The Shed Market barbecue opens in bigger location in south Abilene

The Shed Market owner and pit master Byron Stephenson doubled his usual number of smoked briskets Wednesday, but it wasn't enough. 

The barbecue restaurant sold out of meat from 40 briskets by 1:30 p.m. that day, the first at its new, bigger location at 6382 Buffalo Gap Road. Customers started lining up 30 minutes before the 11 a.m. opening, he said.

"It was crazy," Stephenson said about the customer response on inaugural service.

The building is near the intersection of FM 707/Beltway South and Buffalo Gap Road where residential developments are underway nearby and farther south in Taylor County. 

For now, the menu and hours are the same: 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays for lunch service. Meat usually is sold out by 2 p.m., and the additional hours are for the meat market that features high-quality steaks. 

What's new at The Shed

More space is a hallmark of the new location of the restaurant that Stephenson and his wife, Stacie, opened in May 2018 in a strip shopping center about 1½ miles north of the new spot. 

Indoor seating is three times bigger. Another 120 diners can spread out on three patios on the sides and along the front of the building. A fireplace and aroma wafting from the adjacent pit room are unique to the south-side patio. 

The pit room also is attached to the kitchen, eliminating the previous process requiring the staff to walk across a rear parking lot to tend two smokers.

One pit was moved from the old location and two added. The other older pit is on a trailer. In the pit room, Stephenson can smoke as many as 70 briskets at a time, while also having room for ribs, chicken and other meats. 

Additions to the new location are a bar, which will offer afternoon happy-hour specials, and a pick-up window on the back side for call-in and online orders.

The square footage for the air-conditioned part of the building is about 5,000, with another 2,000 for the pit room and outdoor seating, Stephenson said. 

Though the 90 slots in the parking lot vastly outnumber what was available at the shopping center,vehicles Wednesday overflowed onto the empty lot south of the restaurant across Beall Boulevard, Stephenson said.

Supplementing the lunch service is a brisk catering operation, such as service for 400 Thursday for the Make Your Mark fundraiser at the Abilene Convention Center, benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Abilene.

"Catering is a huge part of our business," Stephenson said. 

A tribute to The Shed in Wingate

On Texas Monthly magazine's list of the state's top 50 barbecue joints in 2021, The Shed Market was the only Abilene joint, making it to the honorable list.

That category highlighted 50 worthy barbecue operations that were just outside the top 50. 

Stephenson uses post oak and off-set smoking to cook barbecue the way he learned from his grandfather, Hollis Dean, who along with wife Betty in 1989 opened The Shed in Wingate 47 miles southwest of Abilene.

The Deans turned a one-room operation into a dining destination that made the Texas Monthly magazine Top 50 BBQ list three times.

In the sixth grade, Stephenson was a dishwasher there. By 17, he was running the kitchen.

The Deans closed the restaurant in 2004 but continued to catered until 2010, when Stephenson took over as a side job. 

Betty died May 7, 2020, followed by Hollis on Dec. 8 of that year. 

Hollis in some ways is looking over the new operation from a larger-than-life mural on a hallway wall to the left of the order counter. The black-and-white creation by local artist Kameron Alexander is photolike. 

More:Shuttered Wingate-based barbecue joint finds new life in Abilene as The Shed Market

The Shed Market is old-school Texas barbecue, not a fusion of international flavors that has become vogue in other parts of the state. Meat can be purchased by the half-pound, in a sandwich or on a plate with sides. 

"It's the same – salt and pepper only on the briskets. It's just the way my granddad did it, the way I learned how. We're just using better quality meats, we're using prime meats," Stephenson said.

Also available are pork ribs and pulled pork, chicken, turkey and regular and jalapeno-cheese sausage. Smoke prime rib is a Thursday special, and beef ribs are available on Saturdays. 

Stephenson also is attentive with the slaw, green beans and other sides, which are scratch-made with fresh ingredients. 

Stephenson is amazed at customer response to the new location, given the inflation of food costs. Briskets has more than doubled in price since the start of COVID-19, he said. 

Through trimming and smoking, the size of that brisket can shrink 30%-50% by the time it's served, he said.

Despite the economic and pandemic challenges, Stephenson wears a grin of satisfaction walking through the restaurant, pointing out its features.  

Anyone who looks at the mural will know it's a familiar grin. 

More:The Shed Market, Dollar Tree building on Buffalo Gap Road

Laura Gutschke is a general assignment reporter and food columnist and manages online content for the Reporter-News.  If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.