Located in the heart of Destin, Mike Buckingham is trying to bring back some of "old Destin," one concrete block and barbeque sandwich at a time.
"I wanted for Destin to bring back some of the old Destin. So I wanted a concrete block building. I wanted the old metal roof and I want this wood to age," said Buckingham, owner of Buck's Smokehouse located on north side of U.S. 98.
"I want people to feel like when they come in, that it's old school," he said.
Mike and Michele Buckingham had a soft opening this week and word spread quickly throughout the community of their barbeque smoked pork sandwiches, ribs, baked beans and fries.
"It's been overwhelming," Buckingham said, as he was furiously working in his kitchen Thursday afternoon. "It blows me away, but I'm digging it."
With plans to stay open until 2 p.m., they ran out of food a little after 1 on Thursday.
"I got here at 6:30 this morning … threw on 20 racks of ribs, 30 chickens, two briskets and then we went through 10 butts."
This is Buckingham's first shot in the restaurant business.
When he moved to Destin in 1985 he loved the Rib Shack, a local barbeque place that closed in the early 1990s.
"I'm a barbeque freak. Everywhere we go I've got to eat barbeque," he said.
Because of his love for barbeque, he decided to build his own smokehouse.
"I build restaurants, but I don't know nothing about running one," Buckingham said.
"But my philosophy is real simple, 'if man has done it once, I can do it again.' And here we are."
"I had my basics. I know how to smoke meat, but I didn't know a thing about coleslaw, potato salad and baked beans. About a week before we opened up, we just got in the kitchen and started mixing up, and this is where we've gotten to."
Not only is the building old school, with a wrap around porch loaded with picnic tables and a washtub where you can wash your hands as you leave, but he's serving up his food on paper.
"I told my 14-year-old son, Dad's going to serve on paper. He said, 'Dad you're crazy. People are used to a plate.' Son we want to be a little different. We want to serve good barbeque and we don't want to serve it on a plate. So everything here at Bucks we wrap in paper … freezer paper," he said.
"So when you're done, you wrap up all your stuff and walk over and throw it in the garbage and you're done," he said.
Some of the food and fixin's served up at Buck's include barbeque smoked pulled pork, chicken, turkey and beef brisket sandwiches with sides such as fries, onion rings, pork and beans, potato salad and coleslaw. And of course ribs, half and full racks.
The smokehouse has a pick-up window and they will do catering.
"We're going to start doing family packs. We will send you home with a butt and a couple of sides and a loaf of bread and some sauce," Buckingham said.
Buck's offers three homemade sauces, a Carolina, a Sweet Red and an Alabama White sauce.
"We make our own recipes right here," Buckingham said.
"We are new, we are trying, we will succeed. I'm not going to say we're the best, but we’re going to continue to tweak it until we make them happy."
When tourist come into town they go on the south side of the highway, Buckingham said, "but the locals come on the north side and find the local favorite … which I hope this is going to be."
Buck's Smokehouse will have a grand opening on Wednesday with plans to be open 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.