This new barbecue restaurant serves up a family-sized meat tray. Grab the kids and go

Barbecue on a plate is fine, but a big ol’ tray is even better.

The family-sized meat tray is a new menu addition at BBQ2U, a 3-month-old barbecue restaurant in Gig Harbor that’s becoming a go-to brisket-and-ribs destination for diners on both sides of the Tacoma Narrows.

Owner Gary Parker added the family tray to the menu because he said he wanted a way for diners new to his barbecue restaurants — and families on a budget — to have an option to eat a wide range of the restaurant’s meats without shelling out $60 or more to do so.

Three meats and three sides are $30 and they easily feed three or four diners. It also will introduce diners to half the menu on a single tray — the barbecue is microfocused with six kinds of meat and six sides from which to choose. It also serves sweet tea, of course. This is a Texas-themed barbecue. Of course they have sweet tea. And sliced white bread. And Shiner Bock.

What makes BBQ2U a serious destination — well, aside from the bargain priced family tray — is the restaurant’s style of barbecue.

Parker is an Austin transplant who moved here 20 years ago to work for Intel. Post retirement, BBQ2U is his second career. The restaurant grew out of tailgating events from his son’s car racing days (his son now owns Gig Harbor’s Accuracy Automotives).

Parker’s barbecue is Central-Texas style, mirroring the kind of barbecue served in that region (think: Franklin’s Barbecue).

Even the setup is straight out of Central Texas. Diners grab a tray, get in line and watch as counter workers slice the meats and fetch their sides, to order. Cold sides can be grabbed out of the fridge next to the order counter. Diner seat themselves in the comfortable, low-frills dining room with metal chairs and rolls of paper towels plopped onto every table.

The hallmarks of Central Texas brisket are easily identifiable on the tray. Salt-and-pepper rubbed beef is smoked over post oak. The ribs are treated with the same simple salt-and-pepper rub and are never sauced — again following the Central Texas barbecue edict. Parker also smokes chicken thighs and turkey breast over post oak, the signature smoking wood in Texas.

The smoked beef sausage is the only meat Parker doesn’t make in house, but it appeals to Texas transplants. Parker sources the beef sausage, as well as the jalapeno-cheddar sausage, from Southside Market and Barbeque, a smokehouse and sausage maker in Elgin, Texas.

The snappy links in pork casings popped with beefy flavor, with a pronounced smoky bite and lots of pepper seasoning. On my visit, I opted for those terrific Southside links, plus brisket and ribs. Flanking the three meaty sausages were two slices of bark-crusted brisket topped with streaks of fat and carrying a solid smoke ring. This was my second try of the brisket and it was just as good as the first: flavorful and delicious and left me reeking of smoke for hours afterward. Sorry, co-workers.

Flanking the brisket were fatty ribs with meat that pulled away from the bone with the lightest tug of resistance. The rub penetrated deep into the meat, meaning it was nice and seasoned throughout.

For sides, I opted to give the cornmeal breaded fried okra, creamy mac and cheese and baked beans a second try.

While baked beans were undercooked on a previous visit, this visit was vastly improved with a tangy molasses-tinged sauce and bits of bacon cooked into the sauce. Fried okra had none of the squeak that vegetable can carry and the cornmeal breading was crunchy and fried golden brown. Macaroni and cheese was just as you want at a Texas barbecue — creamy, cheesy and made with big elbow noodles.

Coming next to BBQ2U is something I’ve never seen at a South Sound barbecue restaurant — a dish built for vegetarians. Parker has been experimenting with pulled jackfruit, which when cooked down mimics the texture of pulled pork. Parker is simmering young jackfruit with his house barbecue sauce, a tangy affair with a light hit of smoky spice.

He expects to offer the jackfruit soon, as well as salads built with his barbecued meats. He plans for a smoked chicken Caesar, a brisket and gorgonzola salad and is working on a recipe for a salad with smoked turkey breast and honey mustard.

BBQ2U

Where: 4814 Point Fosdick Dr NW, Gig Harbor

Info: 253-313-5656 or facebook.com/BBQ2U

Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. daily (or until the meat runs out)