“I’ve been barbecuing just about all my life. She’s been baking,” Anthony said. “She’d always tell me about how she’d love to have a cupcake truck ... and finally, I thought about it; I said, ‘You know what, I’ve always wanted a barbecue business. So why don’t we just combine it and call it CT’s Sweets and Meats, and we’ll just find us a food trailer or a food truck?’”
CT’s—combining the pair’s nicknames, Cyndy and Tony—has offered home-cooked meats such as brisket, pulled pork and sausage alongside larger cupcakes, cookies and brownies since its launch in November 2019. Anthony said he developed CT’s meat selection and flavoring based both on customer preference and a signature spice blend based on the stand’s motto of serving “Amp’d up Texas BBQ.”
“We try to stay with that theme,” he said. “I get tired of ghost peppers and jalapenos and cayenne, and I found the hottest pepper in the world now is the Carolina Reaper. It takes less than an eighth of a spoon for a gallon, and it still has a little k•ick to it.”••Meats are available by the pound on plates or on bread in items such as the brisket grilled cheese. The stand also added breakfast tacos on Saturday mornings this year as well as several baby back rib options made to order on Saturday afternoons.
Innovative sweets
Cynthia said she got into cupcake-making after taking over a business her daughter previously managed, and now she works to mix flavors, stuffings and toppings for CT’s patrons.
A recent innovation of Cynthia’s involved inserting brownie portions into hollowed-out strawberry cupcakes. That combination was then filled to the brim with strawberry cheesecake and topped with strawberry whipped cream and chocolate drizzle.
Other combinations are rolled out for customer requests or based on seasonal flavors such as red velvet, carrot cake and pumpkin.
In addition to some recently added menu items, CT’s owners said they also look forward to bringing the community together at their space more often this year. The pair hosted CT’s initial Saturday karaoke night in early April and said they hope to build on outdoor programming around the stand this summer.
Future additions to the menu and operating hours may be coming as well based on local interest, they said.
“Once we get everything up and going even more so than what we have right now, that might be an option for me to hire somebody to come in here and help me do breakfast in the mornings because we have people standing in line for breakfast on Saturday,” Cynthia said. “Our goal is to get them served as quickly as we possibly can.”
27730 Robinson Road, Lot B, Conroe
346-224-5847
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057558874823
Tue.-Fri. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-7 p.m.
Sat. 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
Closed Sun.-Mon.