Long before anyone is watching, Raul Martinez Jr. of 105BBQ is already up and running his smoker at a house on the corner of a one-way street in Watts.
For Martinez, it has never been about creating a viral moment or attracting influencers. He’s just a man who learned his way around a smoker to provide a different life for his family.
When his dad was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, doctors put him on a bland, restrictive diet that left him with no appetite. He felt like he could no longer enjoy a good meal while managing the disease. Then the pandemic hit, and Martinez began searching for ways to cook with bold flavors his father could enjoy without compromising his health.
“I found smoke,” Martinez tells L.A. TACO. “I said, ‘Okay, let me go buy a smoker and try it out.’”
Through barbecue, he found a new calling, something he didn’t even know he was looking for.
Martinez started bringing the ribs and chicken he made to his day job, and it seemed his co-workers couldn’t get enough. So he launched a pop-up out of his parents house in Lynwood, offering his barbecue every other Sunday.
On the menu were rib sandwiches, mac and cheese, coleslaw, barbecue sauce, and pickles. A friend sold micheladas out front. Neighbors came over and spread the word.
Martinez started taking pre-orders, and his follower count slowly grew, mainly by word of mouth. Then, in July of 2023, a severe infection left Martinez unable to walk well for months, causing him to lose everything he had built.
Once again, he went back to the comfort of his smoker.
This time, Martinez started experimenting with breakfast burritos, smoking tri-tip and letting the flavors penetrate the meat for five hours, before wrapping it in its own beef tallow for the last hour. He also smoked bell peppers, leaving them charred and softened the way you would do with a chile relleno, but using smoke instead of flame. All of the ingredients were then wrapped in a 14-inch flour tortilla, seared on the fold.
Martinez started taking pre-orders, and his follower count slowly grew, mainly by word of mouth. Then, in July of 2023, a severe infection left Martinez unable to walk well for months, causing him to lose everything he had built.
He brought these burritos to his day job, and got 20 orders. Then 30 orders. Word moved the way it does in communities where people still talk to each other. Martinez’s business thrived, growing from the slow, real kind of traction that does not show up in analytics.
Then came the brisket taco.
Smoking brisket is a long process that takes time to perfect. The brisket is first placed on a chimney full of lump charcoal for indirect grilling. Martinez then adds post oak wood, staying true to Texas style barbecue. Then he throws in a few pieces of almond wood, giving it a longer burn to keep the coal bed going.
Martinez proceeds by adding cheese on the tortilla and crisps the cheese, not just melting it.
“If it’s only melted, the brisket sticks,” Martinez clarifies. “The crust you get by crisping it gives it structure.”
To add layers to the taco, he makes a salsa verde for a kick of spice. Martinez doesn't like super spicy food and to add a fresh balance to the brisket, he adds pico de gallo. Topping it off, Martinez puts cotija cheese over it all, crumbled fine across the top—so fine it looks like a snowfall, packed with unexpected saltiness at the end.
"The way I see it, the whole world fits in a tortilla," Martinez tells L.A. TACO.
"The way I see it, the whole world fits in a tortilla," Martinez tells L.A. TACO. "So if you could blend any style of food from anywhere in the world in a tortilla, and it tastes good, I mean, why can't we all just, you know, get along?"
The philosophy of bringing disparate ingredients together for the sake of great flavor embodies Martinez's mission perfectly.
When he and his fiancée Marina Flores bought their house on a corner lot in Watts, they got something they weren't expecting: a neighborhood that still works like one.
Kids are outside every afternoon. Neighbors know each other's names. People say good morning and mean it.
Martinez has a nopal plant out front. He gives the neighbors nopales, and they give him lemons.
"It feels like we're back in Mexico, visiting my family," he says. "In the little towns, where every day you're asking for a little bit of tortillas or cheese. And if I don't have anything in my fridge, I can go knock on a door."
When he opens his gate for pop-ups, the neighbors show up. Someone brings beer. Someone brings something they made the day before. They trade. They eat together. That community that shows up is what kept him going when the algorithm wasn't listening and the orders were thin.
"Because of that, it motivated us to do more,” he says. “We know the community responds to us and with us."
Then came Lui Cee, a content creator who has gained traction on social media platforms and likes to help small businesses.
Martinez sent a low-key DM to Lui Cee saying, “Hey, I do a backyard barbecue, we're small, we're home-based. If you're hungry on Friday, pull up in the morning!”
Lui Cee came. Thirty minutes after eating, Lui Cee said, “Bro, this is really good. It's fire!”
The following week was Martinez's birthday. He wanted brisket for breakfast, so he smoked one for himself. Since he was already cooking, he figured he might as well open it up for orders, too.
Lui Cee happened to come back. This time, Martinez handed him tacos.
Two videos uploaded by Lui Cee in consecutive weeks, highlighting 105BBQ.
"Within minutes,” Martinez says, still sounding a little stunned. “One video just changed everything. Like, literally, within minutes.”
The DMs flooded in. Pre-orders tripled. People who had never been to Watts showed up on a one-way street, willing to wait, willing to circle the block. One woman pulled up, put her car in park, and started eating right there. Didn't even make it home. Martinez’s sister was outside handing out orders and watching it happen.
The smoker that started as a way to feed one man now feeds a whole neighborhood.
He laughs. But then his voice goes soft.
“Right now there are people on a waitlist for breakfast burritos alone. Pre-orders sell out within days of posting," Martinez says. People DM him offering to pay in advance, just to hold a spot.
His father now shows up to help at pop-ups. At first, he lent a hand by chopping wood. Next, he asked Martinez to teach him how to run the smoker. Today, he works making smash burgers for the pop-ups and is learning how to make tacos.
The smoker that started as a way to feed one man now feeds a whole neighborhood.
"I talk to my smoker," Martinez says. "I talk to my wood. I talk to the meat. If I pick up a piece of wood and it doesn't feel right, I put it back. When I'm shopping, if I don't like this bag of tomatoes, I won't grab it. Everything has to be good. As much as I enjoy cooking it, you have to enjoy eating it, too."
Some people cook for the masses. Martinez cooks like someone is watching. That someone may be his father. Or his neighbors. And he wants to get it right.
105BBQ ~ 2300 E. 107th St. Los Angeles, CA 90059
