Trailblazing Pitmaster Laura Loomis Makes a Triumphant Return to San Antonio’s Two Bros BBQ

After roughly a five-year hiatus, trailblazing pitmaster Laura Loomis has returned to the barbecue scene. Loomis, who most recently worked at Tre Trattoria in the San Antonio Museum of Art, has announced she’s back at San Antonio’s Two Bros BBQ Market as head pitmaster.

Chef Jason Dady, co-founder of Jason Dady Restaurant Group, the hospitality company that operates Two Bros, says Loomis’s return is a “special moment” for the barbecue spot. “She’s bringing a fresh energy and a level of innovation that will continue to elevate the experience we offer,” he says in a statement. “I’m excited to see how her passion and expertise will push Two Bros to new heights.”

Loomis first became infatuated with barbecue while working as a cashier at Two Bros in 2016. She scoured the internet and online barbecue forums, books, and videos for tricks of the trade while practicing on her own. Later, while working as a server at Two Bros, Loomis says the opportunity for another part-time position as a pithand came up. She took the role, and, a year and a half later, she took over as Two Bros’s head pitmaster. Not everyone was thrilled with the leadership change, but Loomis says she implemented necessary workflow improvements, creating a more streamlined process that used coolers to rest briskets efficiently. Several publications, including Texas Monthly and Southern Living, took notice. In 2017, Eater named Loomis a Young Gun, recognizing “best and the brightest new restaurant industry talent.”

Jason Dady Restaurant Group

But in 2019, Loomis left Two Bros in search of something new. After helping with prep at Italian restaurant Tre Trattoria’s commissary kitchen, she became executive sous chef at its restaurant, where she learned how to make Tuscan-style dishes and hand-rolled pasta. “I think I just wanted to do something different for a while. I wanted to see what else was out there and turn my hand at another cuisine,” she says.

Eventually, though, Loomis started to miss making barbecue. (“It’s something I can’t put into words,” she says.) Texas’s barbecue scene was starting to seem much more welcoming to women than it did when Loomis first started. She says that although men often still seem amazed that she makes barbecue, they’re more receptive nowadays. “There are a lot more women than there were five years ago, and it’s not something people look at with scorn anymore,” says Loomis, who has kept tabs on the scene and women-owned businesses like Barbs B Q in Lockhart. “They’re making waves,” she says. “It’s exciting.”

So when a pitmaster position became available at Two Bros, Loomis didn’t hesitate to put herself in the running for it: As of mid-January, she is back where her storied pitmaster career began. She says she’s still getting to know the new staff but feels at home. “It drew me back in,” she says. “I missed it. I love barbecue, but I also just love this restaurant and this place.”

For Loomis, the return is also a major personal accomplishment. “I’m about to be two years sober next month, and that’s been incredibly life-changing for me,” she says. “I feel like I’m on my A-game, and I’m the best version of myself.” She adds that her sobriety will make running Two Bros all the better: “I just want to come and really brighten up the barbecue world,” she says.

Loomis still plans to implement some changes. She left Two Bros before the height of the COVID pandemic, an event that caused many shifts within the restaurant industry worldwide, and whose impacts are still being felt. Without Loomis, Two Bros had no head pitmaster at the helm, and some of Loomis’s former processes and routines fell to the wayside. For now, she says she looks forward to getting things back on track and plans to incorporate some of what she’s learned at Tre. “Barbecue is so different from Italian. It’s very simple: salt, pepper, and smoke. But I think the biggest thing I learned in my absence is presentation and being aware of what the guests see,” she says.

Loomis says she’s also excited to incorporate more specials with different meats — the ultimate goal being to make Two Bros a true Texas barbecue destination.

“It’s good to be back,” she says.

Jason Dady Restaurant Group