All of Pearson’s meats are barbecued over post-oak wood.[/caption]

Growing up in Luling, Justin Pearson said he had two options for work: picking watermelons or hauling hay. He dabbled in both until a third option arrived in the form of a barbecue restaurant.

Pearson's grandfather, Floyd Wilhelm, has owned and operated Chisholm Trail Barbecue in Lockhart for more than 35 years, and during the summers, Pearson would help out with odd jobs around the restaurant. It was this experience that led Pearson to open San Marcos BBQ in January at 2601 Hunter Road in San Marcos.

For Pearson, mornings at Chisholm Trail often consisted of seasoning brisket, ribs, chicken and other meats. Other days he would help make the restaurant's popular sausage, beginning with stacks of meat that would eventually be mixed with spices and pumped into sausage casings.

"I probably told my parents and friends forever, since I've been alive, just saying it: 'I'm going to open a barbecue place like my grandpa,'" Pearson said.

Working for his grandfather gave him a taste of the success he wanted for himself, he said.

"I liked the idea of so many people coming in to eat the food," Pearson said. "That's what it was to me. I got to feed so many people and see the same faces all the time [while working at Chisholm Trail]."

In January, while in his final semester at Texas State University, Pearson's dream became a reality. The space on Hunter Road opened up when the previous tenant, Hays County BBQ & Catering, moved to a location near I-35. One of Pearson's uncles called and told him about the opportunity to take the family's barbecue tradition to a new city.

While Pearson has used his formative years at Chisholm Trail as the backbone of his technique at San Marcos BBQ—all the meats are rubbed with salt and pepper and nothing else, just like his grandfather taught him—he has made sure to make the restaurant all his own, he said.

Since graduating in May, Pearson said he has turned his full focus to his restaurant, where he serves many Texas barbecue staples, including post oak–smoked brisket and ribs, turkey, sausage and chicken. Pearson's sides have become very popular, too, he said. The braised cabbage is a nod to the strong German heritage in the area, and all his desserts are baked fresh at the restaurant.

Pearson said his grandfather, whom he described as a man of few words, recently came in and got an order of barbecue to go.

"He said it was good, and that's enough for me," Pearson said.