The restaurant opened March 16 and closed on March 20 before reopening on the March 22 for to-go orders only.
“The community really showed up,” Parks said. “They say it takes a village. Well, Buda is that village. We couldn’t have predicted a better outcome for the crazy, crazy start we had.”Despite it all, he was not going to let the pandemic derail his love letter to the service industry.“We opened up this restaurant with a collection of like-minded people to produce the best possible product, presented to the guest by a staff that gives a damn,” he said.
Located at the Buda Mill & Grain Co., the restaurant features classic French Cajun food with a mix of Southern American cuisine, Parks noted.
“We just want the best representation of what we think the best cuisine on the planet is,” he said.
He added that most people assume Cajun means spicy, but that is not necessarily true. There are some dishes, such as the pozole, a traditional Mexican dish, Mud Bugs put its own spin on by adding seafood. The menu at Mud Bugs changes slightly every four months to swap out different types of fish in a dish. It also has a dinner service called The Daily Dozen Monday through Wednesday in which Mud Bugs makes 12 servings of a special dish that sometimes makes it onto the permanent menu eventually or sometimes is never served again.
After close to two years of whirlwinds, Parks is planning on expanding the Mud Bugs footprint with another business in Buda and two in Kyle, saying that he wants to offer food made from scratch as opposed to fast food.
“I just want to keep perfecting and keep honing my craft and the way we do it,” Parks said.
Mud Bugs A Cajun Joint
306 S. Main St., Ste. 107, Buda
512-523-8241. www.peaceloveandcrawfish.com
Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
