yolanda "Shorty" Flores Cole, who co-owns the place with her husband, Brad.
"It started out like a convenience store, with candy, chips and snacks for truck drivers," says owner Yolanda "Shorty" Flores Cole. "Two weeks into it, the barbecue took off."
"It was an old gas station since 1957," Yolanda says. "As a matter of fact, it was my husband's first job when he was 13."
Four and a half years ago, the couple took over the space at the suggestion of Yolanda's parents, who saw the opportunity to serve the traffic on US-80 as a good way to make a living.
"My parents had a trucking business," Yolanda says. "That's what we were doing before. I was doing accounting, and my husband was a driver-mechanic.
"When we first took it over, it started out like a convenience store with candy, chips and snacks on the side for truck drivers passing through. Two weeks into it, the barbecue took off."
Bolstered by the success of the barbecue, they redesigned it as a restaurant, and Yolanda's uncle built them a wood smoker.
"That's how we cook the meat. No roasting — we just smoke it for seven hours," Yolanda says. "We use a mixture of different woods. We learned how as we went."
The menu includes brisket, pulled pork, chicken, hot links and ribs. They sell the meat by the pound or as a dinner, and they do a chopped brisket sandwich. One of the most popular items is a loaded baked potato topped with meat. They make their own barbecue sauce, and they make all the sides, including potato salad, coleslaw and beans.
"We do loaded baked potatoes, and whatever we don't sell is what we use to make potato salad," Yolanda says. "There's no waste."
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