225BatonRouge.com

There’s a sense of balance and simplicity in Chris Cook’s life.

As he strides into middle age, the barbecue proprietor has it figured out. “My dream life didn’t mean I had to make tons of income. There are a lot of ways that I feel like a wealthy person,” Cook says, pointing to a paid-off truck he says he’ll drive into the ground.

“And we just moved into a brand new home. It took me 36 years to own my own home.”

Which isn’t bad for a guy who started what is now a thriving business by working in the blazing heat of a laundromat parking lot on Government Street on the edge of the Garden District, armed only with a grill and a card table.

Not that Brother’s Bar-B-Q is the Taj Mahal. It’s a simple, screened building that’s home to his grills, a small kitchen and supplies. Nothing more, nothing less.

Early each weekday morning, Chris Cook heads to Sam’s Club to buy that day’s beef, sausage and pork ribs. The chicken gets delivered on ice soon after. And then he gets to cooking. In a couple hours, the smoke is wafting and meat starts falling off bones.

Brother’s—note that it’s singular—is named because Cook’s twin brother, Jason, a policeman in the Florida Panhandle, would always tell people about “my brother’s barbecue place in Baton Rouge.”

For almost 20 years, Cook worked every restaurant industry job imaginable, but he itched to start his own place.

“My wife’s parents had a grill that you pulled behind the truck on a trailer, and I asked if I could borrow it to start this business,” he says.

Brother’s was born, and Cook’s dream was realized.

“Of course, everybody laughed at me. Which is my biggest advice when anyone tells me they want to get started in something like this: If you believe in what you want to do enough, don’t expect other people to share your dreams with you. A lot of times people want to rain on your parade.”

He worked the parking lot across the street for 18 months while readying his current place.

“The diligence,” he says knowingly, thinking back to those days five years ago when he would serve barbecue all day then work on his place across the street well into the night. Converting what was once a filling station into a barbecue joint was tough.

“It was the hardest thing I ever did. I struggled. There were times when I just wanted to run down the street and just cry. I was that frustrated.”

Now it’s mostly smooth sailing.

“I turned a filling station into a grilling station,” he says. Some grilled meat, beans, potato salad and soft drinks. Nothing more, nothing less.

Cook shuts down by 2 p.m., giving him time to get in his afternoon workout and pick up his 5-year-old.

And talk about balance: His full name is Joel Christopher Cook, but since he goes by Chris and his wife is Tina, they named their daughter Christina, who is the biggest reason Brother’s is a lunch-only business.

“I came to learn what a valuable commodity time is,” Cook says. “Now I’m home when my wife gets home from work. I get in a good workout every day and stay in shape. I’m there to put my baby to bed.

It really means a lot to me to have that time.”

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