Wimberley grill master is also on television

Grilling meats in Texas is a pastime that most of us have enjoyed at one time or another. Getting recognized for it is one thing, but being on TV multiple times for it is another. Arturo Ramon II of Blanco River Meat is a TV grillmaster.

Ramon has been on different channels including the Travel Channel, Cooking Channel, and the Destination Channel.

Cooking meats whole like a cabrito, cow or octopus, with a self-designed cooker can get you recognition. The South Texas raised and UT business graduate was raised in Brownsville and got to Wimberley by way of his mother who retired eight years ago.

“Growing up, my grandfather was always grilling while playing card games. When I was eight or nine and he was cooking, he’d tell me, ‘go turn the chicken.’ I was getting praise and I loved the smell… as I got older, I was always feeding friends. I progressed from there. Pulling from my earlier experiences, Mexican cooking, cooking a whole barbecoa (cow’s head). I went back to my roots, nobody was doing this,” Ramon said.

And when you cook slow, a big part of the slow part is the show part. It brings people in to watch. So part grilling and part entertainment, things were coming together as if orchestrated in advance.

“I never wanted to be on TV. My mom got me on American Grill. She was the one that made the entry. She told me ‘Hey you have a Skype (video) interview.” He continued. “They liked me, and I did well and met a lot of nice people.”

He did it with his self-designed open fire grill. “Everything tastes better on an open grill.” A business in Lockhart built his design and is in the process of tweaking it.

Favorite things that he has grilled include the ‘naughty bits’ or the innards such as the heart, liver, kidneys and other organs. He has traveled the country. “In South Carolina, I cooked whole animals, whole yak and llamas, on a cross. It has a different taste and texture.”

His catering business is more than just the average caterer. “For friends and hunters they ask ‘would you cook this for me.’ If you know how to clean it, I’ll cook it.” He also will cook armadillo and other game at one time considered a necessity, “in homage to my parents.”

He even has a corporate sponsor, FOGO Charcoal. He participates in lots of events and takes extra bags of charcoal making sure the sponsor’s name is spread. But that was before the current COVID-19 situation put things to a halt.

One of those things was a restaurant, possible on his land at Rolling Oaks and Ranch Road 12. But in the meantime, he’s still grilling on an open fire there. “Five or six times a week I’m grilling over an open fire… everything has been postponed. I’m planning out what the rest of the year looks like.”

If you are interested in more information or would like him to cater your event please see his website at blancorivermeatcompany.com

“If you know how to clean it, I’ll cook it.”

Arturo Ramon II

Blanco River Meat