PINE BLUFF — Johnny Arthur Browning, the original owner of Arthur's Bar-B-Q, a well-known Pine Bluff restaurant that won the favor of Orval Faubus when he was governor, died Monday. He was 98.
Browning was a railroad worker when he bought the Pair-A-Dice Inn in 1935, changing its name to Arthur's Bar-B-Q, said his daughter, Peggy Fitzhugh.
"When my father first bought the business, he just sold hamburgers. He didn't even know how to fix barbecue," Fitzhugh said.
Fitzhugh said some of the regulars at the restaurant urged Browning to serve barbecue and showed him how to prepare it.
"They taught my dad how to barbecue on a little barbecue grill with hickory wood," she said.
The restaurant kept serving the specialty until it closed in 2005.
Fitzhugh said she will always remember that Browning cooked "tons of barbecue" for Orville Faubus during his time as Arkansas governor.
"He cooked barbecue for people all over the state of Arkansas," she said. "People from all over the United States that had lived in Pine Bluff called my father and he shipped barbecue and barbecue sauce all over the U.S."
The restaurant was popular with businessmen at lunchtime, who gave way to high school students when classes let out for the day. The business remains on the list of Arkansas barbecue hot spots featured on U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln's Web site.
Browning retired in July 1976 and his son, Johnny H. Browning, took over the business.
"I grew up in that place," Johnny H. Browning said.
"I'm sure there are a lot of kids with fond memories because I can remember a lot of high school kids that came over there to eat every day," he said.
A funeral is set for 1 p.m. Thursday at the chapel at Ralph Robinson & Son Funeral Directors.
For more information see Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.