In the South, barbecue is almost a religious experience.   When you open the door that mouth-watering smell of smoked meats will tell you if you’re in the right place or not.

Back in 1949 Lou Bono opened a Southern pit barbecue restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida.    The fire pit was right behind the counter, where two pit men cooking on separate pits over real wood (usually oak),  smoked meats, turkey, pulled pork, ribs, chicken and brisket.

Back in 1957 I was six years old when my father first took me to Bono’s.   We sat at the counter and he introduced me to Harvey Green, The Pit Boss.   My dad’s name was Harvey too,  but I never called him that, so it felt good saying. “Hey Harvey” out loud every time we went there.

I loved staring over the counter drinking sweet tea, watching Harvey do his thing. He always gave me a free banana pudding.

Harvey made you feel important,  he never forgot a name and he knew what everybody wanted.

Over time he called me “Mr. David” and while Dad ran off to talk to friends at the tables,  I would soak up Harvey’s words of wisdom.

Harvey always said “if I tell you something,  you can take it to the bank.     I don’t steal, I don’t lie, my daddy told me that when I was 10 years old”.

For many years Harvey sent his mother a $100 bill for her birthday,  “I don’t value money,  I value what it can do for you.” Harvey once remarked the food business “it’s like money in the bank,  you gotta eat to live”.

He said he never missed one day of work and was never late.   Harvey never said the word”No”.

I learned how to interact with people from Harvey and how to build relationships.

It’s amazing the millions of customers that he served over his almost sixty-year legacy at Bono’s, slicing,  cutting, cooking and chatting up folks at the counter.  His regulars knew him and he knew his regulars, from how they liked their meat cooked to their favorite barbecue sauces. He became so popular he even received write in votes for the mayor of Jacksonville and governor of Florida.

Harvey passed away in 2019,  but recently I ran into Tim Tebow at Bono’s, we were both born in Jacksonville and we spent a wonderful hour at the counter reminiscing about Harvey.

With all the sacred meats at Bono’s, their selections of sides which change daily are amazing, from black eyed peas, lima beans, sweet potato mash,  Brunswick stew (my favorite), onion rings and fries, fried okra, fried corn, fried pickles, collards and awesome baked beans, you always leave full and with take home.

Now their barbecue sauces are another story, from the 1949 original, sweet and tangy,  Hickory red and Smoking Pit hot, which I always buy by the gallon every few months.

My daughters started eating at Bonos at six like me, and to this day they still eat the smoking pit hot sauce.

Today Bono’s has over 20 locations, almost all in North Florida, except for one in Denver.

I don’t know about you but writing about Harvey and Bono’s has got my mouth watering, so I’ll meet you there in a couple hours at the counter.