Chuck Charnichart is an American restaurateur and pitmaster.
Chuck Charnichart | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1997 or 1998 (age 26–27)[1] Brownsville, Texas |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | Barbecue |
Current restaurant(s) | |
Early life and education
editCharnichart's parents, Bethoven and Francisca Charnichart, emigrated from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, to Brownsville, Texas in 1997.[1] Her father was a restaurant cook on South Padre Island.[1][2] Charnichart was their first child born in the US.[2][3] She has three siblings.[2] The family lived in a trailer park.[2] She worked at a Taco Bell.[2]
Charnichart attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied marketing.[4][2] She first tasted Central Texas-style smoked brisket while in Austin.[5][6]
Career
editWhile in college Charnichart worked front of house at Franklin Barbecue.[1] While studying abroad in Norway she worked in an Oslo smokeless barbecue restaurant.[2] When she returned from Norway, she worked at Fort Worth's Goldee’s BBQ, which in 2021 was named the state's best barbecue restaurant by Texas Monthly; owner and pitmaster Jonny White became a mentor.[1][2][5] When White temporarily closed Goldee's while on vacation, he offered her the opportunity to use the space for a concept of her own, and she created a pop-up version of her vision for Barbs B Q.[2]
Charnichart is the pitmaster of Barbs B Q in Lockhart, Texas, which she opened with partners in 2023.[4][1][5]
Recognition
editIn 2022, Texas Monthly's taco editor Jose Ralat wrote that Barbs B Q's version of green spaghetti, which Charnichart created based on her mother's recipe, "might be the single best dish I ate all year".[7][8] The restaurant was named one of the twelve best new restaurants in the U.S. by Eater in 2023.[9] In 2023 Garden & Gun called her "arguably the top brisket cook working in Texas today".[2]
In 2024 Bon Appetit named Charnichart their 2024 "Chef of the Moment", saying she was "reshaping barbecue".[1] In 2024, Barbs B Q was named one of the best new restaurants of 2024 by Bon Appétit[10] one of the best restaurants in the country by The New York Times,[11] and was a semifinalist in the Best New Restaurant category of the James Beard Foundation Awards.[12]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Sontag, Elazar (16 August 2024). "This 26-Year-Old Pitmaster Is Reshaping Texas Barbecue". Bon Appetit.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Portman, Jed (February 2023). "Meet the Young Texas Pitmaster Cooking Up a Dynamic Future for Barbecue". Garden & Gun. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ^ Torres, Anthony; Zamora, Esmeralda (2024-09-30). "Lockhart BBQ joint makes list of best US restaurants, blends Mexican flavors to create unique Texas taste". KXAN Austin. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ a b Sontag, Elazar (2024-12-09). "6 Rising Chefs on Their First Year in Business". Bon Appétit. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ^ a b c Anderson, Brett (2023-07-03). "Texas Barbecue Is the Best It Has Ever Been. Here's Why. (Published 2023)". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2024-09-27. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ^ Moss, Robert F. (18 August 2024). "Meet The Women Reinventing BBQ In Texas". Southern Living. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
- ^ Ralat, José R. (2022-12-01). "My Favorite Mexican and Tex-Mex Bites of 2022". Texas Monthly. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ Vaughn, Daniel (2023-07-21). "Barbs-B-Q Provides the Twenty-First-Century Energy Lockhart Needs". Texas Monthly. Archived from the original on 2023-10-01. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
- ^ Chaudhury, Nadia (2023-11-07). "The 12 Best New Restaurants in America". Eater. Archived from the original on 2023-11-08. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
- ^ "The 20 Best New Restaurants of 2024". Bon Appétit. ISSN 0006-6990. Wikidata Q130300472.
- ^ "The Restaurant List 2024". The New York Times. 2024-09-24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ "These Are the James Beard Awards Restaurant and Chef Semifinalists, 2024". Bon Appétit. 2024-01-24. Retrieved 2024-01-25.