BY Cody Bradford
Staff Reporter
The succulent scent of smoked meats wafts from a brick building not much bigger than some dorm rooms. Inside Brisket, Scott and Kathy Heaverlo tackle the latest rush for their BBQ food. As Scott slices up fresh brisket for sandwiches, Kathy scoops cheesy taters into bowls before readying for the next order.
Despite the fact that Brisket has only been open since this January, it is already popular among not only the Ellensburg locals but the visitors as well. The menu may be small but the food more than makes up for it.
The restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. or when they run out of food, whichever comes first. On Fridays and Saturdays it is open from 12:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m.
Scott and Kathy both grew up in the Ellensburg area and ran a catering business for five years, not far from where they currently reside.
They mostly catered to businesses, but also ran events out of their building. The economic downturn caused the catering business to close down, but now they are doing catering and more through Brisket.
Scott said the decision for the BBQ restaurant came from “peer pressure.” He said he has been smoking meats for roughly eight years, self-taught, which made the choice much easier.
“Brisket is what everybody wanted, all the tailgate parties we did and they just said ‘bring brisket’,” Scott said. “Brisket is what we’ve been doing and its worked out quite well. I started out smoking two briskets and now I’m up to five.”
The menu itself only consists of 10 items, including sides. Scott keeps the menu small due to lack of storage space.
Brisket runs some specials from time to time. On some Fridays, smoked salmon is added to the menu, and biscuits and sausage gravy is available during late night. However, the biscuits may not stay.
“We’ve figured out that if you put the sausage gravy on the cheesy taters then that is what they prefer,” Kathy said.
The entire menu is actually much longer than when Brisket first opened. The original menu only had brisket and pulled pork, but, according to Scott, the baby back ribs, hot links and chicken were upgraded from specials to full-time menu items.
When looking to the future, the Heaverlos said they only expect minor growth as they add tables to their back patio for summertime seating and look for more exposure.
“We started small and we are probably gonna remain small,” Scott said.
Scott has two goals. First: “If I can convert one vegetarian back to meat a year, I am doing my job.” Second: “To be the Bill Gates of brisket.”
One of the many positive reviews of Brisket was by Jonathan Perkins who said, “I love the food, the brisket was nice and juicy, one of the best briskets I have had in my life. And this is no lie, I love the damn food there.”
