Bone and Bean, 3530 Carolina Beach Road, is set to reopen today under the ownership of James Smith, a local restaurateur who also owns Fork n Cork, 122 Market St., and Smoke on the Water at RiverLights. 

Smith purchased the business from Pam and Chris Valverde, who opened the restaurant in the summer of 2016. Smith said he befriended the Valverdes when he learned they were opening a Texas-style barbecue restaurant. As a San Antonio native, Texas barbecue is something dear to his heart.

“In Texas, barbecue is a very communal thing,” Smith said. “When I saw that a Texas barbecue place was opening I went in to meet the owners and we quickly became food buddies.”

Smith said the Valverdes contacted him a few months ago when the couple made the difficult decision to move to Washington to help with an unexpected family matter. 

“I’ve always wanted a barbecue place,” Smith said. “And they were looking for someone who would keep the restaurant’s focus on Texas-style barbecue.

While Smith will keep the majority of Bone and Bean’s current offerings, he also has plans to put his own touches on the menu. He will continue to serve brisket, pulled pork, smoked turkey breast, smoked chicken wings and pork loin. He will begin serving St. Louis-style ribs as well as baby back ribs. He will keep the bacon wrapped cabbage and barbecue pinto beans, with the addition of traditional baked beans, creamed corn and pea salad, a family recipe that Smith grew up with. He will experiment with different mac and cheese recipes, incorporating some of the customer favorites from Fork n Cork.  

Smith said the Wilmington market, being made up of customers from a variety of regions, has a varied preference when it comes to barbecue sauces. So in addition to his Texas red sauce and an eastern North Carolina-style vinegar sauce, he will serve a South Carolina-style mustard based sauce, a Tennessee-style sweet and smoky Jack Daniels based sauce, and an Alabama white sauce.

Nearly all the meats will be brined and then smoked with a variety of woods from hickory, oak and mesquite to apple and peach, each selected to complement the different meats. All of the meats will be served without sauce applied, allowing the customer to select the sauce of their choice.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to experiment with the menu and get creative with some additional options like maybe fried chicken or chicken fried steak,” Smith said. “The smaller the place, the more opportunity you have to play.”

While the majority of Bone and Bean’s previous business was carry-out, Smith has invested in some upgrades to the dining space, bringing in new wood tables and giving the room a comfortable and rustic feeling with distressed paint and galvanized tin. The dining room and adjacent bar area seats about 55, and an outdoor deck will be added this spring that will provide an additional 35 or so seats. 

“We want people to enjoy the space as well as the food,” Smith said. 

Bone and Bean will continue to accommodate bulk orders of meats and sides by the pound, with advance notice required for larger orders. Smith said he will also be putting together some holiday catering menus with items such as whole smoked turkeys and perhaps hams or smoked prime rib.

Bone and Bean is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. 

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