RC Provisions Customer Southwest Pastrami Company is headed up by former LA residents who missed Johnny’s Pastrami-style thin cut pastrami in Houston:
A brand new food truck is bringing California-style pastrami to Houston, complete with sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, and even fries topped with the brined and smoked meat.
Southwest Pastrami Co., which opened in mid-July, is a project from father-and-son duo Anthony Jackson, Sr., and Anthony Jackson, Jr., two entrepreneurs who wanted to bring a taste of Los Angeles to Houston.
Unlike East Coast pastrami, usually sliced and served neatly stacked on rye bread, West Coast is thinly shaved and piled high on a French roll, often accompanied with a side of jus. Perhaps the most famous iteration is from The Hat, a Southern California fast food chain founded in 1951 that serves its sandwiches with mustard and pickles. Southwest Pastrami Co.’s sandwich is served with a signature dipping sauce.
“We relocated to Houston years ago and we searched for a good California-style pastrami in Houston and couldn’t find any,” says Anthony Jackson, Jr. “All the places that have pastrami serve New York-style pastrami or cold cuts and it’s not the same as the sandwich is on the West Coast.”
In addition to sandwiches, Southwest Pastrami Co. also dishes out chili cheese dogs, colossal cheeseburgers, chili cheese Fritos, french fries and more. A pile of the cured beef can be added to nearly every dish. “Big, messy volume is key” to the West Coast style, according to Eater Los Angeles senior editor Farley Elliott.
So far, the food truck has been a hit with LA transplants that now live in Houston.
“We’ve only been open for two weeks and have had over a hundred customers from California come and explain to us how they’ve been looking for a good California pastrami ever since they came to Houston,” Jackson, Jr., said. “We know the feeling. Pastrami to California is what brisket is to Texas.”
