Weaver’s BBQ.
If you spent any time on the West Coast in the early 2010s, you may have crossed paths with Jesse Weaver.
He may have been the guy on the street corner in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco busking (singing) for a donation, or hanging out with a troop of aspiring comedians selling jokes to passersby for a quarter (they were called the “Quarter Joke Crew” if that rings a bell).
This is the story of how a Spring native went from traveling around the West Coast to making some of the best barbecue in Southeast Texas from a trailer in the parking lot of a gas station in the small town of Kenefick.
It started at The Gap store in The Galleria in 2012. As a novice plumber, Weaver forgot to re-attach a condensation line in the ceiling above the store, with predictable results.
“The ceiling collapsed and ruined a whole bunch of clothes,” says Weaver, resulting in a short-lived career as a plumber. “So, after that is when I hit the road.”
He joined the ranks of America’s travelers – a loosely knit, transient subculture of modern-day nomads who crisscross the country living simply, earning money through odd jobs, busking, and street performance. The lifestyle, which gained broader attention through the Oscar-winning film Nomadland, became Weaver’s reality for nearly a decade.
By 2021, weary from the road and yearning for roots, Weaver, 35, returned to Texas, landing in Conroe to stay with family. But reintegrating wasn’t easy. Eight years on the road doesn’t exactly fill out a conventional résumé.
Like many aspiring pitmasters who get into the barbecue business, Weaver began watching online videos from established joints like Franklin Barbecue, LeRoy & Lewis, and Goldee’s Barbecue. He started doing pop-ups in Conroe and eventually bought a trailer with assistance from his older brother.
His family owns property in Kenefick, near Dayton, and decided this small town would be a good place to park the trailer and set up shop. He contacted two friends from his traveling days, Chad Stein and Tyler Bugh, to join him in the endeavor. They opened in 2022 and after some stops-and-starts have hit their stride making some of the best and most creative barbecue in Southeast Texas.
The three partners moved to Kenefick and focus all their energies on the barbecue operation. They brought on additional staff including Jesse’s brother Bobby and friends Greg Baughman, Cory Seik, and Kelly Brewer.
”We all live together and so after work, we’re sitting on the back porch, drinking a couple of beers and just talking,” says Weaver. “And it’s like a light bulb that doesn’t turn off. We start random-firing ideas and just building off of it, and then sometimes it hits and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Fortunately, everything that makes it on the menu are hits. They make a classic craft barbecue brisket from prime-grade beef which is an outlier in this small corner of Texas where select grade is the norm.
Sides have their own twists, including a smoked gouda pasta salad and a deviled egg potato salad. Recent specials include kimchi fried rice topped with honey gochujang burnt ends.
In a state brimming with barbecue heavyweights and long lines, Weaver and his team are carving out a unique identity – one rooted in creativity, camaraderie, and the kind of offbeat charm that only life on the road can teach.
Kenefick might not be on the typical barbecue pilgrim’s map, but may be soon. Go now, before the secret’s out and the line stretches down the gravel parking lot.
Go check out Weaver’s at 3808 FM 1008 in Kenefick (Dayton) or at the Houston Barbecue Festival on April 12th at the Humble Civic Center Arena.
Pre-sale discount tickets on sale now for a limited time. Get them while they last! https://houbbq2026.eventbrite.com