Big Tex, just west of downtown Decatur, will return with a slightly different partnership mix sometime around Thanksgiving.
The bar/restaurant was open from late 2011 until December 2014, then for a year after closing served as a catering outlet for Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q. In fact, though no longer involved, brothers Jonathan and Justin Fox were partners in the original Big Tex venture.
But original partners Dan and Beau Nolen are returning. The Nolens founded and still run Smith’s Olde Bar in midtown and remain partners with Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q.
Other partners include Robin Vaughan, Big Tex’s general manager during most of its first incarnation, and Scott Drake, a Decatur commissioner who has an interest in several restaurants.
Drake describes the refurbished Big Tex as “a neighborhood bar with really good food—sometimes maybe even great food.” Though not precisely a sports bar, the restaurant will feature eight to 10 televisions, Drake said, and carry all the major sports packages.
The building is deceptively large, about 4,500 square feet. Decatur veterans may recall that it was DeKalb Chrysler Plymouth in the 1950s through 1960s, and a tire store in the 1970s.
