Lyles BBQ Company

This former food truck made the jump to “brick-and-mortar-ish” when owners started selling their popular homemade BBQ at a Shell Station in Nicholasville, in what they describe on their blog as a strategic move to expand their BBQ business without diving headfirst into a brick-and-mortar (and all the debt that comes with it) before testing the waters first. The plan must have worked, as a full-blown sit-down restaurant opened in late January, featuring a familiar menu of beef brisket, smoked chicken and pulled pork, as well as indulgent apps like loaded tater tots, smoked jumbo wings and “The Three Amigos” (a trio of deep fried pickles, banana peppers and jalapeños).