Laredo – On the banks of the Rio Grande and situated one block from the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, you’ll find a little block of bars and eateries in Laredo. The strongest and most satisfying smell coming from this little area is a BBQ joint that goes above and beyond with their smoked meats. “It’s not just walking into another barbecue joint or Mexican restaurant joint,” said David Ovalle. “You’re walking into a Mexicue joint.”
David grew up in the Gateway City and he wanted to add something new to the aroma around town. “Laredo is a place that smells like carne asada every day of the week,” said David. “Growing up, we were always cooking carne asadas, barbecues every weekend. It was always with my grandpa and then my dad, until finally, I think it was around middle school that I started being like, ‘I want to grill now,’ and stuff like that, inviting the friends and everything.”
That morphed into making meats with a different method. “You’re with friends and you’re like, ‘What can we smoke today?’” said David. “And we’re talking meat. Anything and everything.”
Smoking briskets, barbacoa, and beef ribs with Mexican spices became a huge hobby for David but when the pandemic of 2020 hit, he decided to start sharing his talent. “We started noticing that people were selling food on Facebook, and I said, ‘You know what, Jackie? Let’s try it out,’” said David.
With his wife by his side, the Ovalle’s created Livi’s Mexicue. “For us, Mexicue is an infusion between your Texas-style barbecue, with your Mexican culture, your spices,” said David. “Our briskets are not just salt and pepper, which is what you would normally put on your traditional Texas-style barbecue. We use certain herbs and spices that we’ve grown up using on not just our brisket but other meats as well.”
“The Mexican cuisine with the barbecue, it just blends in perfectly,” said customer Angel Esparza.
The true mark of a good meal is how far folks are willing to travel to get a taste, and Livi’s has a strong following that extends far outside of Laredo. “We have people that travel from Zapata just to pick it up and go back,” said David. “Shout out to Esther.”
What makes David’s eatery really stand out is the crazy combinations he’s putting together, and I’m not just talking BBQ. “You never stop learning barbecue,” said David. “There’s always something new that comes along. With TikTok as well, you get creative and you want to try something that you see. We’ve had guests come and be like, ‘Can you make this for me?’ Sure, if we have the ingredients, we’ll do it in a bit. If not, we’ll be like, ‘Come the next day, and I got you.’”
Chuck Guiterrez is a long-time customer who came to David with an idea. “He said, ‘Name it, I can make it,’” said Chuck. “Hey, you got some pasta? You got pasta? Yeah. But the dino ribs. Yeah. Throw me a dino rib in the pasta. No shrimp, no nothing. Just the dino rib. It worked out pretty good, man.”
That’s how the chipotle alfredo pasta with a beef rib topper was born. “A smorgasbord of flavors in your mouth, man,” said Chuck. “It just the pasta, all the chipotle flavors and all this stuff, and then that dino rib, the way he cooks it here, man, he smokes it. It just melts and combines with the chipotle. Oh man. Even talking about it, I’m just mouth watering.”
“The cops are on bike, so they’re like, ‘Hey, man, the pasta,’” said David. “I was like, ‘Look, if you guys are going to chase anybody tonight, I don’t recommend it.’”
David took me to the truck to meet his main man Mario as we put the pasta together and it starts with the smoked beef ribs. “We’re going to start off with the chipotle Alfredo pasta with the dino rib,” said David. “First, we got to make sure that it’s right. I think it’s good.”
With the beef rib ready to go, Mario boils up some pasta in butter and combines it with alfredo sauce made from scratch by Jackie. “And there’s the chipotle,” Mario said as he ladled the red sauce into the alfredo.
Mario plates the pasta and throws on some food glitter, and then comes the big ol’ beef rib. “Finishing touch, a little bit of garlic bread,” said Mario.
Here we have the chipotle Alfredo pasta at Livi’s, and the smells coming off this plate of pasta with a dino rib on top is dynamic. A little beef rib, a little pasta. This combination of flavors may seem crazy but trust me, it’s incredible. “Mouthwatering, lip-smacking, finger licking,” said Chuck. “It is all there. It’s all that and more.”
That beef rib has definitely got your good traditional Texas smoked flavor, but those seasonings on there just take it to another level with spiciness, savoriness and just different interesting flavors, especially with that chipotle pasta hanging out underneath. “The creaminess of the Alfredo, that’s what comes through initially,” said Angel. “And then you got that barbecue on it. It’s that creamy. It’s that savory. It’s that smoky. It just blends in. Well, trust me, it blends in well. It’s good.”
“You can think chipotle tastes like this, smoked meat tastes like this, but when you combine them in one, it is a whole new world,” said Chuck.
Well, if you’re in the market for some marvelous Mexicue that combines some incredible flavors, coming down to Livi’s in Laredo is definitely well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List. “When you see a border town like this, everybody thinks the worst,” said Angel. “They hear the helicopters like you hear it right now. They see everything on the news. When I tell you there’s some really good food and really humble places here, it’s an experience that you honestly won’t forget it.”