San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Pandemic dooms top-notch barbecue restaurant
After two years in business inside Freight Gallery & Studios in the Lone Star District, Bandit BBQ — one of the best barbecue restaurants in the San Antonio area — is closing. Today will be its last day.
Co-owner Brandon Peterson confirmed the news late Wednesday after posting about the closure on social media.
A social media post last week said the restaurant would close in June.
“We have fought really hard to come out of the pandemic ahead but it has just been too big of a mountain to climb. We’ve tried to pay a decent wage to our employees while trying to bring a quirky take on what a bbq spot in Texas could be. We’ve poured everything we have into Bandit and now it’s time to move on,” the post stated.
Peterson said Wednesday that while he hoped to keep the restaurant open through the end of June, he was asked by the landlord Wednesday morning to expedite the closing process. “So I had to, I guess,” Peterson said in a text message.
The building’s owner, Sergio Martinez, said in an email that he simply suggested to Peterson that he “consider cutting their losses” and close sooner than June.
“I consider Brandon and his family personal friends and we are parting on amicable terms,” Martinez said in the email.
Small barbecue restaurants in Texas have proven especially vulnerable to
recent, pandemic-related economic disruptions. Rising meat prices are a
challenge for every restaurant and home cook, but the consequences are
particularly dire for Texas’ barbecue joints, as their menus are almost entirely driven by meat.
While large, high-end barbecue restaurants able to justify premium prices with premium surroundings and offerings might be OK, more small-time joints are likely to close.
In addition to Texas barbecue classics like brisket and pork ribs, Brandon added California-influenced specialty items such as tri-tip steak and a golden sweet mustard sauce. Co-owner and chef Mark Garcia also made pulled pork and his own sausage, a beef and pork blend that was some of the best sausage in the city and made for some of the city’s best hot dogs.
Bandit offered a large beer selection, and more than half the menu was dedicated to burgers.
If you want to get a final taste of the Bandit’s food, it will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. — or until the food runs out — today.
This won’t be the last San Antonio hears from Peterson and Garcia, though. In February, the Express-News reported that the team signed on to take over the former Hello Paradise space on East Grayson Street near the Pearl with a concept dubbed Big Animal that will feature burgers, sausage, hot dogs, a craft cocktail program and more.
No opening day has been set.
Bandit BBQ , 1913 S. Flores St., 210-332-5005, banditbbqsatx.com, Instagram: @banditbbqsatx