Jerry Holloway put Pacific on the map for smoked meat and music
STORY AND PHOTOS by Jim McCarty
Stop in at Brown Jerry’s Brews, Blues and Barbecue in Pacific and you’re likely to find owner Jerry Holloway holding court at a high-top table just inside the door. He loves to talk, and if he has the time he will tell you about his career as a tight end with the St. Louis football Cardinals and Denver Broncos or about his days as a hall-of-fame college hurdler. But what Jerry really likes to talk about is the family gatherings where he learned to cook.
“I’m a product of a sharecropper son from Brownsville, Tennessee, and I learned how to barbecue watching my aunts and especially my uncles cook,” he says. “All of my relatives are unbelievable cooks, but when it came to barbecuing, the men knew exactly what they were doing, and I used to stay up late at night and watch them do their trade. And it rolled over into my life, and I started doing some barbecuing when I was in high school, and then I started doing whole hogs in college.”
When Jerry’s football career ended in 1983, he went to work for Grey Eagle Distributors, selling beer for Anheuser-Busch. That job ended in 2016. “My wife told me, ‘There’s no way I’m going to get up in the morning and go to work while you lay in bed, so you better find something to do,” Jerry says with his signature deep-throated laugh.
The answer came while heading to Kansas for a celebrity pheasant hunt with fellow NFL veteran Richie Stephens, who played for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders. Richie owned a bar in Pacific that he wanted to sell. “He goes, ‘I’m selling my bar. Why don’t you buy it?,’ ” Jerry recalls. “I’m going, ‘Nope, I’m not gonna do it.’ A year went by and here we are again, on that same hunt and he goes, “Why don’t you buy my place?’ ”
A Place with Potential
Jerry offered to manage it but changed his tune once he saw the place. “I looked around and looked around, and I said, ‘Well, this place has potential.’ It was a lot of work to get together, but I came in and I spruced it up, and I put my flair to it, and I’ve had some of my servers add a little bit to the place as well. It turned out to be pretty good.”
The result was a restaurant and music venue that served as a catalyst for turning Pacific — the last small town before St. Louis County — into a tourist destination. Part of Brown Jerry’s draw is the outdoor seating, created when Jerry talked the city into selling him four former parking spots on Pacific’s downtown St. Louis Street. Since then, more restaurants have moved to town, a cigar bar moved in next door to Brown Jerry’s, a Route 66 visitor’s center opened and the legendary Bigfoot monster truck team moved to Pacific.
“I get a lot of people off the highway to stop, especially if they punch in barbecue on their phones,” Jerry says. “And if they’re on their way out West, they always stop on their way back through. I don’t have the advertising dollars some of these big conglomerates have, but I know I’ve got good food. All of my business comes through word of mouth, and people have had my stuff all over the United States.”
Sweet Heat on the Meat
Of course, barbecue holds center stage here. Jerry describes his barbecue as Tennessee style. “We’re more of a sweet heat, and I won’t even say heat, just enough to let you know that you got a little heat with what you’re eating,” he says. “And if you notice, we only have one sauce. There’s no need for me to have 50 other sauces, because by the time you try so many others, you’re like, OK, which one did I really like? So, we stick with one, and we serve it hot. It doesn’t sit out on the table. This is a sauce my family came up with. I’ve taken it over the years, and I’ve put my spin on it, and if I took you to one of my relative’s houses, the sauce there would be pretty much the same.”
Regulars often ask the staff for the next great thing to try. And often they point them to the 24-ounce pork steak. “It’s a big pork steak,” Jerry says. “People are amazed at the size, but they’re also amazed at its tenderness. It’s just slow cooked. I strictly use cherrywood. I don’t use any other kind of wood. It gives it a hint of flavor, but it’s a mild smoke. It’s not a heavy, hard smoke.”
Jerry does things one way, and that’s his way. Take his brisket for example. He smokes it low and slow and then lets it rest. He chills it and cuts it thin on his slicer. Then he piles it high on a bun until the sandwich is so massive you’ll have to eat most of it with a fork. The tender meat releases its smoky flavor with every bite.
Then there’s the Brown Jerry’s ribs, which are great whether you sauce them or eat them dry. “Our ribs are traditional spare ribs,” Jerry says. “They’re not the fancy baby back ribs that a lot of people use in some of the higher-end barbecue places. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to ribs. We use the St. Louis style, meaning that we cut the tips off and you just have a nice uniform spare rib.”
Pair any of the smoked meats with a big slice of sweet cornbread souffle, made with kernels of corn inside and served with a dollop of butter on top. Or opt for the three-cheese mac and cheese, a favorite side at the restaurant.
You’ll also notice shrimp dishes on the menu, including a trio of blackened shrimp tacos served only on Thursdays.
“I’ve been a shrimp nut all my life, ever since I was introduced to shrimp as a young kid in northern Illinois,” Jerry says. “I have quite a few people that come in here who love shrimp as well.”
Another popular dish is the blackened chicken pasta, which started out as a Saturday-only special. This dish began at a brewery where Jerry was a partner. When it closed, he brought the chef to Brown Jerry’s and the pasta dish appeared as a special. “We introduced it to people here on Saturday nights, and it’s been a big seller,” Jerry says. “So big, in fact, that it’s now a part of the regular menu due to popular demand.”
Pizza on the Menu
And while barbecue is what brings most guests into the restaurant, it’s not the only draw at Brown Jerry’s. A recent addition is pizza, cooked to order in a wood-fired oven made by Mugnaini in Healdsburg, California. It takes less than 5 minutes to cook a pizza in this state-of-the-art oven.
You’ll always find a daily special to go with the regular menu at Brown Jerry’s such as all-you-can-eat fried chicken and meatloaf on Sundays and steak night on Wednesdays. For something really different order the crawfish cakes or the freshly made pork rinds. And you can end your meal with Jerry’s Incredible Cake, made with a mixture of gooey chocolate cake, cheesecake and chocolate ganache.
Then there’s the blues part of the name. Jerry wanted to bring live entertainment to Pacific, so he reached out to his contacts in the St. Louis music scene for special evenings that pack the house. His musical offerings include regulars such as Brother Jefferson, Rogers and Nienhaus and Jeremiah Johnson. Check the restaurant’s Facebook page for performance schedules.
Whether you come to Brown Jerry’s for the barbecue, beer and signature cocktails or big-city blues in a small-town setting, the staff will treat you like family. “This is all family here,” Jerry says.
Email Jim McCarty at jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop.