The old gas station at 1300 Rutledge is getting a smokehouse.
Truth BBQ — the Texas outfit that landed a Bib Gourmand in Michelin's inaugural Texas guide and No. 9 on Texas Monthly's 2025 Top 50 — is taking over the former Rutledge Cab Co. space. Plans went public Aug. 13, when owner Leonard Botello IV's team went before the city's Technical Review Committee.
Why it matters: Charleston's barbecue scene has been quietly good for years. This is the first time a nationally ranked Texas joint has decided our version is worth competing with.
The building has been sitting empty since Rutledge Cab Co. — co-owned by Bill Murray — closed in October 2024. The equipment hit the market a day later at $750,000, with the 4,420-square-foot space asking $50 a foot. Then nothing. Just a vacant corner and a rumor that wouldn't die about barbecue coming.
The rumor was right.
The plan, presented by Chris Donato of Mount Pleasant-based Sitecast and architect Dan Sweeney of Stumphouse: a freestanding smokehouse along the Water Street side, a remodel of the existing building, regraded asphalt, reworked parking entrances, landscaping.
Here's the part locals will like. Back in October 2022, two Chicago investment firms pitched 150 apartments on the Mount Pleasant Street corner where the restaurant sits. The city said no. That corner was one of the first redevelopment plays in North Morrison, and the neighborhood spent years bracing for it to become somebody's density project. It's staying a restaurant instead.
Botello's story is the Texas one you'd hope for. He opened Truth in 2015 in a shack off a rural highway between Austin and Houston, then added the Houston location in 2019 with his wife, Abbie Byrom-Botello, who runs operations. The Houston spot draws a line.
The Charleston connection isn't random, either. The couple got married here in 2021. Botello has cooked the Holy Smokes barbecue festival and Charleston Wine + Food.
He hasn't commented on the opening. He doesn't really need to — the TRC filing says it.
No timeline yet. But brisket on Rutledge is now a matter of when.
This is a summary of an article published in the Post & Courier. Click here if you'd like to read that article.
