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Can it really be that Thelma’s is no more?
The restaurant on Southmore Boulevard was a barbecue institution. OK, maybe the Southmore location wasn’t an institution. The original on Live Oak was the joint immortalized on PBS, the Food Network and the Travel Network. The original was closed following a fire in 2009.
Thelma Williams was famous for her barbecue, but her fried catfish was terrific.: 29-95 file
Stories about Thelma Williams’ hospitality are legion. And most aren’t positive.
Alison Cook has characterized Thelma’s barbecue as “smoky” and “delicious,” while describing the pit mistress as “cantankerous.”
Not unlike many other Houston barbecue lovers, I have my own story about Thelma’s.
A few years ago my mother and I visited the original location. I had warned Mom about the restaurant’s ordering system (be quick and don’t ask for anything special -- like sauce on the side). We were standing in the line that had formed before the restaurant opening. Someone near the front of the line started knocking on the door when it was 10 minutes after the posted opening hour. Thelma started yelling through the door and threatened not to open at all. We all waited another 20 minutes silently in line until she decided to unlock the door.
Was it worth the abuse? You betcha.
We’ve reached out to Williams and hope to hear back about her future plans.
In the meantime, do you have a Thelma’s story to share?
guess customer service is important after all?
Great BBQ..but I will shed no tears for Thelma and her vile attitude..Good riddance.
What is an Abdel's and why would I hate (or not) it?
Thelma's had really good sliced brisket sandwiches, but if you weren't a fan of her sauce, well, your getting a ton of it on there.
I just didn't like her sauce, and they put a ton of it on. It came down to whether I wanted a good sliced beef sandwich piled high with meat and having to endure the BS of requesting no sauce or just go elsewhere. I eventually chose to go elsewhere. How difficult is it to not put sauce on a sandwich? I wasn't requesting pickles cut longways or having the buns grilled, it was just no sauce (one less step and less cost to them).
See ya!
As an example of how "different" the service was, I recall when I took my friend Shawn there. He's a self-styled macho man who races jetskis and scuba dives. When she jumped on him about a wrong order, and she really laid into him, I really though he was going to cry. I mean, I saw more emotion out of him that afternoon than when Ike destroyed his beach house.
I thought it read Thelema BBQ, does anyone recall where Sybil Leek’s Cauldron was located in the 70's?
So she was kind of like the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld or the Thai guy on Telephone Rd.
I loved her ribs, brisket and catfish. Her catfish was amazing and crunchy, yum. Once I made the mistake of calling a coworker to see if they wanted anything and she berated me like a child in front of everyone, it was embarassing. There is a sign that says, no cell phones while in line. She also gave a firefighter a huge fight when he came back saying his order was wrong. So from that point forward I sent my husband for food. She was beyond cantakerous, she was downright hostile.
i always had a good experience at thelma's. one time some coworkers took me out to lunch for my birthday, and thelma came out and wished me happy birthday and took a picture with me.
Well judging from all the comments doesn't seem it was worth it. Part of my experience with food is the atmosphere. I could be the best BBQ ever, but if I am uncomfortable there and yelled at, I would think it was the worse food ever.
As far as sauce, real Texas BBQ (those of Central Texas) has no "sauce" I don't mind cooking with a lil sauce or rub, but to layer on sauce after its cooked is disgusting. Some East Texas BBQ is like that and it chopped. I really don't consider that BBQ. Putting sauce on real BBQ is an out of state thing.
The Soup Nazi was a dramatic device and occasionally funny. Themla was/is neither. Barbecue was good. Atmosphere not. If i want to be abused, yelled at, and belittled I'll join the Marine Corps. At least there you get a certain level of pay for taking it.
Good riddance. Maybe we can get some real BBQ on the corner of Southmore and Scott again. The idea of Thelma's worked - downtowners without a taste for what real BBQ is, jaunting over to sample Mammy's wares... attitude and all. Anything slightly more tender than the standard, desert-dry HLS&R/Demeris/Luther's-ish brisket served her well, but when the new location put her a little too deep into the 'hood for the regulars to venture, and she had to rely on quality, not just novelty, the handwriting was on the wall. For those of you who will miss Thelma's, I don't know what to tell you, but if you were adventerous enough to try it in the first place, you'll fall over for Ray's on O.S.T. @ Calhoun across from the Whataburger.
pick a card, any card!
oh, the race card, that's an old favorite!
