Read the Big Cat BBQ Back Story in the Austin Business Journal

We were first introduced to James Jones by KEYE TV Meteorologist Chikage Windler, who’s a big fan of Big Cat BBQ. We’ve written about James’ amazing story here. Now you can also check out the back story of James and Big Cat BBQ in the online version of the Austin Business Journal. Here’s the article we wrote as it appears in the ABJ:

Sometimes the story behind a successful restaurant is more interesting and compelling than the food itself.

Such may well be the case with James Jones and his very popular Big Cat BBQ in Cedar Park.

As a young man growing up around Cuero, which is near Victoria, he developed a passion for smoking and grilling beef and pork. He competed in numerous cook-offs, and as he developed his own dry rub thoughts about someday opening his own barbecue joint began to percolate.

But James realized he had another calling, and that was to service. He tried to enroll in the police academy but found that he was too young, so he went on to start EMT training and became a paramedic. Eventually he became one of only a few techs with helicopter certification. He later opened a clinic near Kennedy and the young man was on a roll.

Not too long afterward he was carrying a big tank of oxygen into the clinic and it began to slip out of his grasp. As he lunged to keep it from falling he twisted his back and felt a sharp, stabbing pain which became progressively worse over the next few days.

He went up to Austin for tests and was diagnosed with cauda equina, a rare malady of the lower vertebrae. Surgery followed and his surgeon was not optimistic about James’ chances for walking — and yet, astonishingly, a nurse got him out of bed and onto a walker.

He steadily improved against the odds, and while his dream of the clinic had to be given up he was by no means done with entrepreneurship.

He talked with his wife about opening a barbecue place in Cedar Park and she agreed. Eventually he was able to set up Big Cat BBQ at the site of a former Dickey’s Barbecue Pit.

He was able to put his smoking skills back to work. And Cedar Park was immediately responsive. James had to extend his original hours to 8 p.m. to accommodate the demand.

James can stand now, and while he still has little sensation from his feet he toughs it out and continues on with this remarkable transformation. He’s got a new smoker built by his brother and the barbecue, especially the turkey legs and moist brisket, is still causing a real buzz in fast-growing Cedar Park.

– Rob Balon is a local food critic and CEO of The Balon Research Group.