Brix Barbecue’s owner mixes two smoking hot passions – his Porsche and his BBQ business

Trevor Sales mixed two passions in celebrating the first anniversary of the brick-and-mortar version of his popular Brix Barbecue restaurant in Fort Worth’s South Main Village.

Sales parked his 2021 Porsche GT4 in Brix’s parking lot, and invited guests brought their prized toys, filling the lot with a mix of vintage and late model Chevy, Buick and Porsche cars and pickups.

“It’s a way to push myself to be better than the last time out and be competitive while having fun,” says Sales, talking about his time spent driving the Porsche to its limits at Decatur’s Eagles Canyon Raceway.

But he could just as easily be talking about the competitive nature of Texas barbecue. In June last year, Sales closed his food truck on the Near Southside so he could open what he affectionately calls the “Brix and Mortar” just a little further down at South Main and West Rosedale streets.

Around the same time, he found a deal he couldn’t pass up on the Porsche. Although Sales knew track days were available locally, he didn’t initially plan to participate. But that changed last fall.

“I reached out to a now good friend named Jose who actually races who kind of walked me through the process,” Sales says. “I’ve been having a blast ever since.”

It’s not as simple as showing up and pressing the gas pedal. Eagles Canyon Performance Driving school allows car owners to master the basics of driving on a track with the guidance of a professional instructor.

On his first day, a Formula 3 racer coached Sales. “Those guys show you what it can do, like what it’s made for,” he says. “It’s not wheel-to-wheel racing. You’re competing in a way that’s best lap time.”

“I would encourage people that have high-performance cars to take them to the track so they can unleash what the car was meant to do, in a safe environment,” he says.

Track days are a family affair. Sales’ wife, Katlynn, daughter, Cru, and his in-laws and parents have joined him at the track to watch the action. The only “person” missing has four legs and is Brix’s namesake, a boxer-pit mix who’s beloved by fans of the barbecue joint.

“He rides in my truck with me all the time but not in the Porsche,” Sales says. “He’s not good at riding in the front seat.”

Driving a high-performance vehicle quickly is the opposite of the long hours required for good barbecue.

For Sales, his work and his play are “two totally different worlds. Barbecue is my slowing down, passion project equivalent. Track days are what helps fulfill that competitive edge I still have from playing Division I football.”

It’s been 10 years since he played center at the University of Buffalo, but his love for cars goes back much further.

Sales says he wanted to be just like his dad, a Porsche fan. Although he learned how to drive at a young age — “I grew up on a farm up in the Midwest so it was like dirt bikes, four wheelers, gators, anything with a motor” — Sales learned to drive a manual transmission in middle school after his dad, Bill Sales, bought a Porsche 911.

Bill traces his own love for cars back to boyhood as well.

“I think what drew me to Porsches as a favorite is in the 1970s when they came out with the first 911 to have a ‘whale tail,’” Bill says. “I was captivated and had posters all over my bedroom walls!”

Their shared love for Porsche made it even more special when Sales surprised his father with his first purchase last year. After buying the GT4 in Houston, Sales drove it up alone. “I was walking on the sidewalk with my dad and, as he’s pointing at it, I clicked the locks,” he says. “Kind of a cool moment.”

Although they’ve spent time together at the track, the two have no plans to race each other. “It’s a great father-and-son bonding experience,” says Bill, who admitted that if they did race, he would let his son win.

Bill also influenced his son’s pursuit of barbecue — he and his wife gave Trevor his first smoker. “I made about 50 terrible briskets before I even considered selling it to anyone,” Sales says.

Not long after he began offering his barbecue in south Fort Worth, Sales met his now-pitmaster, Jeremiah “J” Jemente. “When I was doing pop-ups by myself at Metroflex Gym, he and his dad would just come by for lunch,” Sales says. “And he kept asking to help out.”

Eventually pop-ups led to an Airstream food truck on Bryan Avenue across from HopFusion Ale Works that Sales opened in 2020. Transitioning from a food truck to a brick-and-mortar has given the team more space and allowed them to expand their hours and menu.

As a food truck, smash burgers were exclusively available during Brix After Dark (BAD) on Sundays, and brunch was a rare weekend treat. Now Brix offers brunch every Sunday, and burgers are a menu staple. The BAD tradition continues, with steak frites available on Saturday and Sunday evenings. According to Sales, the key to balancing this growth with his high-speed hobby is “having a great team. Honestly that’s the only way.”

“My role’s changed a lot from what it used to be,” he says. “I’m working more on the business now, not in the business, so having a great team like J and the rest of the crew — Eric in the pit room, he’s been an awesome add on to the team — frees me up to do the fun stuff, like pay the bills.”

While he may drive a German engine, Sales’ barbecue lane leans a little more Italian. His menu includes brisket ragù, pasta salad and an Italian brisket sammy. But his favorite item is the Texas Porchetta. Says Sales: “I think it’s very unique, but it’s still in line with Texas barbecue — it’s smoked pork belly right?”

For now, Brix’s future looks like continuing to spread the word about its permanent location.

“You think you have a good following, but in a town as big as Fort Worth, there’s a lot of good options out there,” Sales says. “We meet people every week that have never heard of us.”

Still, Brix has come a long way from its starting line as a pop-up. “It’s easy sometimes when you’re in a business to not take a step back and look how far you’ve come. When I do that, me and J used to take turns taking naps on the couch,” he says. “In the grand scheme of things, we’re still a very small operation but it’s still cool to see.”