Big Mike’s BBQ Smokehouse brings taste of home to Houma

What’s more satisfying than running one’s own business and reaping the benefits of turning a profit? To Big Mike’s BBQ Smokehouse owner Mike Lewis, it means everything.

For nearly 10 years, he had worked as a general manager at various restaurant franchises in Florida.

But, Lewis said he has nothing to show for it but a pat on the back and a slight bump in pay.

“I always gave 110 percent on the job, but there was nothing for me to gain – no retirement, no pension, nothing but a paycheck,” Lewis said. “At the end of the day, it didn’t really benefit me or my family.”

When the opportunity to own his own business presented itself – he took it, marinated it and started cooking.

“I make my own rewards now,” he said. “All the effort that goes into this business – the sweat, blood and tears of slaving over a hot grill – I get to witness the benefits directly.”

Lewis said his main focus is to build a successful establishment for his wife, Judith, and his children – Gabby, 2, and five-month-old Isaiah.

“My parents didn’t have the opportunity to pass a business down to me, so I had to work and get my own,” he said ” I want my children to one day benefit from this so they won’t have to struggle to make ends meet.”

The irony is that Lewis’ mother, Brenda Rose, urged him years ago to venture out and open a barbecue place and share his passion for cooking.

Lewis came to Houma nine months ago to spend time with his father, Harold, a longtime Houma resident. While visiting, he saw that Karl’s Café on Barrow Street was vacant. Timing and opportunity collided and Big Mike’s BBQ Smokehouse was born. The first ribs were served off the pit on March 18.

“I missed my dad and he isn’t getting any younger,” Lewis said, chuckling about his 76-year-old father. “I decided that I would move my family here to spend some time with him.”

Lewis cooks and his father regularly helps run the pit.

“My dad keeps an eye on the meat so that I won’t literally ‘smoke’ it,” he said.

Buying Karl’s Café was the smartest thing Lewis said he could have done, because he didn’t have to modify the inside of the building that much. He only added a chopping table near the front counter. However, out back was a different story. There, Lewis built his own smokehouse and pit area.

“I had something like a carport installed, and I enclosed it with a tin roof and siding,” he said.

And Big Mike’s BBQ Smokehouse tapped into a ripe market in Houma. Lewis’s is the lone joint exclusively serving traditional barbecue in the city. Granted, there are two other Houma restaurants that serve barbecue; however, they also dish up Louisiana seafood.

“We present ourselves as a barbecue place and that’s what we are going to be,” Lewis said. “People can come in and get the traditional Louisiana po-boys but it will have smoked barbecue meats in it and not seafood.”

“There are enough seafood places here and not enough barbecue places,” he added.

To this business owner, staying true to “barbecue” is what sets him apart from his competitors. At Big Mike’s, customers can order a variety of smoked meats including ribs, chicken, sausage, chopped beef and pork. They can also have their meats accompanied by an assortment of sides including traditional Louisiana jambalaya, cole slaw, baked beans, potato salad and fries.

His signature dishes are his smoke-flavored meats served with a barbecue sauce imported from Florida.

“Smoking the meat gives it a flavor that you just can’t get everywhere,” Lewis said, noting that the process is not an easy one. “It takes time and patience to get it just right.”

Lewis acknowledges he is taking a risk by not serving traditional Louisiana foods. In addition to the sauce, he imports sausage from his hometown, Tampa, Fla., as well. Lewis said he chose Florida sauces because they have so many diverse flavors. And the sausage, he vows, is one of the best he’s ever tasted.

“I wanted to bring something different to the area that I felt people would like,” he said. “I was raised on this sauce and sausage, and I feel it’s has the quality to compete with Louisiana sausage.”

The difference between Louisiana and Florida sausages, in his opinion, is that “Florida sausage doesn’t have that smoked sausage taste. It’s mild and light. The most spice you can taste is the hint of black pepper.”

He explained, “It has a good texture and it cooks better than Louisiana sausage.”

Apparently the flavor is to Houma’s liking. Lewis said he goes through 500 pounds of sausage and several cases of barbecue sauce in a month’s time.

Mike Lewis, owner and operator of Big Mike’s BBQ Smokehouse on Barrow Street in Houma, is reaping the benefits of being his own boss. The first-time business owner is quickly making a name for himself with his traditional-style smoked barbeque. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN