Hector Garate, the man behind West Ashley’s popular Palmira Barbecue, has taken the barbecue world by storm since opening his restaurant in February 2024.
Marrying the flavors of his home island Puerto Rico with the smoking traditions of central Texas and Carolina whole hog, Garate’s food has an identity all its own. His talents will be on full display when Pitmasters, Food Network’s new barbecue series, premieres July 13. Filming has wrapped, but details and results are highly guarded.
But it’s not just Food Network that has noticed Garate’s cooking. In addition to legions of local and visiting fans, Palmira has racked up accolades. The restaurant’s signature beef cheeks were recognized as one of The New York Times’s “Best Dishes of 2025.” It was named “Best New Barbecue Joint in the South” by Southern Living magazine. And it earned the top spot on Texas Monthly’s “Best Texas-Style BBQ Joints in the USA” list. In February 2026, Garate also was named a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Emerging Chef award.
Whether you join the line at Palmira or tune in on television (or both!), you’re in for a smokin’ good time when it comes to Garate’s craft and cuisine.
A pitmaster’s journey
Palmira, which translates from the Spanish as “palm tree” or “city of palms,” was the name of Garate’s great-grandmother. The restaurant is his homage to her. She grew up on a sustainable cattle ranch in Puerto Rico which meant Garate was exposed to whole animal cookery from a young age. His family’s legacy of using local meat and produce is something Garate brought to Palmira.
When he was a teenager, his family moved to North Carolina and then to New York. Garate eventually landed in Charleston and, at the onset of the pandemic, his wife gave him an offset smoker — a traditional barbecue smoker with a large cooking chamber attached to a smaller firebox on the side. This gift planted the seed for a barbecue obsession.
“You’re not going to see Puerto Rican food on the menu,” Garate said of Palmira. “You might see my grandma’s beans in there. You might see empanadas in there. You might see certain Puerto Rican elements like con gandules, which is rice with pigeon peas. You might see those elements in there. We are a barbecue restaurant with Puerto Rican influences. We are going to use all the foundation of Puerto Rican cooking but in barbecue, essentially.”
Those Puerto Rican flavors include adobe (a dry spice blend usually made with salt, garlic powder, oregano, black pepper and onion powder), sazón (which means “seasoning” in Spanish and is a foundational spice blend used in Puerto Rican cooking) and sofrito (a bright, aromatic green cooking paste used in almost every savory Puerto Rican dish).
At Palmira, Garate still uses offset smokers — now made by Cen-Tex Smokers, a premier maker of smokers based in central Texas — along with old school, wood-fire techniques. He designed a Lowcountry cooker, also made by Cen-Tex, which is essentially a direct heat vessel used for Carolina techniques. As with much traditional Carolina barbecue, Garate’s smokers burn wood, not gas.
While specialties may be beef cheeks, brisket, whole hog and house-made sausages, it’s hard to go wrong with anything on the Palmira menu. Other meats include barbacoa and chicken along with rotating options like hot honey belly rib and pork steaks. Sides include mustard slaw, Puerto Rican beans, collard greens and mac and cheese.
Food Network star
Pitmasters is a new barbecue competition filmed in Utah that follows nine, two-person teams as they battle over open flames. Judges include celebrated chefs Andrew Zimmern, Jess Pryles, Moe Cason and Ernest Servantes. The show’s challenges include everything from butchering a whole hog to preparing and serving four foundational barbecue proteins on a nonstop schedule. The grand prize winning team receives $30,000, and there are cash prizes in every episode. A total of $50,000 is given away throughout the series.
“It obviously was the real deal,” Garate said. “There were a lot of challenges and it was really exciting to be in the show. At the same time, there were a lot of elements. No sleeping at all. They were filming right through. And you just don’t sleep. It starts getting to you, physically, mentally. They start throwing in more difficult, complicated challenges. One little misstep can throw you off.”
Garate’s teammate was Ruben Santana of Bark Barbecue in Brooklyn, New York. Garate and Santana are old friends and picked one another for the competition.
“He’s my best friend,” Garate said. “We both started cooking barbecue during the pandemic. He started on the block. I started in the backyard. We gravitated towards each other. Then we did a couple collaborations in New York and he came to Charleston too. From there, we started traveling and doing different events. We’re like family.”
Garate said Santana helped him on the ground when Palmira opened. And when Garate was interviewed for this story, he was in New York helping Santana open his second Bark location.
Garate said he sees the show as a way to share his story and build even more awareness for Palmira.
“On the show, you’re going to see some of the best pitmasters in the United States competing,” Garate said. “It’s a competition like no other but at the same time, you can tell a story in a competition. You can showcase what you want to showcase and stick to your roots. You see what people are really like and what they’re trying to say through their food. It’s nice to see that.
“For the restaurant, we are getting busier and busier. For people to see the show, we want people to come and try the food. At the same time, it gives us that national attention.”
Pitmasters will premiere on Food Network at 9 p.m. July 13 and can be streamed on HBO Max the next day.
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