Ellis:
The Man, The Myth, The Legend.
When I was an undergraduate at Texas Tech University, when we could scrape up enough cash to afford cover and a good night out on the town, we would go down to the Depot District. The Depot is not unlike the area of town that every big college city has where most of the bars, clubs, and night spots are. After we were done, or when we needed a second wind we would use our noses to hunt down Ellis’s location for that night. What is Ellis? It’s a person. It’s food. It’s all that is good in this world!
We would lift our noses to the air and follow the aroma of mesquite smoke until we found one very big man, an old white Cadillac, and a wood burning grill situated in one of the various parking lots in the Depot.
When we would walk up to his grill (I’m guess this thing was 5 feet, by 2.5 feet or bigger) we were always greeted by a very articulate and extremely polite bear of a man often wearing sunglasses to keep the smoke out of his eyes. I would guess that Ellis is probably in his mid 30’s now, well over 6 feet tall and built like a lineman. The great thing about him is that he’s even nicer than he is big, and you could really tell that he truly cared about making your experience at his extremely simple set up the best it could be. Behind him was always his white Cadillac with the trunk open. Next to the grill he had home made Pico de Gallo and salsa (HOT by all standards), mustard, a few bbq sauces, and a few other condiments. The menu was simple: Brisket, or a few different types of sausage, jalapeno being the local favorite. He smoked all of his meat at home, and would toss your order onto the smoky grill to heat it up and get it ready to eat. The grill was a griddle (solid metal, not slats) and he would also toss a tortilla on to get warmed up. Mate the two together, fix it up with all the fixn’s and you have the best damn drunk/ or late night food on the face of the earth for just a few bucks.
Ferlis Ellis is his name. Also know as Big E, or simply Ellis. Around Lubbock he was, and still is somewhat of a local legend. He would show up to College events (Easter Bash, Crawfish etc.) and serve his fine cuisine to the same crowd that would sniff him out late at night.
When Rob and I went back for one of our football games a few years ago, following tradition, we went in search of some late night Ellis. We couldn’t find him in any parking lots, and were amazed to find that he had a permanent open air place of his very own. It’s still simple, keeping with his tradition (I wouldn’t want it any other way!); it’s open air with a little bit of a metal roof that he can raise and lower that covers the cooking area. He has a few tables, a big area to pony up to the bar, and a massive wood burning grill to let him work his magic. He doesn’t sell beer, and has canned soft drinks available. There are no dishes other than paper plates and paper towels. There isn’t even a sign visible from the street that tells you that you are about to happen across Big E’s BBQ, but you can’t miss it. The menu is the same with a few additions : pulled pork , shrimp and chicken. All served the same way on a grilled tortilla. There are no appetizers, deserts, or even a visible menu to read. If you have eaten with him before, you know what to order. If not Ellis is more than happy to explain it to you. Cash only, leave your credit cards at the bar next door. I love that the feel is the same as it was when he was getting started. I love that it’s still basically Ellis behind the grill serving killer food that sells on it’s own merits. He was successful enough to get his own place, but didn’t sell out and try to be like every other restaurant around town.
When we (John, Rob and I) went back last weekend for the KSU game, we went and ate Ellis both nights we were there. Saturday night we didn’t plan on drinking because we had already consumed more alcohol in 2 days than most people would consume in a full month. Our stomach linings were on their last thread. We were not drunk or hung over, we just didn’t feel like drinking. It was cloudy and was sprinkling on and off that night, so it was pretty slow in the Depot area. Slow enough that we got to talk to him more than we normally do (remember, everybody loves saying hello and talking to Big E). We bellied up to his bar top and ordered our food. He remembered us from when we were in college, and remember that we always come back to see him when we are in town. During a slow moment he walked over to us and reached into the freezer that was below the bar just in front of us. He pulled out 4 silver bullets, one for each of us and one for himself. He popped the tops and we all enjoyed perfectly chilled drinks. A kid(Tech student) sitting across from us asked with excitement, “Ellis, you sell beer now?”. Ellis just took a swig of his brew, and very politely said, “Nope, I don’t sell beer.” For those who might not know, if you can’t sell beer, you can give it away legally. We finished the drinks and though the gesture was very nice. About 10 minuets later he came back to the freezer and produced another 4 brews and we dove in for round two. Rob’s eyes got a little bit big. I’m sure he was thinking the same thing I was thinking….my liver and stomach are on redline….this might not be a good idea! John quickly reminded him that we can’t turn down a man’s beer. So we enjoyed round two and didn’t have any problems; our stomachs and livers must be turbo/industrial models.
We ate our food, and finished our drinks and enjoyed the cool night air. We had been there close to an hour when Big E walked back over to the freezer again. All of us knew what was coming, round 3!!! However, this time we were wrong to assume that more beer was headed to the bar top. He reached in with only one hand this time. No silver bullets were produced. Instead he pulled out a brand new, sealed bottle of Grey Goose Citron and put it on the bar in front of us and said, “Fellas, I don’t have any shot glasses so we are going to have to hit it from the bottle”. Now how cool is that? We are sitting at a place that doesn’t serve beer, run by a local legend and drinking great vodka right out of the bottle with him. All four of us took a few pulls from the bottle (which quickly reminded us why we should have spent the extra $5 on Goose instead of Stoli for our vodka tonics in the hotel room).
If you are ever in Lubbock, you have to go visit Ellis. He’s open Thursday through Sunday night from 7p.m. until 4 a.m. A brisket or sausage Ellis that will fill you up will set you back all of $4. His place is at 1802 Buddy Holly, in the Depot behind Blue Light and across from Whiskey River. Follow your nose, and you will find the way.
There are some more pics of Ellis and us eating Ellis in my gallery. . Search “Ellis” in the search bar.
