Smokey John's Bar-B-Que is turning 50, and the Reaves family is marking the milestone with a free block party at its Mockingbird Lane restaurant on Saturday, capping off a Customer Appreciation Week that runs through the day of the event. Dallas-area residents are invited to celebrate five decades of a barbecue business that started as a backyard hobby and grew into one of the city's most recognizable culinary institutions.
The story behind that transformation began long before the restaurant existed. According to craveDFW, founder “Smokey” John Reaves originally ran a roofing and construction business and smoked meats in his backyard as thank-you gifts for clients. Demand grew so strong that he reportedly stored excess smoked turkeys in his mother-in-law's bathtub, and eventually the food side of his operation eclipsed the roofing work entirely.
That backyard hustle turned into a storefront in 1976, when Reaves opened his first restaurant at Lemmon Avenue and Mockingbird Lane alongside his wife Gloria and cousin Douglas “Rent” Spraglin. As WFAA reports, the restaurant was originally called Big John's, but after pit smoke filled the dining room during an early kitchen mishap, the name Smokey John's stuck. Gloria Reaves ran the front-of-house operations and books, while Spraglin worked as head pitmaster.
Cowboys Connections and a Pioneering Vendor
The restaurant's early growth got an unexpected boost from professional football. Dallas Cowboys stars Drew Pearson and Harvey Martin became investors in the business in the late 1970s, and the Oak Cliff Advocate notes that Martin's on-air praise of Smokey John's during ABC's Superteams broadcast following Super Bowl XII gave the business a jump in national visibility. Martin later partnered on a second location in Oak Cliff called Harvey Martin's Smokey John's.
Around 1978, John Reaves became only the second Black vendor in the history of the State Fair of Texas, according to DiningOut, and he spent much of the 1980s advocating for opportunities for other minority vendors at Fair Park. Concessions at the fair eventually became a core pillar of the company's commercial success, a legacy the family has continued to build on in the decades since.
Rebuilding After a Devastating Fire
The business has weathered real crises along the way. A 2017 kitchen fire completely destroyed the Mockingbird Lane location, and the restaurant spent 16 months rebuilding before it could reopen, per reporting cited in a Business Insider video. Today, the operation generates nearly $4 million in annual revenue and smokes roughly 2,000 pounds of brisket every week, figures that reflect just how far the rebuild has come.
Ownership passed to sons Brent and Juan Reaves after founder “Smokey” John Reaves died on August 24, 2019, with their sister Yulise Reaves Waters serving as the business's legal consultant. The brothers had already taken over day-to-day operations back in 2016, ahead of their father's passing, and they've since expanded the brand well beyond the original storefront.
From Fair Park to National Television
That expansion included a stint on national TV. Brent and Juan Reaves starred in A&E's 2022 reality series Deep Fried Dynasty, which followed their multi-booth fair operations after they won the 2019 Big Tex Choice Award for Big Red Chicken Bread — a win that came just one day after their father passed away.
The brothers have also pushed the business into new culinary territory at the fair. At the 2024 State Fair of Texas, Smokey John's became the first vendor in state fair history to make its own house-cured pastrami for a New York-style deli booth, according to WFAA, a project that required nearly two weeks of preparation per batch and testing on more than 300 pounds of brisket. The brothers reportedly spent a year researching pastrami delis in New York City before bringing the concept to their Johnz Deli booth.
A Block Party With a Charitable Purpose
The 50th anniversary celebration on Saturday at 1820 W. Mockingbird Lane is presented by Frost Bank with support from the Mark Cuban Heroes Center and the Dallas Stars Foundation, per craveDFW. Ten percent of the event's proceeds will benefit local nonprofits Helping Hands Open Hearts and the Rock Teen Youth Foundation, continuing a tradition of community giving that founder John Reaves established as a core value of the business.
The event will also unveil a commemorative portrait honoring the founding “pillars” of the business: John Reaves, Gloria Reaves, Douglas Spraglin, and early key figure Ruth Hauntz. As reported by FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, Smokey John's has also shared its recipe for jalapeno brisket corn as part of the celebration, giving fans a taste of the menu that has kept customers coming back for half a century.
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