One of the most distinctive barbecue experiences in the Las Vegas Valley has recently set up smoke in Henderson. Hog & Tradition unites Texas-style barbecue with dishes and flavors from the Dominican Republic.

Hog & Tradition launched in Salt Lake City last year; Henderson is its second location.

Beef brisket, a core of Texas barbecue, anchors the menu at Hog & Tradition. The meat is rubbed simply with salt and black pepper, then smoked slowly over low temperature with a mix of hickory and mesquite, both of which are commonly used in Texas.

The pepper, wood, smoke and the stall point — the temperature at which a large cut stops cooking — all combine to create the brisket bark, that essential caramelized crust sheltering juicy meat within. Feel, not temperature, determines when a brisket is done at the restaurant. After that, it’s wrapped in butcher paper to rest, the meat becoming even more tender.

“Some things you don’t need to change, and brisket was the first meat we perfected. We keep it simple,” said Geoff Patmides, the chef-owner of Hog & Tradition, whose background seems ideally suited to a restaurant blending cultures.