Heard of Jones Bar-B-Q Diner of Marianna? More than a century old, a James Beard award winner and a member of the inaugural class of the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame, it now has a kissing cousin in Jacksonville.

Kevin Arnold is about to open his Jones Bar-B-Q Diner at 515 South James Street in Jacksonvilley. KARK talked with him this morning.

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I was alerted to the opening by a mention on the Facebook page of the original Jones in Marianna. I spoke during the lunch rush with proprietor James Jones, who’s been at the pit there since 1964. It’s a legit connection, Jones said. Arnold is from Marianna and he spent some time studying under Jones.

Cooking pork shoulder is one thing, but what about the sauce?”That’s between me and him,” Jones said. “The sauce and the slaw.” Those family recipes are closely protected, but Jones said he’d shared them with Arnold along with the agreement to allow him to use the name in Jacksonville.

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There’s only one way to know for sure if it matches up. (I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention some other past efforts to replicate favorite barbecue joints in the metro area, thinking particularly of Craig’s of DeValls Bluff.) The Jacksonville restaurant opens at noon Saturday.

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