"Mammy's wares"?? Your right. Good riddance to you.
Shouldn't the stories be called legends or legendary? Not legion......
"Legion" means many. It is not the same as legend.
I never had much of an issue with Thelma. I got a kick out of her telling the UPS guy he would have to wait for the lunch crowd to clear out before she would sign anything. He shrugged and got in line to eat. Her brisket had a great smoke and her catfish was nothing short of amazing. I'm fascinated by people who would pull up to a little hole in the wall place and expect special service. Gonna miss Thelma... for sure.
Hmmm, no sauce is special service? I'm sorry, you gave me chopped instead of sliced is special service? (I actually don't know if she had chopped or not since I always get sliced - but the point is that she yelled at people who received the wrong food FROM HER).
The BBQ,and her portion sizes were great. The fried fish was some of the best I have ever tasted. I was on the receiving end of some abuse for forgetting their cell phone policy. I was ok with her and understood it was just a crazy place to go, kind of like Dicks in San Antonio. It was uncomfortable to see people abused by her for asking simple questions or for complaining that their order was wrong. I saw her go balistic on an a customer who had a a concern about a big order she placed it made me not want to go back. She was Thelmas elder and did not deserve to get diserespected. She pretty much screamed her out the door.
Extremely rude, but very good food.
"the stories legion" of the headline is correct. It would also have been grammatically correct to say "the stories legendary" but that means something different, and "legion" is the word for what is meant.
The good news is that a new BBQ shack will be opening in the area at the end of the month, and the folks that own it are a whole lot friendlier. The Oak Leaf Smokehouse is in the final stages of permitting and should be slinging top-notch brisket and German-style potato salad at the corner of Telephone and Dumble (where the old Pete's was) by the beginning of February. I hate to hear of any business closing down, especially one as iconic as Thelmas, but in these days of consumer extortion sites like Yelp! a business just can't afford not to offer a Texas sized heap of hospitality along with their product.
WHO THE HECK IS ABDEL'S? MANNNNNN I CAN'T WAIT TO GET BACK HOME...I'M GOING TO HAVE A GOOD TIME PUTTING ALL OF THESE BAR-B-QUE IMPOSTORS OUT TO PASTURE.......LET THE BAR-B-QUE WARS BEGIN....LOLOLOLOL
I can only smile at the comments. You are all right. Her BBQ is really good and the quanity was large. Sauce is like thick maple syrup though, too rich. I agree I would want the sauce on the side but I guess due to the volume of people when she was located downtown made it impossible. The workers only had one thing in mind. Get the food out! She was a different type of person but once YOU let you guard down and allow her to be who she was she was a beautiful person. I guess coming here from a small town in Louisiana to the Big city where some of us are as rude as she sometimes were made her that way. I guess she didn't want to be pushed around, so she did the pushing. I remember being there when a guy came in and couldn't understand why some orders were coming out and his was not. He made me uncomfortable but we, customers said nothing. The cashier went back and told Thelma, she came out asked who it was? Gave him his money back and told him she would see him another time. We all wanted to cheer. I recently moved to the neighborhood where she is presently located. I got the golden fish, only getting one thing this time because I usually get both BBQ and fish no being able to decide. I looked for the plates for the condiments and started shouting Thelma. From the back she shouted back "who is that calling me like they know me". I shouted back "me, where are the plates"? She said people let their children play with them, write on them, it cost me money. I was losing so I stopped carrying them and I'm gonna stop alot of things here also. I guess that was her way of saying good-bye. At least that was how I felt as I drove away. Now I see its real. Bye Thelma, I WILL MISS YOU....She was our stop after the Rodeo parade.
In all the times that I visited Thelma's, old location downtown and new location, not once did I see her act rude to any customers. However, I saw plenty of rude behavior coming from customers. I will miss her food and had planned on going this friday for fried fish but I wish her well and she will be missed by those who appreciated her food and her work ethic. Those of you who know nothing about BBQ don't realize the time and effort that goes into preparing those smokey briskets and ribs. For those of you who do understand, see ya at the Rodeo BBQ cook-off! Lastly, who and what is Abdel's????
Good riddance to Thelma. 'Nuff said.