‘Big Lee’s Barbecue’ first restaurant opens in Ocala

OCALA, Fla. (WCJB) - Ocala pitmaster and owner of Big Lee’s Barbecue, Rashad Jones opened the doors on Tuesday to his first restaurant.

Jones started the business after his wife’s Uncle Leon, also known as Big Lee, died in 2012. Two years later, he introduced the city of Ocala to Big Lee’s Southern Style Barbecue.

Since its opening in 2014, Big Lee’s Barbecue food trucks have taken Ocala by storm. Jones said expanding to a restaurant will open more opportunities not only for himself but his employees.

Faithful customers waited hours in line to support Jones for the grand opening.

“We’ve been coming since it started and we lived in DeLand and he worked over in Daytona and one of his buddies was into smoking meats and told us about it and we started driving over here, now we live over here,” explained Cheryl Guisinger, a long time customer.

Jones has been featured on the Food Network three times. He is making his way back to the Big Apple once again to go head-to-head with Chef Bobby Flay in a barbecue showdown.

The restaurant is located in the Paddock Shoppes Center in Ocala. It’s open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. seven days a week.

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