A smoky taste of Texas, deep in the heart of Eugene

For his brisket, Sebastian Price has a 24-foot smoker, white oak chips and a direct line to Texas.

Born to a Mexican mom and a Texan dad, Price is both a first-generation American and sixth-generation Texan. He didn’t learn English until kindergarten. He spent time on both sides of the border as a kid, and his family lived in the Hill Country, between San Antonio and Austin. He learned how to smoke meat from American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame pitmaster Roy Perez.

That mix of cultures and geographies has culminated in Price’s new central Texas-style barbecue joint, Mockingbird BBQ, in downtown Eugene. It opened Friday, the day before the first Oregon Ducks game. Price wants Mockingbird to become the next great tailgating spot. (He sells smoked meats by the pound for game day spreads.)

Mockingbird BBQ offers three meats: beef, pork or chicken. Smoked brisket is the star. Get it as a platter, salad or sandwich. The latter demands to be dunked in the meat’s juices; au brisket jus, if you will. Pickled red onion is a must. 

Price uses smoke, salsas, rubs and pickled veggies to enhance the meat, not overpower it.

Take the brisket, flavored with salt, pepper, garlic, smoke and patience, as Price cooks it low and slow over white oak.

“Everything is subtle,” he said, adding that Texas barbecue is one of those things that, “if you know, you know.”

Smoked sandwiches, smoked tamales, even smoked corn

Price’s smoker can fit up to 40 briskets, so you best believe he’s going to use it. 

As are many of the best foods in the United States, smoked meat in central Texas was popularized by immigrants (in this case, German and Czech) as a working-class meal: a quick and cheap lunch, often made from unsold or tough cuts of meat, no refrigeration necessary.

In that part of Texas, sauces were historically considered the Pacific Northwest equivalent of using an umbrella, Price said. Still, as with Eugene’s misty fall weather, a little wet never hurt anyone: Price offers a beet-based barbecue sauce he created years ago while selling brisket tacos at a since-shuttered Eugene food cart.

Speaking of, you can order breakfast tacos with smoked brisket and other fillings every Saturday. 

Vegans and vegetarians will find options at Mockingbird BBQ, too, from the Saturday breakfast tacos (tofu scramble, potato and black bean with salsa verde; egg, potato and hatch chile with avocado crema) to the smoked tamales. (The vegan mushroom mole is deliciously earthy and brooding and saucy.)

For meat eaters, the pulled pork verde tamales are a standout. The slow-smoked pulled pork is tender and tempered with bright tomatillo salsa and mellow, melty Oaxacan cheese.

Price’s daughter, Margaux Terranova Price, offered some advice on ordering tamales: “Don’t eat the husk.” 

The sides deserve love, too: There’s smoked pork belly in the barbecue pinto beans, ribs of smoked corn, braised collards in beef tallow, coleslaw.

While Mockingbird BBQ isn’t a gluten-free facility, Price wanted people with gluten allergies and sensitivities to have options. It was especially important to him, as he rents the space from Michelle Reid, the owner of the dedicated gluten-free cafe Jazzy Ladies. She encouraged him to open a barbecue joint there, and her cafe supplies the restaurant with gluten-free hoagie and brioche bread. 

We haven’t yet touched on the milkshakes: Price fetched a soft serve machine and needed to put it to good use.

His daughter especially loves the campfire shake, with toasted marshmallow, graham cracker and chocolate sauce. The Ladybird, a blackberry shake, is an ode to Price’s previous two food carts, which were named after Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson. 

He’s planning on adding boozy shakes to Mockingbird’s menu soon. An especially intriguing and apt option is the Molé-bird, with chocolate soft serve, tequila, ancho (chili pepper), whipped cream and tajín. 

The road to good barbecue

You won’t find that 24-foot smoker outside Price’s Eugene eatery. It’s in Lowell, at Price’s other restaurant, also called Mockingbird BBQ. As he prepares to open that location in the coming weeks, he wants it to be cafeteria-style, lined with picnic tables and evoking the barbecue joints of his home state. 

Price grew up knowing (and eating) good beef. His grandfather was a central Texas cattle rancher. His parents owned a slaughterhouse near the family ranch. 

Now, Price said he buys meat that is humanely and sustainably raised for his restaurants. He also gets his greens and other produce from the Lane County Farmers Market to “stay as local as possible.”

On the walls of Mockingbird BBQ in Eugene are bluebonnets (the state flower of Texas), signs for Landry’s and other iconic Texas eateries and framed quotes such as, “Don’t waste brisket” in all caps. Signs for “Eugene” and “San Marcos” (the Texas city Price grew up in) hang near one another. 

Mockingbirds, the state bird of Texas and Price’s hand-designed logo, fly across the restaurant’s windows. As you walk in, you’ll read a quote on the door from the late Anthony Bourdain: “Barbecue might not be the road to world peace, but it sure is a start.”

Price has been down many roads: He went to grad school in New York for film. (He’s created dozens of short films since and considers himself an artist, but he said he got into the restaurant industry because “food sells faster than a painting and you need it to live.”) After graduating, he traveled across India for six months on his motorcycle. In 2010, he came to Oregon for a cousin’s wedding and never left. 

He cooked at Tacovore, Izakaya Meiji and various golf courses in Eugene (Mockingbird’s closed sign reads, “Sorry, we’re golfing”). He ran a few food carts and a brick and mortar when he lived in Ashland.

Eating good food and meeting new people, he found, make the journey what it is. It’s what he wants Mockingbird BBQ to be: a backdrop for finding connection and common ground. 

“Sitting down and being able to have a conversation over anything, that’s what makes a healthy society,” Price said. 

That, and smoked brisket to boot.

If you go

Mockingbird BBQ is at 45 E. Eighth Ave., Eugene, which is the former address of Jazzy Sammies (and dangerously close to Lookout Eugene-Springfield’s office). It’s open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday to Friday, and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday. The small restaurant offers catering, takeout and dine-in, with 26 seats plus more covered tables outside. The menu includes smoked brisket, meaty sandwiches (the bread is gluten-free, as are most menu items), salads, tamales, meat by the pound on game days and Saturday breakfast tacos. There are a few vegan options, including a spectacularly smoky mushroom mole tamale.