JB’s in Rexburg closed in June. Now this restaurant is moving in.
Published at
REXBURG – A Texas-style barbecue restaurant will take over the building where JB’s restaurant stood for half a century in Rexburg.
JB’s Restaurant, formerly located at 150 W Main Street, closed its doors on June 24 after 51 years of operation. Now, Sparks Barbecue will take its place.
Sparks Barbecue began operating in January as a ghost kitchen in Pizza Pie Cafe, meaning the food was prepared in the kitchen for delivery or pick-up. But the goal has always been for the restaurant to have its own location.
“We created that space in the back of Pizza Pie to be able to create these new concepts that we want to do and to be able to get our systems and recipes down,” says Chris Sparks, one of the owners of Sparks Barbecue. “It’s a good spot where we can develop and be able to launch it into a building.”
Sparks is partners with Jacob Muller and Matt Smith, who also owns Red Rabbit Grill and Pizza Pie Cafe.
The group traveled to Texas to research and craft high quality recipes.
“[The meat is] going to be smoked for 12 to 14 hours to make sure we’re going to have good quality meat,” Sparks said.
The Texas-style barbecue menu includes five different meats, including brisket, tri-tip, ribs, pulled pork and turkey. Sides include coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, elotes and loaded smoked baked potato. And a new addition? Sandwiches – by popular demand.
“We got a lot of customer feedback, which was valuable,” Muller said. “Just being able to know people wanted sandwiches. People would call and they would be upset, ‘Oh you guys don’t do sandwiches, I’ll go elsewhere.’ We obviously want to take care of those people’s wants and needs so we took that feedback. We’re implementing it into what we’re doing now,” Muller said.
Sparks Barbecue is planned to open sometime next month. It will be open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.