Graham Simmons’ home is full of the right smells: Wafting smoke, meats covered in homemade rubs and sauces and Southern cooking.Those smells have followed Simmons and his wife, Hayden, in their moves around Gainesville as the couple turned backyard barbecuing into a passion.That smoke and those smells now fill another area in Gainesville: midtown, where Graham and Hayden Simmons are reviving the shuttered Big Bear Cafe to bring the city its newest barbecue place. Simmons started Foothills Barbecue as a catering operation in December. He called it a “passion project” at the time, but it’s quickly turned into more — the Simmons family is on the edge of opening a fully fledged restaurant.
Foothills Barbecue reviving Big Bear Cafe location
Gainesville's newest restaurant coming in the location of the classic midtown dining spot
