The boys of barbecue
Three best friends fire up the grill to provide good food for good causes
By Lunzeta Chretien
lchretien@thenewsstar.com

Best friends Mike Bishop, David "Dabo" Graves and Benny McCarty have one other thing in common besides their friendship: cooking.
Just name it, and the men who love to cook will prepare it. Their specialties include duck gumbo, chili, barbecue chicken and pork chops. "We don't fish," Bishop said. "We don't hunt. Cooking is our hobby."

The comrades who call themselves the "Bayou Boys" began cooking together two decades ago.

"Over the last 20 years, I can't count how many times we've had cookouts for somebody," Graves said.
Graves, who's a custodian at Ouachita Parish High School, called himself the school's biggest fan and cooks for coaches, and at times, the students.

"Every Thursday, we cook for the coaches at Ouachita High School," Graves said.

The tradition began in 1987 when Graves would cook for his cousin, who at the time was a coach for the school.

"(Graves is) always donating his time to cook for the coaches and the students," said Todd Guice, principal at Ouachita. "They always look forward to Dabo's cooking."

In addition to cooking for fun, the men often cook to help raise money for special causes.

Every dime used for food preparation comes from these men's pockets. And they don't use any of the proceeds to pay themselves back. Their friends John Yank Burnett, Bud Belch, A.K. Cook, Curtis Wilhite and Elliott LaBorde happily pitch in to purchase the food. But they don't cook.

The men hosted a benefit dinner when two Ouachita softball players were killed. They even sponsor Ouachita's Jr. ROTC shooting competition by raising funds through selling meals.

"It doesn't do a lot of good to raise $4,000-$5,000 and take $1,500 for the supplies," McCarty said, noting one reason they don't reimburse themselves from the funds raised.

The three friends cook for the war veterans' home four times a year. For Easter, they host an Easter egg hunt and Mike Bishop, who owns Carol's Kids Daycare with his wife, brings the children along to help. The children deliver gifts to the veterans as Graves — dressed up as Santa Claus — hands out walking sticks and hats.

They recently provided food for teachers during Ouachita's jamboree. They fed 165 people. The menu included 300 hotdogs, 100 pork chops and more than 100 pieces of sausage.

If they're doing a benefit or fundraiser and the weather's good, barbecue is usually on the menu. If it's hot, fried fish is served.

When Graves began cooking for the coaches, he was alone. He did it by himself for 17 years before enlisting his best buds.

"I fix the beans and potato salad at the day care when Dabo's cooking for the school," Bishop said.

The Bayou Boys started their cooking journey together when they entered a duck gumbo cooking contest in Stuttgart, Ark., a competition they've entered for the past 20 years. Each year, Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, comes looking for some of the Bayou Boys gumbo, Graves said, proudly.

About two years ago, the Bayou Boys were featured on a 30-minute special about American Festivals on cable's the Food Network. The men were featured for their duck gumbo.

Bishop, 59, Graves, 56, and McCarty, 62, are together about three days a week. And when it's time to cook, they hit the grocery store, and it's usually not for their own households.

They usually prepare meals for friends, relatives or for causes they strongly believe in.

A few years ago, they took it upon themselves to feed the Relay for Life sponsors.

"We fed them chicken breast, potato salad and green beans," Graves said. "We never asked anybody for a penny."

Benny McCarty's, wife is a cancer survivor, and Graves' first wife died of breast cancer, which were the reasons they felt called to cook for the Relay for Life sponsors.

The fellows admit that the idea to reach into their pockets and help others in need was not an original one.

Bishop, Graves and McCarty piggybacked off of Densell Purdy's idea. Purdy, a Hebert resident, hosted luncheons to benefit the underprivileged in the area years ago.

The group began helping Purdy when Graves' first wife, whom he was divorced from at the time, needed money to help with expenses.

"He donated everything," Graves said of Purdy. "And that's what we based our idea on."

They, too, donate everything.

A friend of the group had a daughter in need of a kidney transplant, so the crew cooked, held a silent auction and raised $9,000.

But the helping hands stretch farther than their immediate circle of friends. They sometimes cook for those they don't know.

"If you come to me and say you have a hard time paying a bill, or you've got a baby that's sick, we take care of everything," Graves said. "If someone is in need, we'll help the best way we can."

Bishop, Graves and McCarty also furnish the food and building for wakes and funerals of the unfortunate. Graves, who's an auxiliary member of the Marine Corps League, has access to the Marine Corps Hut in Monroe, which holds about 150 people. After holding events at the facility, Graves and crew stick around to clean up.

Just recently, they provided the space and food for a wake of a person with whom they had no affiliation. But the men say they're no fools. Before lending a helping hand, they first see if a person's story is legit.

And although they've cooked together for years, it doesn't feel like a chore.

"We'll cook at the drop of a hat," Bishop said. "We enjoy it," McCarty interjected. "We get a lot of self satisfaction from it."

Each year the men enter the University of Louisiana at Monroe's chili cooking contest. In recent years, they've won both the local and overall division.

During ULM's home games, you can catch the three friends tailgating. They cook large quantities of food and give every bit away. They rarely, if ever, eat what they cook for others.

"Everybody knows we'll cook and give it all away," Graves said. "Then we go home and fix a sandwich."

Originally published September 17, 2006