If it weren’t for a car breaking down, George Battle’s fate could have been very different.

Battle attributes much of his situation in Ames to chance. A native Texan, his arrival in the Midwest — and an entire culture away from his home — was the beginning of a restaurant’s history.

“Years ago, I was in Dallas — that was before it became a very big city. I got bored with Dallas and I had an uncle living in Michigan. So I cut out to go to the state of Michigan,” Battle says.

“When I got to Des Moines, the car broke down and I was broke. I couldn’t go no further and one thing led to another and I haven’t made it to Michigan yet. That was in 1961.”

If things had been different, Ames would never have Battle’s Bar-B-Q, the restaurant George says he created when he saw a city in need of authentic barbecue.

The restaurant used to be small and discreet, huddled amid alleyways and back streets — yet it still thrived for nearly two decades as a popular eatery.

Battle’s can no longer hold its secret, and is opening in a new, much larger, more centralized location at 218 Welch Ave.

Years ago, as Battle made Iowa his new home, he says much of what was commonplace down South was nearly nonexistent here — including barbecue.

“Coming from Texas, I loved a good barbecue, but they didn’t have any up here,” he says.

“I could drive down the highway and see a sign that says barbecue. So I drive up in the parking lot and I don’t see no wood no place. I don’t see big smoke stacks coming up. You don’t have a genuine barbecue unless you got smoke stacks.”

Battle learned of the art of barbecuing back home in Dallas. He says his friends, and simply hanging around local joints, helped him pick up tips on the proper methods.

“You have to be introduced to barbecue to learn from it,” he says. “I had two friends down there [in Texas]. Little Bob had a barbecue place and Albert Britton had a place. So I learned some pointers from them, but by and large in this kind of business, it’s almost trial and error.

“I made some mistakes, but eventually I learned. It’s like being a musician — they can show you the notes, but you got to play your own tune.”

Battle eventually started his own business at 112 Hayward Ave. — which used to be an ice cream parlor. He says one day he saw a “for rent” sign in the window and everything went from there.

He says people loved to come to his restaurant because it offered a different atmosphere from other restaurants in Ames. He says many people are concerned with the restaurant moving because it might lose its “mystique.”

“Moving from Hayward is a big move,” he says. “I’ve been over there for 18 and a half years. Moving [to Welch], it’s a little bit larger but it still has that down-home look — that rustic look.”

Marc Kruse, graduate student in agronomy, says he is one of Battle’s student fan base.

He says the intimate atmosphere was part of what made up much of its allure.

“It’s a small environment, and it’s nice to see the owner back there working sometimes,” Kruse says. “The menu choices are good — it’s a smaller menu, but the food is really good.”

Kruse says he had to learn of Battle’s through the grapevine, so perhaps the move is for the better of the business.

“We’ll have to see what happens when it opens,” he says. “It’s a more central location, and it might make it more accessible and more people will know about it.”

Lining the walls of the new restaurant are old antiques — some rusted signs and tractor seats hanging on aged wood walls — a look Battle says will help retain the feel of the old location.

“When I go to Texas, on the drive home, I drive through Kansas and Oklahoma, and alongside the highway, they got a lot of antique shops. I’ll periodically stop and a lot of the things you see on the wall are what I purchased,” he says.

Battle says people don’t need to worry — the food, the atmosphere, and the jazz are not going to change with locations.

“It’s like they say on ‘The Jeffersons,’ you know — ‘I’m movin’ on up!'” he says.