Hard to believe it’s been a whole year since Seattle, frequently bemoaned by Southerners as a barbecue wasteland, finally got some legit Texas-style barbecue. And made by a Turkish guy, no less. After opening Outsider BBQ last March, self-taught pitmaster Onur Gulbay quickly built himself a cult following with the authentic Central Texas-ass barbecue chops that he picked up while living in Austin.
“I went to Franklin Barbecue and just fell in love,” Gulbay says, “and kept going back over and over, talking to the guys there, until I could learn how they were doing it.”
What started out as a pop-up, which the former IBM salesman ran from a portable smoker on wheels, re-manifested last year in the massive ex-Frelard Pizza Company space on Leary. Gulbay has since transformed the place into a sprawling smoked-meats compound, replete with fire pits, retractable garage-door walls, a play area for kids, a separate little house for his TWO gigantic smokers, and a huge outdoor beer garden. (Guess he learned that part from Texas, too. Oops, haha, it is cold here.)
If this style and caliber of barbecue weren’t rare enough in the Northwest, Gulbay next-levels it with his gently Turkified versions of classic Southern sides: sumac-dusted potato salad, lemon–poppyseed coleslaw, a cinnamony rice pudding called sütlaç that’s similar to the American version except it’s taken a ride in the smoker. The flavorful “street corn,” is a thick, creamy scoop of grilled esquites that’s loaded with fresh herbs and black pepper and shares architectural properties with Beecher’s mac. When asked what he puts it in, Gulbay pauses, then says, “Lots and lots of cheese. Like six cheeses.”
As for the meats, y’all can’t miss the snappy jalapeno-cheddar sausage, made in-house from pork and brisket trimmings, or the buttery meltaway brisket that disintegrates as soon as you breathe on it. Gulbay himself can’t get enough of the succulent beef rib, which is just flamboyantly enormous and always makes me think of the chunk of dino ribs that makes the runny footmobile fall over in the opener from The Flintstones. “My very favorite,” Gulbay proclaims. “It’s a whole meal by itself.”
On Saturday, March 7, Outsider BBQ will be celebrating its first birthday with live music, specials, new menu items, and an all-day indoor/outdoor party. Guests should make sure to say hi to Gulbay, who is a goddang character and will be holding court all day. As our local barbecue prescriptivists bitch on Reddit about grill marks and bark tones, Gulbay’s creative take on a very pious category of American cuisine is at once faithful and playful, and it’s refreshing as hell to see. It’s also a great example of what makes Seattle’s restaurant scene so vivacious and unique. Something to celebrate for sure.
Said it before, but this town is a rough place to open a new restaurant, especially if you’re new to the area—and to say nothing of it being your first restaurant!—so a year in biz is no small feat. Congrats to Gulbay and the Outsider team, who are clearly elite insiders now. We’re so glad you’re here.
