Colada on your pork ribs? This new Wynwood barbecue spot brings bold Miami flavors
Jeff Budnechky grew up grilling Brazilian wings with his mom and making Argentine asados with his dad. So when he found himself out of work because of the pandemic, he knew there was one thing to do.
“I said, ‘Man, (forget) the apocalypse. Let’s barbecue,’ ” Budnechky said.
And thus was born this newest form of Miami barbecue, Apocalypse Barbecue. Budnechky, 35, has spent the last year barbecuing at pop-ups around Miami, turning what was once a lifelong hobby into a paycheck — he was even invited to cook at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
Recently, he took up residence at Boxelder Craft Beer Market in Wynwood on Saturdays, where his Apocalypse barbecue captures the flavors of Miami. Think Cuban coffee coladas infused into the beef rib barbecue sauce to guava and mango in the pork belly “burnt ends.”
“What’s more Miami than a colada? We make it with espumita and everything,” he said.
Budnechky, born in Miami Beach, was used to being on the other side of the grill when it came to making a living. He wrote stories, took photos and managed social media accounts as a freelance content creator for everything from mom-and-pop restaurants to large companies like Google and Apple.
But when the hospitality industry ground to a near halt at the start of the pandemic, Budnechky’s clients stopped hiring. He found himself at home in Westchester, jobless, while his longtime girlfriend was swamped as a hospital nurse.
“And I’m not really good at sitting around on the couch and not doing anything,” he said. “Also, when you have nothing to do, your wife will find something for you to do and it usually won’t be the things you want to do.”
So Budnechky fired up the grill. He had been barbecuing since his 20s after a lifetime of learning to cook over live fire from his parents.
His mother, born in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, taught him to love home-cooked food more than any he could find in a restaurant. She taught him her days-long marinated chicken wings that they grilled every Sunday while on the beach at Oleta River State Park. And his father, born in Argentina, taught him the passion it takes to grill meats perfectly over a fiery parrilla.
He put those experiences together in his large Weber Smokey Mountain bullet smoker and started selling racks of ribs — his first barbecue love and expertise — to his friends.
“I figured if I don’t sell any, no big deal. I’ll have ribs for dinner,” he said.
Instead, he went from selling two racks his first day to 36 racks by the end of the summer, working in two shifts, starting at 4 a.m., on two smokers. He went from offering pickup at his home to Sunday pop-ups at breweries around Miami.
Fans were won over by the Miami flavors in his barbecue. His pork belly chunks, the hottest sellers, use mango, guava and pineapple in its sauce. Pork ribs are rubbed with a mix of Brazilian and Argentine spices before smoking for six hours. And his on-the-bone Dinosaur beef ribs are rubbed with coffee before being smoked for eight.
His girlfriend, Laura Alvarez, still makes the rustic cornbread and his mother-in-law, Aida Alvarez, makes the sides and desserts.
“I love ribs. Ribs are still my favorite and the cornerstone of everything I do,” he said.
Boxelder, which has become an incubator for budding restaurant concepts, jumped at the chance to give Budnechky’s barbecue a semi-permanent home.
“(We) really do think their meat is outstanding and love their approach to sauces. They definitely have a uniquely Miami touch to them,” Boxelder co-owner Adam Darnell said. “There are some great barbecue options in Miami, and we think Apocalypse is up there with the best of them.”
Budnechky’s favorite part of his new-found career is what he loved the most about his Sundays at the park, grilling with family and friends and telling stories. It’s part of the DNA of barbecue, sharing a beer and community while waiting for the food to be ready.
“I still love telling stories,” he said, “I’m just telling stories through my food now.”
Apocalypse Barbecue
Address: Pops up on Saturdays at Boxelder Craft Beer Market, 2817 NW Second Ave., Wynwood
More info: Instagram @apocalypsebbq
This story was originally published June 28, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
