handcrafted bbq rubs

Creator of Black Belt's Bar-B-Que (Orlando Bernal) is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belts who was born and raised in South Texas. He has been around cooking and BBQ his whole life. From his grandparents, to his parents even down to his brothers, almost every member of his family cooks or barbecues in some way.  Most of his BBQ knowledge came from his father (Luis) and uncle (Mario) and just hands on cooking. When he was a kid he used to go to cook offs with his father and uncle where they always did very well, he also used to help his uncle cater and although he didn't do the cooking, he paid attention to what his uncle was doing. As he got older he started to cook on his own, mostly just back yard cooking for his friends and family but eventually got into competition cooking as he enjoys the competition aspect of cooking! He now shares his love for BBQing with you through his rubs and spice.

Our rubs all have Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) meanings or ties. The Americana is a shoulder and elbow lock and one of the first submissions you learn in BJJ. Being that the Americana All Purpose Rub was our first rub we thought the name was fitting. 

The Barra Beef Rub was named after Barra da Tijuca which is a neighborhood in western Brazil. The name also had ties our founders BJJ lineage. 

After doing a cookoff with his friends/The Pride of South Texas Cooking team, Orlando realized that the competition scene had changed since he last competed. The rubs and spices he used were outdated! He started practicing weekly for competition style cooks and accumulated large amount of competition rubs and spices. Since he was practicing so much, he decided to try and make his own rubs, after many failed attempts, he created what is now known as the American All Purpose rub. From there he kept experimenting with different flavor profiles to come up with other rubs and the rest is history.