Ready for a smokin' season

Living with his brother in Austin, Texas, for 15 years, Larry Davidson learned a thing or two about barbecuing.
And when he and his brother moved back to Jay County to be with their ailing father, it was the barbecue he was going to miss.
“They always told me when I moved back … that I’d never make it because I didn’t have any good barbecue or any Blue Bell ice cream,” joked Davidson.
But after watching and learning the trade of barbecuing from his brother, who died of cancer three years ago, Davidson decided it was time to follow through on his dream of opening a barbecue restaurant.
“I decided that it’s something my brother would like. I done it for me, but I done it for him too,” said Davidson of Jay Smokin’ BBQ. “Because that’s what he liked to do. We spent a lot of time doing it together.”
Initially planning to start with a food truck and eventually expand into a full restaurant with a place for music, Davidson drove by the restaurant’s current home on Commerce Street and thought it would be a good place to start. It held special meaning because it’s across from where both his father and mother worked at Jay County Courthouse.
“I spent a lot of time up around here when I was a kid, around the courthouse and stuff. I can actually sit out here and see where (my dad’s) old office was over there so that brings back a lot of old memories too,” said Davidson. “Hopefully they’d be proud of me.”
The restaurant held its ribbon cutting last year. Only open during the warmer months, the restaurant is gearing up for its April 2 opening.
Davidson and his wife, Leeanne, are making a few changes to expand their customer base, such as being open for longer hours and offering more variety in the way customers can order, including new combination dishes and buying meat by the pound. The restaurant will continue to offer its top sellers — smoked brisket, pulled pork and made-daily sides of jalapeno cornbread, baked beans and macaroni and cheese — alongside new options such as sliders and sloppy dogs (a bigger version of the former chili dog).
The owners are appreciative of the support from volunteers, who work for tips alongside the Davidsons, customers and those who donate truckloads of apple wood.
“We do have a lot of support from everybody. People will come and sit around out here and just talk,” said Leeanne Davidson, adding that people will come regardless of the weather. “We’ve seen where it’s pouring down rain so hard you can’t see the buildings on the other side of the street, and people stop their cars and run up here and order food. … We’ve just had so much support. It’s been unbelievable.”
They’ve also found one of the best ways to draw in customers is by the nose.
“From down at the funeral home and all the way down, they’re like, ‘Man, we can smell you,’” said Leeanne Davidson. “That’s our best advertisement is that smoke drifting across the street.”
Semi drivers have visited the restaurant telling the Davidsons that they smelled the barbecue all the way from Meridian Street and drove in circles until they found where it was coming from.
“That’s the best,” said Leeanne Davidson.[[In-content Ad]]