Archie had prepared a barbecue spread.
"When I say his barbecue was nothing short of amazing, I mean ev-
ery bit of it," Jones said. "His food wasn't only amazing, it left an
impression on me. As a Southerner, I'd had barbecue a million times
and some of it had been really, really good. But his was in some other
space that I had never experienced before. I couldn't imagine how he
got his food to taste that good, and it put me on this quest to try to
recreate what I had there at his house."
Jones turned his kitchen into a laboratory and set out to duplicate
what Uncle Lee had created. Lee passed away in 2012, so Jones was
on his own. He kept at it and, in time, believed his barbecue was ev-
ery bit as tasty as Lee's. But he needed affirmation.
In 2013, he entered the "Bad 2 the Bone BBQ" contest in Ocala. He
admits he felt out of place, an amateur who, he thought, stood no
chance against contestants who had been working for years trying
to perfect their craft.
Not only did he win, but one of the judges posted on his Face-
book page: "Rashad Jones, not only was your barbecue the best
that all three of the judges tasted tonight, your barbecue's the
best barbecue I've ever judged."
