Jackson Free Press

The first thing people may notice at the Chevron gas station (2650 Lakeland Drive, Flowood) just down the road from Crazy Ninja in Flowood is the pungent, smoky smell of barbecue. Many gas stations around the metro also have barbecue, but this one has the distinction of being home to the Hog Heaven BBQ food truck.

Jeff Puckett and his wife, Marla, moved to Jackson from St. Louis in 1998 to open the gas station. Besides family ties to Mississippi, where Puckett spent his childhood summers, he says youth and ambition drove him to open the gas station. Then, in 2001, he and Marla began Hog Heaven BBQ, which until last year was a restaurant inside the store. So, why barbecue?

"Why not?" Puckett says. "It's the best. Everybody loves barbecue. It's so universal."

When Puckett came to Mississippi, he brought St. Louis-style barbecue along with him, though he added some local elements to it, such as putting a Mississippi barbecue sauce on the side. He says the secret to St. Louis-style barbecue is the wood. While many people may use pecan and other hardwoods, he swears by hickory. Another secret is the St. Louis dry rub.

Last year, he and Marla decided to go mobile when they saw that the national food-truck market was growing. "It was just a hot industry (with) 8-percent growth a year," he says. "I couldn't pass that up."

Puckett says his day starts every morning about 6, when he comes to the station to begin cooking food for both the truck and the store. By 10 a.m., he loads the truck, prepares the drinks and readies for opening. At 10:30 a.m., he drives to Smith Park, where he serves until about 1 p.m.

Because there wasn't much of a mobile-food industry in Jackson, Puckett joined other food-truck owners and the city government to create a good environment for it. "That's been the challenge," Puckett says. "There's no blueprint for it. We're totally off the cuff. We're all independent ... so it's a loose-knit organization of food-truck operators."

Now that Jacksonians have grown more accustomed to getting their meals on wheels, he wants to serve the entire city his barbecue. He has made Smith Park in downtown his base and says that he and the other city food trucks want to eventually make it a food court of sorts.

"We could have a band playing in the park everyday," Puckett says.

"As long as there are people out there congregating, there's an association that can put this together."

For now, the city has "We Are Jackson Food Truck Fridays," which began last Friday, Sept. 11. Through Oct. 9, mobile food vendors such as Hog Heaven, LurnyD's Grille, 2 for 7 Kitchen and Pop Culture Pops will be at Smith Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Each event has a DJ and limited seating. For more information on Hog Heaven BBQ, visit hogheavenbbqms.com.