Award-winning barbecue restaurant 2fifty grows its Riverdale Park footprint

Before October, if the sign on the door at 4700 Riverdale Rd. read “sold out,” you’d be out of luck for the day.

It wasn’t a rare occurrence for 2fifty and its legion of fans who got hooked on the shop’s succulent central Texas-style barbecue defined by the all-wood smokers that you can smell throughout the block.

Even though pitmaster Fernando González and his team have five smokers burning 20 hours per day, the low-and-slow process means the supply of tender cuts of brisket and delectable ribs doesn’t always meet demand.

Enter: Nite Bites.

This project launched Oct. 2 as a trailer that sits outside 2fifty’s Riverdale Park storefront. It’s open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 7-10 p.m.

González and his wife, Debby González, who is the shop’s CEO and co-founder, have crafted a compact menu that continues their tradition of decadent smoked meat dishes punctuated with notes of the couple’s Salvadoran heritage.

“We’ve been talking about this project for years,” Fernando told me on a recent Friday night as customers began lining up at the trailer well before 7 p.m.

Establishing Riverdale Park

The project began in earnest in January when the couple ordered a new truck from Texas outfitted to Fernando’s specifications, including humidity and temperature controlled cabinets.

They heard from their community about the dearth of after-hours dining options when many service workers’ shifts end. They saw the uninspiring food options within a short distance of the shop’s residential neighborhood.

“If you look at 1 mile, 2 miles, you will see all the fast food options, all the food chains, all the ultraprocessed stuff surrounding us. But very few options that are really doing things different,” Fernando said. “Like we have two McDonald’s in less than a mile.”

So, they sought to create a straightforward menu using their fresh ingredients that customers could take home or wolf down at one of the shop’s outdoor benches.

They hope Nite Bites continues to push the small town’s burgeoning dining scene that they helped establish when 2fifty opened in April 2020. Fernando won Restaurateur of the Year at the RAMMYs in June, which honors the best in the dining scene across the capital region.

“My most vivid memory is the farmers market,” Fernando said of their time living in Hyattsville since they moved stateside in September 2018. “We were just passing by and scouting the area, and we would sit at the farmers market, and I loved the energy.”

Connecting through barbecue

The Gonzálezes said they have taken inspiration from their staff and the county’s working-class residents.

The couple lives in Prince George’s with their 12-year-old daughter, Larissa. And all but one of their 70 employees live in the county, Debby said, including those who work at 2fifty’s D.C. outpost.

In recent months, the Gonzálezes have been regularly checking in with staff and rearranging schedules for those who feel uncomfortable traveling far from their homes because of ongoing federal immigration crackdowns, Debby said.

“It used to be in the back of my mind,” she said. “But since last year, it’s been every day. It’s an everyday occurrence.”

The modern American restaurant and service economy is built on the strength of workers with varying immigration statuses.

2fifty is no different.

The pair arrived in Prince George’s County with the dream of operating a restaurant. The continued growth has been a conduit for their family to fulfill work visa requirements and extend their residency in the U.S.

At the start of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement, it was “very unsettling” for 2fifty workers to serve federal officials and ICE agents, Debby said. But authorities so far have only come in as customers.

“At the end, barbecue, it’s universal. Who doesn’t like it? Who would argue this is not the most American thing we’ve ever seen?” Debby said. “It’s really American barbecue with a pinch of the tropics. So, it’s America in a nutshell.”

So, how’s the food?

On that recent Friday night, Fernando excused himself from our conversation to prepare for the rush.

A handful of workers flowed in and out of the trailer, and customer wait times stretched longer than usual, Debby said, as she was running around the kitchen and smokehouse.

But it was hard to complain much when the dishes arrived.

One obvious standout was the Smoked ‘N Seared Burger. The perfectly plumped beef patty (which retained its traditional shape as a bulwark against the flood of smashed patties in the modern burger economy) was topped with oozing American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and curry sauce.

After a couple of bites, my Banner colleague Jessica Gallagher said in no uncertain terms that she felt this was the best burger she’s had in Maryland. I would probably put a couple of Montgomery County contenders in the mix, but she’s on the right track.

If you’re eyeing other sandwiches, turn toward the Briscuit. The kitchen takes a biscuit from Riverdale Park neighbors Manifest Bread and stuffs it with sliced brisket, a fried egg and blackberry jam to balance the savory richness with sweet preserves.

The dish that still plays along my taste buds nights later is the Brisket Burnt Ends Salad. Debby noted the dish’s pineapple base is a good example of the Salvadoran flavors that influence Nite Bites’ menu.

The acidity of the roasted pineapple melded with grilled spears of asparagus and whole scallions. It was a sturdy and smoky base for the star of the show: 4 ounces of burnt ends, which are the fatty points of a piece of brisket.

It’s a salad worth eating well into the night.

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