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During the height of the pandemic, Michael Moore had a hankering for some barbecue but was having a hard time finding a place open and to his liking.

Like many others, Moore had more unanticipated spare time, which sparked his curiosity.

Armed with a barbecue pit from his brother and a rudimentary understanding of grilling obtained during time in a fraternity, Moore sought out to try and perfect the craft of barbequing. What started as a pandemic hobby has grown into a business.

“I was barbecuing at the house all of the time,” Moore said. “That was how I learned. I started researching Aaron Franklin and his book ‘A Meat Manifesto.’ That is where things really started to take a turn. I got inspired. I am a musician and a worship pastor at Pathway Church. The whole cooking process is like music, and Franklin talked about that in his book.”

The connection between cooking and music allowed Moore to tap into his creative process. From there, Moore began to tinker with recipes.

“I got pretty obsessed with it,” he said. “I started cooking for people and using them as my guinea pigs. Here we are two years now and I have done successful fundraisers for my church. I did Riverfest two years in a row. I cooked brisket nachos for that, and people just loved it. People have been getting me to cater for their weddings.”

Moore said the more chances he took, the more doors opened to grow.

“So far things have been going really well,” he said. “Our community in Port Neches has been really supportive. I am excited about the future. I have a dream one day to have a venue so me and all of my friends can play music on the weekend and have live music during the week. But in the meantime, I am going to keep doing what I am doing with the food trailer and pop up around the Golden Triangle and see where it takes me.”

Moore credits God for the continuous opportunities to expand Moore House Barbeque.

“My landlord for my house owns the spot that we are at,” he said. “I asked him if he minds if we have a bunch of wood in our backyard. That popped up the question of what I was doing… We ended up working out a deal where he would lease that land to me by Debbie’s Delights.”

The location is typically open Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but Moore said the best way to stay up to date is to follow Moore House Barbeque on Facebook.

Moore said current fan favorites are the brisket mac, which is brisket and macaroni and cheese featuring a homemade barbecue sauce, and the brisket nachos, which has white queso, jalapenos and a drizzle of barbecue and brisket on top.

“I am working on some recipes right now that I think people are going to love,” he said. “I am working on a pulled-pork po’boy with melted pepper jack cheese. I have a lot of Cajun influences, so down the road we will do some gumbo. We have our own family boudin recipe.”

Moore said he hopes his story encourages others to follow their dreams.

“If you have a dream, there is no reason you have to keep doing a 9-5,” he said. “You can break out of the mode. This was just a dream that I had. It has been one of the most fulfilling things to see it become a reality.”