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24
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
MARCH | APRIL 2017
the
Barbecue
issue
B
ig Mike Lewis, pitmaster and owner of Big Mike’s BBQ
Smokehouse in Houma, believes in patience, family and the
kind of good barbecue that’s worth studying for a lifetime.
Lewis grew up in Florida and learned about barbecue eating at
places like Big John’s Alabama BBQ inTampa, an open pit barbecue
restaurant founded in 1968 by the late Rev. John A. “Big John”
Stephens and still run by the Stephens family. “There’s generations
of barbecue knowledge there,”Lewis
says.Heate barbecue wherever
he could find it and became a dedicated student of the old joints
that dot Texas and the Gulf Coast. “I guess barbecue got in my
blood.”
After years in the Sunshine State, Lewis and his wife, Judith, moved
to Houma in 2007 so they could be near his father, Harold Lewis,
who had recently retired from running a mechanic shop. “Pop was
75 and I just wanted to spend time with him. Louisiana was calling
my name.”
The couple decided to open a restaurant and soon found a spot on
the West Side of Houma — a former Tastee Donuts — and Big
Mike’s BBQ Smokehouse opened for business.
Like Big John’s (their inspiration in Florida), Big Mike’s was a
family affair fueled by hard work and cooperation. Some parts of it
never change — even after a long day of tending fires and serving
folks, someone has to rise well before dawn to light the pits.
And for years, that job fell to Big Mike’s dad.
“Dad would get up so I didn’t have to. He knew I was already
working 12 to 14 hours a day.That man always had my back.”
The Lewis men worked side by side to build the restaurant. “Dad
didn’t take a salary the entire time he worked with me. In 2012 I
retired him. I said, ‘Dad, the train is moving; this is your stop. It’s
time for you to kick back and enjoy your life.’I sent him a retirement
check every single week, but he never spent a single cent.”
Things ran pretty smoothly until an electrical fire totaled the West
Side restaurant. Lewis scrambled to find a new spot, eventually
relocating to a Shell gas station right by the Rouses Market in the
Village East Shopping Center. “A gas station wasn’t our first choice
for a barbecue restaurant, but it actually ended up being a good
location for us,” he says.
Lewis eventually moved from the old station to a new outpost
on Barrow Street, and now he’s planning a second location in
Thibodaux.
He’s also created his own line of barbecue sauces,
rubs and fully cooked sausages, which he debuted
at Rouses. “We made a barbecue rub, which is for
brisket and pork, and a poultry rub, which we
use for grilled chicken and smoked turkey. Our
original sauce is a savory sauce, then we have a
sweet heat version.”
Every pitmaster dreams about having his own line
of food, but what was it like for him to see his vision
come true? “When I actually walked in and saw my
products on Rouses shelves? Well, I can’t begin to
describe how great that felt. I’m at Rouses every day,
and I still get excited when I see my stuff.”
The
Hog
-
Father
by
Tim Acosta, Rouses Marketing Director