La vida loca hits hard.
Just ask Esaul and Grecia Ramos.
One day they’re pitmaster and pastry chef. The next day they’re Food Network stars.
The couple occupies a strange universe. A place where their phones and social media handles blow up with messages from around the world. A place where they field requests for interviews and accept special recognition from City Hall (next week).
Since they were crowned champions of “Pitmasters” Monday night, the Ramoses have awakened to a sobering reality: The crazy life.
They’re celebrities.
“It’s been super surreal,” Grecia Ramos said.
A line began forming Thursday at their Michelin-recognized barbecue joint, 2M Smokehouse, 2 ½ hours before it opened. The Ramoses weren’t there. They had a marketing appointment with Visit San Antonio, the city’s tourism agency, followed by an interview for a new culinary podcast.
The night before, the husband-wife team appeared on a podcast, “So Smokin’ Gooder Show,” to discuss their Food Network triumph, the birth of 2M and how they first got into barbecue.
Long story short: Esaul fell in love with backyard family barbecuing at 14. He took a job at an Austin smokehouse in 2014 and commuted for two years. He connected with Grecia through Facebook (they didn’t know each other at Southwest High School but had mutual friends), bought 2M on Craigslist and got married.
Almost 10 years later, they’re navigating a plethora of calls, requests and demands for their time.
“I don’t want to consider myself a celebrity,” said Grecia, who owns Baked By Chef Grecia Ramos in Castroville. “I’m just a pastry chef who loves doing what I do.”
To understand the power of the couple’s new popularity, consider this: Valerie Martinez left her home on three hours of sleep and rushed to 2M Smokehouse Thursday morning.
“I pulled in at 8:29,” she said.
Doors open at 11 a.m.
Martinez is a first-timer. She followed the Ramoses on “Pitmasters” and cheered when they won. She wanted to try their brisket. She didn’t want to be late.
“I saw online that the first eight people that come get a $25 gift card,” she said.
Martinez worked in hospitality at the Karol G concert Wednesday night at the Alamodome. She got home late, rose early to take her child to school and sped to 2M.
It’s not uncommon for lines to form 30 minutes before 2M opens. But 2 ½ hours early is new territory. By the time doors opened, more than 60 people were standing in line and cars and trucks were pulling into the parking lot.
“It was worth the wait,” said Martinez, who ordered brisket tacos, street corn, coleslaw, chicharron mac and cheese and cheesecake. “Everything was delicious.”
And she left with a gift certificate.
San Antonio loved 2M before the Ramoses competed on Food Network. The “Pitmasters” show took that love to new heights. Social media posts stirred excitement and drew massive engagement. Watch parties at local drink and dining spots drew crowds from the first episode to the finale.
When the Ramoses were proclaimed winners, a packed house at McIntyre’s Southtown erupted. On television, Esaul looked dumbfounded, a what-just-happened expression blanketing his face.
“It was disbelief,” he said. “It was days and days of pouring everything you have into the competition. And then to come out triumphant, it was a lot of emotion. Disbelief.”
The Ramoses defeated Canadian chefs Connie DeSousa and John Jackson in an intense, five-course meal finale. The only non-pitmaster on the show, Grecia delivered showstopping Mexican sweet bread for the fifth course: a concha prepared in the smoker. She served it with a cup of café de olla.
“Pitmasters” has inspired Grecia to add the concha to the 2M and Baked menus, along with two other desserts she made on the show: bread pudding and baklava cheesecake.
“The bread pudding will become a staple,” she said. “And the concha and cheesecake we’ll add from time to time.”
Her phone buzzed incessantly in the aftermath.
“The amount of love and support that came, not just from San Antonio, but from everywhere, was intense,” she said. “People from Guam, Mexico, North Carolina and Brazil were messaging us.”
Labor Day weekend approaches. Lines grow. Responsibilities mount. He’s got a smokehouse to run. She’s got a bakery to manage and new menu items to add.
They’re preparing to expand 2M to the San Antonio International Airport in late September or early October. And, oh yes, they’ve got waves of people clamoring for their time.
“It’s controlled chaos,” Esaul said. “But if I’m going to be stressed out, I want to be stressed out with something I love. That’s worth it.”
