Legit Texas-style barbecue is now available in downtown D.C. with the opening of 2Fifty’s new restaurant.

For the uninitiated, 2Fifty opened in Riverdale Park in 2020 just as COVID hit and has become a fast success. Pitmaster Fernando González’s meat — prepared over wood fire in the Texas tradition — was named the best in the region by the Washington Post in 2020 and 2022 , and has even garnered praise from Texas Monthly. The U.S. Department of State and James Beard Foundation also added the owners to its American Culinary Corps, whose members are expected to showcase the best of American cuisine to global partners.

The new D.C. location in Mount Vernon Triangle builds on that momentum, says co-owner Debby Portillo González, Fernando’s partner in the business and in life. It sells the mouthwatering meat locals are known to love and devour, including the nucleus of the whole operation: prime and wagyu brisket.

The new restaurant will also sell beef and pork spare ribs, pork belly, housemade poblano and spicy sausage links, smoked turkey, and pulled lamb with housemade purple corn tortillas. D.C. location will have a popular rotating special from Prince George’s County on its core menu: the whole hog, whose meat can be ordered on a sandwich, nachos, or by itself.

At the D.C. restaurant, the owners are also choosing to sell the barbecue meat by weight, which is traditional to the Lone-Star State but less common among District barbecue joints. This way, patrons can try a little bit of everything without having to break the bank. They simply pay for the meat they ask for, even if it’s just a slice; you don’t need to order a whole plate, and there’s no service charge. The D.C. restaurant operates on a first-come, first-serve basis and does not take online or phone orders.

There will also be traditional side dishes like mac ‘n cheese, coleslaw, honey glazed cornbread, and picked vegetables, as well as dishes that spotlight the owners’ Salvadoran roots: think fried plantains and red beans. They also pull from other parts of Latin America, like with the beloved side, esquites (Mexican street corn salad). The owners also hope to add Riverdale Park specials like tamales and pupusas as the 2Fifty team gets situated in their new home.

Despite all the Texas cred, the owners are not from Texas but El Salvador. González developed a deep appreciation of Texas barbecue during a business trip to Austin when he was a civil engineer, says his wife. He fell in love with everything from the way Texans cook to how they host, and decided that’s what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Eventually, after that monumental Texas trip, the couple emigrated from El Salvador to Prince George’s County in 2018 with not much more than a few bags and a dream to open up a restaurant.

González studied the ways of Texas barbecue, touring restaurants and meeting with pitmasters. Though it was a Salvadoran pitmaster out of California, the late Rene “Ray” Ramirez of Ray’s Texas BBQ, who encouraged him to go all in on barbecue, according to Texas Monthly.

Much like a Texas barbecue joint, the meat remains at the heart of 2Fifty’s business. The team, under pitmaster González, does not cook with gas or electric, but wood, mostly oak. Briskets will cook for roughly 14 hours before they pass muster to be served, for example. The team uses custom-built 1,000-gallon smokers to cook their meat, which is sourced from Kansas-based Creekstone Farms and Snake River Farms, farms known for their all-natural beef. They are also seasoned to perfection, per those aforementioned critics.

“He works so hard, and he’s so meticulous,” Portillo González says of her husband. “He’s all about the quality and will not think about the price. … He also wants to conserve this wonderful tradition about American barbecue, which is wood-only fire food. And that is something that has been lost in the past few years because of profit.”

Portillo González is now the mastermind behind the daily operations. Her family owns a restaurant in El Salvador, and she recalls working there nearly every day when she was younger.

“This has always been part of me,” she says of restaurants. “I’m used to it, to the grind.”

For now, that meat is still coming from the Maryland location. The 2Fifty team hopes to smoke all the meat for D.C. in-house, and they even towed a few more 1,000-gallon smokers from Lockhart, Texas. But their landlord’s insurance company has not yet approved the smoker because the operation is a liability, says Portillo González. The restaurant is located in a glassy mixed-used development, with luxury apartment units just above it.

2Fifty hopes to prove to the insurer and city officials that the smokehouse will be safe to operate, according to Portillo González. (It wouldn’t be the first restaurant in the city to cook with fire; Michelin-starred restaurant Maydān has an open fire grill in the middle of the restaurant that is critical to its menu.) Until they get it approved, patrons will have to settle for seeing their meat smoked in real time in Riverdale Park; several televisions throughout the restaurant show a live stream of the smokehouse.

The dedicated following 2Fifty has built since launching had the owners feeling ready to open up a second restaurant.

When their downtown D.C. landlord approached the owners with the opportunity, they decided to go for it, even though downtown D.C. has lost foot traffic due to the pandemic, says Portillo González. The landlord agreed to their operating terms, including that the restaurant only stays open until it sells out and that it closes every Tuesday.

The new restaurant’s decor is manifestation of 2Fifty: a celebration of wood (from the hardwood floors to tables), Texas (wall memorabilia includes photos of the pitmaster and his Texas mentors), and meat (a butcher block countertop, where the pitmaster can be seen chopping meat in front of customers).

“This is exactly what we wanted. It’s our vision and it’s awesome,” says co-owner Debby Portillo González says the new restaurant located at 414 K St. NW.

2Fifty has a lot of fans (selling 800 pounds of meat opening weekend) but perhaps no one greater than the Portillo clan. Her family members were among 2Fifty’s first customers, says Portillo González. They’ve continued to help with everything from marketing to supporting the new restaurant. Her two brothers, Gabriel and Sam Portillo, and her father, Samuel Portillo, have an ownership stake in the D.C. location.

2Fifty’s D.C. restaurant is located at 414 K St. NW. It’s open every day except Tuesdays from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (or until sold out).