David Salinas has had a passion for barbecue since he was young, learning many of his cooking techniques from his grandparents, who were from McAllen, Texas. He and his wife Erica translated that passion into Salinas’s Smoke Street, which became a popular food truck in Globe-Miami-San Carlos.

Now the couple is getting ready to convert their business to brick-and-mortar, in the building at 999 N. Broad St. that once housed J & R’s El Rey restaurant and was later home to KK’s Fish & Chips.

It started on a Saturday in September 2020, when the Salinases were invited to serve their barbecue at Waggin’ Vineyard in Globe. “We set up with just a smoker, a canopy and a table,” said Erica Salinas. “We never imagined it would go this far.”

In January 2021 they bought their first food trailer, an 18-footer. Their second, a 30-foot trailer they designed themselves, was delivered to them in February 2023. “We would set up for First Fridays or just do pop-ups, and our business grew into a lot of catering gigs,” said Erica. “We’ve captured a lot of the San Carlos School District. The mine was using us for many events they were hosting.”

“Once I fell in love with it (barbecue) and I bought my first offset smoker, it was kind of all over from there,” said David Salinas. Growing up in California’s Central Valley, he learned many of his techniques from his grandparents; one of the family traditions is tri-tip.  “I was always watching what they were doing. They’re the ones who inspired me to cook the style that we cook, like the Tex-Mex barbecue.”

In January 2024, due to scheduling issues – he and Erica both worked full-time - he decided they would sell the food trailer if they could not move into a brick-and-mortar building by year’s end.

“Then the opportunity came up; we saw this building for sale, and everything just worked out as planned,” said Erica. “We were able to purchase it and create our dream.” The transaction was finalized in June, and the couple sold their food trailer in September.

New furniture is in place in the building, along with a new refrigerator, cold stations for the kitchen and stainless-steel prep tables. Salinas’s Smoke Street will employ a 3,500-pound natural gas smoker.

“We can’t go anywhere without probably 20 people asking us when we’re opening,” said David. “We already have a pretty big following established from the food trailer because we were doing it for almost five years.

“I’m really picky on certain things, especially when it comes to my kitchen. I’ve had to have things a certain way, and I guess things just took a little bit longer than we expected,” he added.

The Salinases are now adding interior décor and working with the City of Globe on adding outdoor amenities. David Salinas said they plan to have about 12 picnic tables and six fire pits between the building and the creek behind it. He also envisioned adding outdoor games like cornhole and horseshoes.

“We’ve had a vision all these years that if we ever got to open up a restaurant, we wanted it to be a big family environment,” said Erica. “We wanted outdoor seating, we wanted games for families.”

“We just finalized our site plan through the City for the outdoor area we’re trying to build,”  said David. “When we did barbecues or family gatherings, it was all out in the back. My dad or my grandfather was on the grill, so it was just a whole family vibe. That’s what we’re trying to bring here to Globe.”

David told the Silver Belt that he hoped the outdoor area, which the couple plans to fence in, would be complete within two weeks and was shooting for a late-November opening for the restaurant.