BUDA — When Jeff Parks prepared to open a restaurant, he didn’t plan for the world to shut down the same day. Despite this, years later, he’s celebrating the five-year anniversary of Mudbugs - A Cajun Joint.
Parks’ first memory of cooking was at the young age of five when he prepared ham and beans, with cornbread, cast iron scallop potatoes and collard greens with his mother.
Pictured, a menu with artwork sits outside of the business.
“My mom was a great cook and I just was always in the kitchen when she was cooking and she just started showing me how,” recalled Parks. “I’ve [also] always loved Cajun food. In my opinion, Cajun food is the best expression of food; it’s Southern American meets French. A lot of people have the misconception that Cajun is spicy and, I mean, some of it can be, but it’s just flavorful.”
This love, along with his more than 40 years of experience in the restaurant industry and time spent honing his cooking skills, led Parks to open Mudbugs - A Cajun Joint March 16, 2020, though it didn’t go as planned, he said, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the nation.
Beginning with the initial forecast of $10,000-$15,000 a day, he began hoping to receive $1,000 each day. Then, after the government issued stimulus checks, Parks lost 70% of his staff. The losses continued, as, without the estimated customers, Parks was left with food that would otherwise be tossed out, so he opted to donate it to first responders throughout the city.
“I’m a glass half-full type person. I can’t be a pessimist; it just wears on your soul too much,” the owner explained. “You have to say, ‘Okay. I’ve got all of this. What do I do now? I can either sit on the curb and cry … or I put a smile on my face and say, ‘Hey, thank you so much for coming into my restaurant [during this time].’”
So, Parks and his staff cut their menu down to four items from the anticipated 25 and began to serve customers that were antsy to get out of their house, whether that be bringing them food to their cars or offering them drinks, while they sat outside waiting for it.
By the end of 2020, Mudbugs was at its full capacity and serving its entire menu and more than doubling its sales in 2021 and then, again, in 2022. According to Parks, a house favorite is the NOBS, which stands for New Orleans Barbecue Shrimp.
The name, Mudbugs, is an oxymoron, said Parks: “People think of a restaurant called Mudbugs [and] might think of the seafood equivalent or the crawfish equivalent of Texas Roadhouse. Walk in and see crawfish shells all over the floor, but it’s more elevated, but not refined.”
Over the past five years, the community reception has been fantastic, emphasized the owner, who noted that, without them, Mudbugs wouldn’t be here. This community support and small-town feel of Buda is why Parks made it his restaurant’s home.
“I’m from a real small town in Indiana called Newcastle, 45 minutes east of Indianapolis, and I just love the small towns. You get too busy, too much of the hustle and bustle in the big city and people lose perspective. They lose the human element. It’s all business all the time,” Parks said. “I’ll bend over backwards for my guests because that’s ultimately why we are here. It’s not about the money; it never has been for me. It helps pay the bills and stuff, but for me, it’s the experience to look on one of my guests’ face that says, ‘Wow. We just had a fantastic time.’”
“We do enough thinking during the day. I just want people to come in, relax, detach from the outside world,” said Parks. “We create experiences here.”
Currently, Parks is working to get the specs for an outdoor bar on the patio at Mudbugs, as well as a development group in Kyle to do an all-American style business that opens up to a big football park, he said.
Mudbugs, located in Buda Mill & Grain Co. at 306 S. Main St., Suite 107, is open the following times: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. For more information on the restaurant, visit www.peaceloveandcrawfish.com.
