Bird’s BBQ & Crawfish in Bellville, Texas - Balancing BBQ and Family
- takinthebackroads
- Apr 22
- 4 min read
Jacob Bird, Owner of Bird’s BBQ & Crawfish in Bellville, Texas, was a competition BBQ’er for 15 years, but he’d never owned a restaurant. In February of 2024, after being in Oil and Gas sales for 20 years, he was let go. That week was the Houston rodeo, so he took the week to enjoy some time with his family at the rodeo and think about what his next step would be. He decided to sell BBQ plates, but that didn’t last long; he hadn’t gone all in, he was “just half-assing it.”
To make ends meet, he began working for a company that helped cook and provide food after natural disasters, but his heart just wasn’t in it. He knew the BBQ trailer was where his heart was. So he decided to go all in.
Watching him talk about spending time with his wife and two young daughters, 8 and 4, I could see how much travelling with the other companies, and now, being a one-man show, was weighing on him. While he does have some help with certain tasks from friends and family, he does the prep, the cooking, and everything else, down to the cleaning, by himself. Getting to the trailer at 11:30 pm, and oven not getting home til 5:30 pm the next day, just to try to eat dinner with his family, get a few hours sleep, and start it all over again.
He explained how he came from a “broken home,” and it’s important to try to spend as much time with all of his girls as he can. Sometimes he’s able to pick his daughters up from their grandparents, and they “all snuggle up on the couch while the girls watch a movie and [he] sleeps.”
While it’s certainly not ideal, and he says that missing out on time with his family is his biggest struggle, they’re all excited by the explosive growth since moving to the permanent location with indoor dining. It’s just about 300 yards from his first location, but has caught the eye of exponentially more customers. With this kind of growth, they’ve got hopes of buying the location and building it out to a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
For now, they have picnic tables out front, and tables and a restroom inside, while all of their cooking and handling is done out of the food trailer parked out front. Walk up to the trailer, order, and they’ll come find you when it’s ready. It is craft BBQ, so he starts serving at 11 am, and when he’s out, he’s out; typically around 1 pm. Make plans to go early to get what you’ve got your heart set on.
Jacob doesn’t like vegetables, like at all, but what he does like is egg roll wrappers and how
crispy they are. So he told me about the creation of his famous brisket egg rolls. I got to try the Texas Twinkie Egg Roll. A golden crispy egg roll that’s filled with tender hunks of brisket, diced candied jalapenos, chopped bacon, cream cheese, and Monterey Jack cheese. The inside was hot and gooey, dripping brisket juice and melted cheese; savory with just a hint of sweet heat. It’s served with a side of BBQ sauce, which is a little sweet and a little spicy, which pairs perfectly with the egg roll. These were the Best Bite of the day!
The egg rolls are what Bird’s BBQ & Crawfish is most well-known for, but the 3 meat plate is still one of their best sellers. Mine came with sliced brisket, original sausage, and queso sausage. The brisket had a beautiful smoke ring and a very well-peppered crust. It was buttery tender, and while it was served with a side of BBQ sauce (which was a nice touch), I preferred it without. The original sausage had the perfect amount of kick, without being too spicy for me, and a snappy casing. But if you know me, then you already know that I loved the queso sausage even more. With just a tiny bit more spice and pockets of creamy queso, these were the pieces that I just couldn’t put down. The plate came with potato salad, which helped cool me off after the sausage, but the beans were my favorite of these two sides. They were pinto bean perfection in my mind. Borracho style with peppers, tomatoes, and sausage rounds; they ranked high on my list of beans.
The Brisket Grilled Cheese was absolutely loaded. This sandwich must have weighed like 32 pounds. Buttery, grilled Texas toast, loaded with thick chunks of that smoky brisket nestled into melty Monterey Jack cheese; this was a grilled cheese lover's dream. It’s served with a sweet and smoky raspberry chipotle sauce that brought everything together. Served with a big pile of creamy homemade mac and cheese.
If you’re looking for creative and flavorful BBQ creations, you need to take the backroads on over to Bird’s BBQ & Crawfish in Bellville, Texas. Tell Jacob I said hi, and make sure you order extra egg rolls. Ask for them not to be cut, then reheat them in your air fryer; believe me, you’ll be glad you did.
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661 W Main St Bellville, Texas 77418
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