Maurice Johnson opened Mo’s BBQ in a small barn on FM 1960 Bypass Road W. in 1992 and moved the restaurant to its current location on the same road in 1999.

He ran the business until he got sick and called on his wife’s nephew Chuck Jackson—who lived across town—to help him run the restaurant, said Jackson, who is a retired Houston police officer. Johnson passed away a few years ago, Jackson said.

“I’d known Mo since I was fairly young, and we’d always been real close,” Jackson said. “He was a hoot.”

Jackson said country-style breakfast plates of eggs, sausage, grits, biscuits and gravy are ready by 11 a.m. for the restaurant’s first customers of the day.

Meanwhile, lunch and dinner specialties include barbecued beef brisket, pork ribs, smoked turkey and homemade sausages as well as tacos, loaded baked potatoes and—since 2017—seafood, he said.
Most of the dishes served at the restaurant are made from family recipes, Jackson said.

“Our mac and cheese is as homemade as you can get,” Jackson said. “All our desserts are made here—our banana pudding recipe is a hundred years old.”

James Anderson, a retired firefighter who has worked at Mo’s BBQ since 2011, said he helps run the business and maintain equipment in the restaurant.

“Did you ever notice all of the firefighters and police officers in the parking lot?,” Anderson said. “You can tell where there’s good food—it’s where they are.”

Sharon Carver, the restaurant’s office manager, said the restaurant often participates in fundraisers in the community.

Carver said the restaurant operates concession stands that support the FFA organization in Cy-Fair, caters at Shrine Circus in Fort Bend County and raises money for John Sealy Hospital’s Blocker Burn Center in Galveston.

“We are proud to help families and watch how young kids we supported with our fundraising grow up to be amazing people,” Anderson said.