FORT WORTH —On a sizzling hot Saturday, under the scalding summer sun, people flocked to an unassuming street corner on Fort Worth's near south side and stood in a slow-moving line... for this:
"A full pound of sausage," one patron said.
"The bacon burnt ends," requested another.
"Pulled pork and brisket," said a third.
"I got everything," one woman boasted to us. "I got everything I could possibly get."
It's old-fashioned Texas barbecue, served out of a trailer in the parking lot of a bar by 26-year-old Travis Heim and his wife, Emma.
"It's pretty surreal still, ya know?" Travis said.
Here, in a city with no shortage of dynamite barbecue joints, people are choosing their products.
The trailer on the corner of Hattie Street and South Main Street is where you can find the couple on most days, seasoning beet-red marbled slabs of beef and slipping them into a smoker.
For Travis, it's still hard to believe his childhood hobby has become as hot as the trailer in which he works.
"When I was 12, I wanted to make ribs like my granddad," he said.
After learning with some of the biggest names in barbecue (including the owners of Franklin BBQ and La Barbecue) and holding pop-up dinners at their home, the couple took a leap of faith in February, quitting their jobs, leasing a trailer, and opening up Heim Craft Barbecue.
"When we say we were hoping to sell one brisket, that really was our goal," Emma said. "We just wanted to sell one brisket. That was a good day."
Now, they sell nine in a day, and people will drive from all over North Texas to wait — sometimes upwards of two hours — to get a taste of whatever's left.
"Because it's that good," said Emily McLaughlin, who was first in line on the Saturday we visited the trailer.
"We came for the first time last Saturday and heard about how good it was," she said.. "There's always some skepticism... could it be? It's that's good."
Roderick Jones was also motivated. "I woke up about 7 o'clock this morning to make sure I'd be here by 10 a.m.," he said.
One of the craziest things for the Heims is that their business has grown simply by word of mouth and social media.
"This is kind of what I like about Fort Worth, too," said first-timer Jon Koontz. "I don't really want them to get a big building and get fancy on us. I'd rather wait in line and have this small town feel every time we eat here."
Eventually, the Heims do want to beef up their business with a brick-and-mortar restaurant. But for now, three mornings a week, they'll sling smoked meats from a trailer and enjoy the ride.
"We understand they waited in line for maybe two hours," Emma said. "We are so thankful that you came to our window, that you waited in this line. And we try to get that across as best we can —through food."
Heim Craft Barbecue is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 a.m. and closes when they sell out. It's located at 201 East Hattie Street in Fort Worth.
