This Texas Barbecue Joint Served Guy Fieri His First Real-Deal Rib Sandwich

Filming with Guy Fieri was certainly unforgettable for 20-year barbecue veteran Mark Avalos.

“I will never forget his response after trying the El Jefe Sandwich. He looked at me and asked if I was a trained chef because the flavors worked so well together,” Mark recalled. “That was definitely humbling, but the best part was what happened after. Guy asked his crew to stop filming so they could all taste it, too, since Guy loved the sandwich so much.”

During his February 2019 visit to Stack City BBQ (formerly Slab BBQ & Beer and The Sugar Shack BBQ) on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Mark walked Guy through how they make the El Jefe. (Translated from Spanish, this means “the boss.”)

After allowing the brisket to rest for 24 hours in a spice rub, Mark smoked the meat for 10 to 12 hours at 250 degrees Fahrenheit. He then topped a toasted bun with their signature backyard red sauce, added a generous handful of chopped, bark-coated brisket and finally spooned on even more sauce. Next, it’s time for queso (this is Texas, after all!), jalapeños and peppers, plus a few Fritos. The result is something that’s “all Texas all the time,” Mark told us in a recent interview.

“When you make brisket that is that honest, with just a touch of sauce, that’s enough. That is fantastic,” Guy noted after being blown away by his bite. “[This is] in the top of the best barbecue sandwiches that I’ve ever had. Oh my gosh!”

Mark is the boss of barbecue, to be sure, but not your basic meat and three. His concept first burst onto the circuit as The Sugar Shack BBQ trailer in 2006.

“The concept came to me in a dream. I had a vision one night that I was to create a barbecue restaurant based on two things: barbecue sandwiches and hip-hop. I wrote it down in a journal the next morning,” Mark told us. Soon after, he made that fantasy a reality. Eight years after their debut, Mark and his then co-owner Raf Robinson expanded to a brick-and-mortar location in 2014. Simultaneously, they rebranded to Slab BBQ & Beer.

Just shy of five years after they opened the doors of their Austin, Texas, restaurant, Mark received an unexpected call: “The Food Network team actually reached out to me, which felt totally surreal,” Mark said. Fans had been calling in asking them to be featured, which humbled — and excited — Mark. “I had followed Guy since his Food Network Star days, and dreamed of someday being on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”

“No, they don’t play country music. No, they don’t serve meat by the pound. They’re not doing a meat and three,” Guy said to kick off Triple D's “Sandwich Showcase.” “These dudes are all about making some crazy whacked-out sandwiches, playing some old-school hip-hop. They like to keep it slow, low and bangin’.”

Billed by fans as “irreverent” due to their '90s hip-hop playlist, backyard barbecue party vibe and playful menu names (see: Notorious P.I.G., Texas Two-Step), the team doesn’t take themselves too seriously. That being said, they do take their meat seriously.

In lieu of plates with your choice of a protein and sides, it’s all about the sandwiches here. That includes the El Jefe, of course, as well as a moist and tender rib sandwich called the McDowell, named after a character in the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America. Guy also sampled this during his visit.

“You guys are the first in the history of Triple D that I’ve seen actually make a rib sandwich,” Guy said. This isn’t some mock meat, either. They smoke the St. Louis ribs until they’re so tender, then can slide out the bones and stack the meat inside a pillowy bun. “The angels in Flavortown are crying,” Guy joked after he took a bite and fell instantly in love. “You don’t only pull it off. You crush it.”

Guy asked a regular, “They know no boundaries, do they?” To which she replied, “No, they don’t. Which is why it’s so cool.”

Mark and his team noticed an immediate bump in traffic after their segment aired. “We had an instant 50 percent increase in business. And every time the episode airs again, we feel it. It's the gift that keeps on giving.”

The fan club continued to grow as the El Jefe earned them even more screen time. Casey Webb of Man v. Food stopped in and declared the restaurant “Austin’s next-gen barbecue.” He, too, fell hard for the El Jefe. But the real draw for Casey was the Badonkadonk, a towering two-pound sandwich that, when it was on the menu, featured slow-smoked brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken and hot link sausage, plus slaw, veggies, barbecue sauce, queso and Fritos. In an engineering feat, this was all somehow loaded inside two hamburger buns. “It proves everything is bigger in Texas,” Casey noted.

The El Jefe also appeared on an episode of Food Paradise, where diners deemed it “to die for.”

It hasn’t been all sunshine and smooth sailing, though.

“The restaurant industry has changed so much since the pandemic,” Mark told Food Network when we caught up with him in August 2026. “What's unfortunate is that we only got to feel that Triple D impact for a few months prior to the shutdowns. Ever since, we’ve been trying to guess how many people are willing to eat out. Thankfully, I see a shift in people wanting to experience restaurants again.”

To help widen the net of who and where they can serve, Mark still runs a trailer as well as a food truck, which allows his team to take their greatest hits on the road to festivals, weddings, concerts and more.

Another hurdle they had to overcome? A name change, which Mark confirmed they were forced to do in February 2026 due to legal issues.

“This restaurant is my baby, and I had to rename it to Stack City BBQ after 12 years,” Mark said, noting that his new partners are Hayden Daniels and Iron Table Hospitality. “It’s inspired by a country album, which you might not expect, because I definitely didn't grow up listening to country music.”

But one day, Mark’s daughter was listening to “Smokestack Town” by the band Ole 60. The brainstorming began. Although “Smokestack Town” probably referred to an industrial city, “I felt it could be the name of a barbecue-centered city, too. I took that concept and mashed it up with Tyga’s ‘Rack City,’ and came up with Stack City. This brand gives a nod to so many things: a barbecue smokestack, stacked sandwiches, and, funny enough, I named it after a newfound hobby … running. In the running world, ‘stack’ refers to the shoe stack in the heel area.”

The third time’s a charm with the naming, Mark confirmed. Introducing: Stack City BBQ, bigger and better than ever.

With their new name, Mark and his culinary team added several new menu items, including breakfast wraps (“we take the same approach as with sandwiches, just now serving them inside a 14-inch flour tortilla,” he said), charro beans, a new barbecue salsa and "Pitmaster Boozy Slushies.”

Mark welcomes fans new and old to “visit anytime!” When you do, he’s plotted out your perfect order from morning to night …

• Brunch: A Rise and Swine Breakfast Burrito (pork belly, scrambled eggs, charro beans, crema and pickled veggies) with a Cold Brew Coffee
• Lunch: The now-famous El Jefe Sandwich plus a side of Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese
• Dinner: St. Louis Ribs With Strawberry-Habanero Glaze and a Frozen Margarita