After losing my restaurant to the bad economy and bouncing through a series of less-than-ideal jobs, I’m betting on Downtown Merced — and I hope and pray that it’s betting on me.

I opened Big Will’s Smoke-N-BBQ in Downtown Atwater in 2002. I had just gotten off workman’s compensation and my family helped me open and buy my first restaurant. Within two years, it was paid off, thanks to help from my dad and my new partner and wife, Darlene Nelson.

We moved into a larger restaurant on the north side of Atwater to get close to the proposed Riverside Motorsports Park. We renamed it “Joy of the South” and hoped that we were ahead of the curve on something big as the racetrack promised to make Atwater a tourist destination. But plans for the track ultimately failed, and by 2007, the recession hit our customers — hard. Sales dropped, and by 2008, I was closed and bankrupt.

I landed a job at Red Hawk Casino in Placerville, but it didn’t last long. I worked for a car dealer. I was a part-time cook for a cafe in Hughson, earning minimum wage.

I was even belittled when I applied for a position as a breakfast cook at a popular Merced restaurant. That meeting with the restaurant owner was the day I really broke down. Just imagine: A once-proud restaurant owner who went to culinary school in San Francisco, and worked with world-renowned Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme, couldn’t find a real job from Fresno to Sacramento. Once I had friends who owned restaurants, but when I became unemployed, it seemed like few people knew me, or wanted to know me.

I never gave up. I kept praying and my family helped me keep my head up. It took a few months to strike a deal on my new adventure here in Downtown Merced, Big Will’s Louisiana Po’Boys. God opened those doors for me.

Second chances.

It’s going to take a while to rebuild my reputation as a sandwich shop owner. I get my share of old customers who walk in ask: “Catfish?” “Okra?” “Sweet Potato Fries?” They still expect me to offer a full menu of southern food. I don’t have those things anymore — I don’t have the kind of kitchen I did before —but I say that something is better than nothing. I thank God for my customers who enjoy what I’m putting my heart into!

Sandwich shops aren’t a new idea for Downtown Merced, but I’m not trying to compete with chains like Subway and Quiznos. We are different. One of my more popular menu items is my muffaletta, a round Italian loaf loaded with meats and cheese. I also have alligator, gumbo and spicy sausage, which you’re unlikely to find anywhere in Merced, downtown or otherwise.

Alex at Forte calls my po’boys “Magic.” Every time he orders and starts to eat it, he gets slammed for hours before he can finish his sandwich.

I have a couple new friends: Amanda at Sweet Temptations Bakery makes desserts and breads for me, and Sam at The Coffee Block shares his Chaah tea with me and barters for my veggie muffaletta sandwiches. Together, our businesses are turning over a new leaf for Downtown Merced, just like Downtown Merced is turning over a new leaf for me.

William Decker is the owner of Big Will’s Louisiana Po’Boys at 709 W. Main St. The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday from 10:30 a.m. To 8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. To 8 p.m. For information, call (209) 349-0371