“We’re getting the hang of it now,” Loyd says, stopping by our table on the airy deck to thank us for enduring the long wait for supper.
The learning curve was steep, but just one look at the crowds that pack the place -which includes the cramped interior with its sawdust-covered floors and Willie Nelson posters, as well as the large deck, all with community seating-tells us the McClanahans got things right. To honor the Loco Coyote heritage, Loyd persuaded local barbecue legend and original Loco Coyote owner Tom Hammond into sharing some of his secrets. When he took the helm, Loyd was a longtime home cook who knew little about running a restaurant.
#LOCO COYOTE PRO#
Leaving his life as a country-club golf pro to learn the ways of the pit master deposited Loyd in strange territory, though. Regular customers for years, they were thrilled to learn the place was for sale, as they’d been hankering to try an altogether new line of work they could run together. Changes came when proprietors Loyd and Becki McClanahan bought the place in early 2013, moving from Arlington to reside in the old homestead they renovated on the property. The music, bar, and long waits all figure among new developments at Loco Coyote, a place that has enjoyed a loyal following since the 1960s. Keeping our eyes on the prize, we find our internal well of patience, and we admire the same in the people standing in line at the bar for beer buckets and Mason jars filled with frozen margaritas.
#LOCO COYOTE FULL#
The real eye candy, however, is the steady flow of platters laden with massive ribs, steaks, burgers, tacos, and onion rings headed to picnic tables full of happy diners. On the expansive green lawn extending from Loco Coyote’s weathered assemblage of wooden buildings toward the sunflower-filled back forty, parents toss Frisbees with kids, teenagers in baseball uniforms play tag, and groups of friends play informal games of horseshoes. “You make a commitment when coming to eat here, don’t you?” Marshall muses.Ī three-piece band begins playing country tunes on Loco Coyote’s open-air deck a few yards away, and we delight in the beautiful evening and people-watching.
My husband fetches an icy bucket of longneck beers from a bartender wearing a cowboy hat, and we snag a pair of chairs on the creaky wooden porch and think how lucky we are to enjoy a pleasant breeze. The hostess urges us to mosey over to the bar and find a place to sit in the shade, and we do. We’ve made an hour’s drive from our Fort Worth home to eat at this wildly popular destination found way out in the countryside, and we’re already seduced by the oak-smoke aroma wafting from the pits out back.
“It’s a 45-minute to one-hour wait for a table, and then it’s up to an hour for your food,” she says, sweetly and unapologetically. The teenage hostess greeting us beams a pretty smile as she delivers the news.
Hours:Thu-Fri 5-9 p.m., Sat 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.-3 p.m.Īfter we park the car, we walk beneath branches of gnarled, spreading oak trees toward the hostess stand beside Loco Coyote’s front door. Loco Coyote is at 1795 CR 1004 in Glen Rose. About a mile down the way, we come upon a ramshackle barbecue joint where pickup trucks, SUVs, and an assortment of Harleys and other motorcycles are parked beside a cedar-post fence. At 5:30 on Saturday afternoon, my husband and I turn off US 67 onto twisty, narrow Somervell County Road 1004 southwest of Glen Rose.
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