A BBQ takeout and delivery restaurant has debuted in Fort Worth: Called Shoulda 8 BBQ, it’s at Fort Worth Food Works, the ghost kitchen food hall at 3004 Cullen St., where it's serving BBQ with with an Italian and Creole twist.
Shoulda 8 comes from longtime caterer Robert Brancato, his wife Ashley, BBQ pitmaster Patrick Joubert (former owner of Jube’s Smokehouse), and Ashley's mom, Rita Buck.
Their menu has BBQ plates with choice of meats from brisket, ribs, chicken, or sausage, plus sides such as baked beans and dirty rice, for $17-$33. Standouts include the pork rib tips drizzled in an unexpected caramel sauce. There are also burgers as well as chopped beef and chopped chicken sandwiches, served on a hamburger bun for $12 each.
The Creole and Italian influences surface with daily specials and off-menu items such as pesto pasta or smoked chicken sandwich with peppers & onions, which Robert announces daily via chatty Facebook posts.
“I’m Italian, and Pat is Creole, and we found when we first started cooking together that the spices between both cultures are very similar,” Robert says. “So we call ourselves Cretalians.”
Burger at Shoulda.8 BBQShoulda 8
Robert worked for Joubert at Jube’s Smokehouse where he would run the pits on weekends. Jube’s Smokehouse closed in 2023, due to issues with the landlord. (The space is now home to the Latin-inspired BBQ restaurant Cultura's.)
“We always wanted to get into something again,” Robert says. “I pulled the trigger and said I had a great name, we already had the concept, our food is phenomenal — why don’t we go with this?”
They’re bringing back favorites from Jube's such as Alabama sausage with garlic & black pepper; dirty rice bowls topped with brisket, chicken, or sausage; chicken leg quarters, which include the drumstick and thigh together, that come in flavors such as Greek, Jamaican jerk, orange pepper, and margarita; and ‘Bama dogs with sliced sausage, cheese, honey mustard, on top of a toasted bun.
Desserts consist of cookies from Ashley, who owns a cottage bakery business called All Things Ashley. According to Robert, the most popular one is the bacon chocolate chip because "you get the saltiness and sweetness all in one."
The location had a few things going for it, including proximity to entertainment destinations, as well as the low overhead that goes with being part of a shared ghost kitchen concept.
"It's great, because we don't have the hassle of having a freestanding location," Robert says. "There's a lot of people down there, and it's just us tapping into that culture. We're fun, we're family, and we're always innovating."
Cowtown Comfort by Celestina BlokReedy Press
Author and Fort Worth native Celestina Blok.
Photo courtesy of Celestina Blok.
