Popular Richmond pop up ZZQ carries the banner for brisket.
Photos by Fred + Elliott
It started with a single rib and an unmistakable feeling. With barbecue as his love language, architect and Texas native Chris Fultz set out to win over his now wife Alex Graf. Fultz first approached Graf at a Memorial Day party in 2012, offering one expertly smoked rib. A Virginia native, Graf knew nothing of the charred ribs or the smoky, tender brisket that Fultz grew up on not far from Dallas, Texas, but as she grew to appreciate the flavor and the man behind it, she realized she was falling in love with both. Soon thereafter, Chris and Alex conceived the idea for ZZQ: “We didn’t know it at the time, but we were building a brand based on our relationship and who we are as people,” says Fultz. Their restaurant is named after the rock band ZZ Top—a Texas staple, just like barbecue.
The line at Ardent Craft Ales stretches through the patio to a loading dock around the rear of the building. On a typical Saturday—in stifling heat or pouring rain—about 50 people are standing, chatting, scanning their phones and drinking beer; but really, they’re waiting. Since 2015, Ardent has been the home of ZZQ, and all of them have come for a coveted burnt end, delivered off the tip of Fultz’s gloved hand when they finally ascend to the head of the line. The anticipation is electric, and the smell of smoking meat curls through the air like incense in a thurible.
“It’s something that we never would have imagined would be tolerable in Richmond, the kind of lines and waiting and not even being guaranteed a chance to eat,” says Fultz, but it’s part of the allure. “Once they have the food, they realize there is some value in waiting.” Good things come to those who do, after all. And the pay-off comes in full this spring, when Fultz and Graf open ZZQ’s first brick and mortar restaurant.
Fultz says Ardent played a major role in appeasing the crowds by serving beer to anyone willing to endure the line. With that and the ample picnic tables and string lights, the scene became its own lively, communal experience, with a very “Austin” vibe.
It’s these devout followers who dubbed the ZZQ residency at Ardent “Meat Church” and who came every Saturday waiting as long as an hour or more in a standing line with only the promise—not even a promise if the barbecue happened to sell out—of smoked brisket to sustain them.
“Virginians say they’ve never had anything like it,” says Fultz. “Texans seek us out and say ‘Thank God you’re here.’ That touches my soul, being a Texan. That’s the best compliment I can get.”
The couple started stirring this fervor for the taste of Texas among friends and family in 2012, testing recipes and techniques at backyard parties that quickly outgrew the yard. In 2013, the duo brought home a 300-gallon road pit, dubbed Mabel, and took her on their first catering gig—a wedding, as ambitious as it was fitting for the still love-struck Fultz and Graf.
But back to the beer. Fultz and Graf attribute ZZQ’s warm early reception to the beer community and its collective refined palate. Beer and barbecue are fast bedfellows, and after ZZQ’s Ardent residency was well-established, fellow Scott’s Addition brewers from The Veil approached ZZQ to see how they could get in on the action. The Veil’s 2016 grand opening was also the world premiere of Max, ZZQ’s second and larger smoker. Today, the folks behind The Veil are major investors in ZZQ’s brick and mortar location. This also means that, thanks to a collaboration with Reverie Distribution, a craft beer distribution offshoot of The Veil, when ZZQ opens its doors, the beer selection will be unique and, in some cases otherwise unavailable outside of Texas, reflecting what Chris and Alex love to drink on their travels South.
ZZQ’s restaurant, planned to open in March, is a deceptively simple 3,200-square-foot building in the buzzing Scott’s Addition neighborhood of Richmond, home to a growing handful of breweries, coffee roasters and restaurants. A humble exterior opens into an 80-seat dining room and 12-seat bar, with white oak (the same wood on which ZZQ smokes its meat) accents and clean, stark lines. The back wall of glass reveals a 2,500-square-foot patio with seating for 80 and an up-close view of the smokers in action. But before you get there, you’re herded through the ordering line. That’s where you’ll find Alex Graf and her Cheshire smile.
“She’s the pit mistress. She’s engaging, hospitable, warm, funny,” says Fultz. And Graf says she’s looking forward to having more than a split second to interact with her customers—family, she calls them. “They’re everything to me.”
Behind the line you’ll find Executive Chef Russell Cook, a longtime friend, advisor and confidant, plus assistant pitmaster Brian Dolenti and pit apprentice Sammy Keo. Fultz is teaching them his process because he knows it’s the only way the ZZQ vision will be sustainable for the long-term. And that process is meticulous and long, captured in painstaking detail a leather-bound Moleskine notebook Fultz has filled over the past five years. The brisket, a dense lobe of marbled prime beef with hints of cayenne and paprika, the sum of almost an entire day’s effort, is ZZQ’s calling card, and it takes a full 16 hours to smoke, plus prep before and resting after, to achieve the perfect bite every time.
The smoker will be in near constant motion, with brisket, ribs, pork shoulder and more smoking overnight and into the wee hours of the morning. At first, that clock-defying challenge haunted Fultz, but after a weekend studying under the acclaimed pitmaster and fellow Texan, John Lewis of Lewis Barbecue in Charleston, South Carolina, Fultz said to himself, “Oh yeah, it’s not so complicated. It’s not rocket science. It’s something we can do.”
When ZZQ opens this spring, Fultz says the menu will be a reflection of what ZZQ fans have come to love, with brisket, pork shoulder, ribs and sausages front-and-center, plus ZZQ’s signature sides like jalapeno mac & cheese, potato salad and coleslaw. Graf, a former long-time vegetarian, says smoked seitan will remain on the menu for their vegetarian friends. And both add that they’re looking forward to having more space to experiment and push themselves as they continue to develop new recipes.
“One of the biggest fears we’ve had as we scaled up over the years is finding the right people, building the right family,” says Fultz. “But what we’ve found is that we somehow attract the right people—they find us. And we’ve got an extraordinarily solid core group of people who have taken ownership and are proud of and want to help build this restaurant.”
ZZQ is proving that there is indeed a place for Texas barbecue in Virginia.
“I see Virginia as more of a melting pot, influenced by the Carolinas and Tennessee,” Fultz remarks. “I would say our product is influenced by Virginia and the Carolinas, but we’re bringing what I grew up with, which is central Texas, and that’s really unique and special, so we’re trying to carry that flag in Virginia and do it really, really well.”
’Cue the Cocktail
ZZQ shares a recipe for one of its favorite pairings. Click here to get the recipe.
This article originally appeared in our April 2018 issue.
