The Bearded Bear BarBQ brings authentic Texas barbecue to downtown Greeley

Traditional plates of Texas-style barbecue at The Bearded Bear BarBQ in downtown Greeley. Photo by Emily Kemme.

By Emily Kemme

Tramain Davis is a self-admitted family man. His wife, Elisa, grew up in Greeley. Together, they have three children. Born and raised in Dallas, he moved to Greeley to be with his wife’s side of the family — and escape the Texas heat.

But Davis, who graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University with a degree in communications and played semi-pro basketball overseas on European teams for five years after that, is passionate about heat of a different sort: Texas-style barbecue.

That’s why he left a full-time job at Tolmar, a pharmaceutical company in Windsor, and signed on to be a full-time owner of The Bearded Bear BarBQ across from the University of Northern Colorado.

Davis explained it like this: “Just being from the South, barbecue is something second to none. If it’s a nice day outside and you’re bored, we fire up the grill.”

He was raised by his mother and his grandmother, who cooked a big dinner every night. It was old-fashioned southern-Louisiana style cooking, Davis said. His favorites were her fried chicken, collard greens, homemade mac-and-cheese and corn bread. And she had a mean version of chicken and dumplings.

“If we weren’t outside playing, we were in the kitchen learning how to cook,” Davis recollects. He’s got about 80 percent of his grandma’s recipes figured out, some of which he’s beginning to incorporate into the Bearded Bear’s repertoire.

Davis, who’s also the pit master at Bearded Bear, has a Texas-southern way of doing things. That means he uses enough seasoning for customers to taste the flavor. His dry rub is a medley of sugar, salt, paprika, celery, garlic and natural dried herbs, and then the meat goes into an American rotisserie smoker that holds up to 700 pounds. The meat stays in there for hours, up to 10-12 hours for brisket and between 7-9 hours for pork shoulder.

The Bearded Bear BarBQ joined the lineup of neighborhood restaurants along 16th Street in downtown Greeley earlier this year. Photo by Emily Kemme.

To understand how barbecuing meats works, you first need to know that it takes a long time. Cooking over low, indirect heat,  smoke coaxes flavor out of meat.

Smoking is also a preservation method that’s been used for thousands of years to take meat out of the danger zone, even when it’s held near room temperature for a short time. While different types of woods each add their own unique smokey flavor qualities, the chemical compounds in smoke work to kill bacteria. Drying out meats by smoking them also inhibits moisture where bacteria can grow. 

Davis takes pride in the flavor of smoke he wafts over pork shoulder, ribs, brisket and chicken. He prefers fragrant applewood or pecan for his pork shoulder because it’s not a heavy smoke and the penetration is better.

“It gives the meat that smokiness along with a hint of the sweet apple or pear from the wood,” he said.

Davis primarily uses pecan to smoke brisket, and occasionally mesquite, which is a Texas tradition. Mesquite gives meat a sharper flavor; the hardwood adds more color to smoked meats and is stronger than fruitwoods.

If you get the smoke and timing right, the meat will be so flavorful that you won’t need to add salt or barbecue sauce. In fact, most of Davis’ customers prefer his barbecue without the sauce.

“Sauce is more of a condiment. It gives a meal the motion and the conversation — we bring out the food, we bring out the sauce. It keeps the room moving,” Davis explained.

For the moment, he’s buying commercially produced barbecue sauce but is working on his own recipe, which he hopes to have figured out by June. The in-house sauce will be tomato-based with a little brown sugar to give a hint of sweetness. He’s also experimenting on a spicy version with a little kick.

If you go, you’ll find deep bark on both the pulled pork and brisket. The meats are tender and well-flavored. Davis said the ribs are house favorites. 

Sides are fairly standard for the genre, including mac-and-cheese with bacon, potato salad and corn on the cob. The best bet is baked beans with chopped brisket, green bell peppers and sautéed onions.

Davis has a lot of faith in his family-friendly, down-to-earth environment. He said he loves to make people smile when they eat, then they go home and sleep the sleep of the satiated.

When you’re talking barbecue, Greeley certainly isn’t Texas. But Davis likes the slower pace. 

“You can have time to think and focus more here than in Dallas,” he said.

That bodes well for him to have some time to continue developing his grandma’s recipes — in fact, he’s thinking of doing a soul food Saturday at Bearded Bear in the future.

In the meantime, get there early because the ribs sell out every day.

To go taste The Bearded Bear BarBQ:

Hours: Monday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. | Closed Sunday

Location: 905 16th Street, Greeley, CO 80631

Contact: (970) 673-8017 | Find the Bearded Bear BarBQ on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat | Order on DoorDash or NOCO Nosh