Taste of Texas

Good barbecue is hard to come by.

Everybody has a different idea of what it takes to make the best dishes and Q’s Barbecue is presenting its style of barbecue to customers this week after opening for business Monday.

Garland Bostic, who does the cooking at the restaurant he owns with his wife, Laura Medina, is Texas-raised and cooks up family recipes.

“Most are my mother’s recipes, things my family has been doing ever since I was just a kid,” Bostic said. “It’s going to get passed down from me, too.”

Bostic arrived in the Puget Sound region from California in 1999 after “umpteen” years in the biotech industry.

“It was just time to move on. My wife was in biotech also. I’ve been doing it for 25 years,” he said. “It was just time to start something new for myself.”

Barbecue just came naturally.

“I always enjoyed barbecuing for family friends and company get-togethers,” Bostic said. “It’s a real family tradition. I’m the one who tends to bring out a lot of real family secret recipes.”

The food is simply the kind of thing you would expect at a good home-cooked barbecue.

“Chicken, ribs and biscuits,” Bostic said. “Just the way it’s been made for generations with just a few modern techniques.”

There are spicy and milder barbecue sauces at Q’s that taste great but Bostic does not put the sauce first.

“The barbecue sauce is different, a combination of family recipes,” he said. “But I really like the meat to have its own flavor. The sauce is secondary.”

And it can all be washed down with sweet tea, a popular Southern beverage, essentially iced tea that gives in abundance what the sweet tooth craves.

Bostic is grateful to the friends and family and others who came along to help Q’s get ready to open its doors.

“A lot of people really helped us out,” he said. “The city officials were really good ... it was fun working with them.”

“My staff is just good people. That’s all. They just came and pitched in,” he added. “We just hope that we can serve a good quality meal.”

“Our big thing is quality,” Medina said.

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.