Two couples who are good friends opened Ridge View BBQ, where they sell barbecue, ribs, burgers and all the fixings. From left, Jim and Wendy Smith, and Nick and Nicki Gohlmann take a break just before the lunch crowd arrived.
The hickory-smoked ribs platters, pulled pork and pulled turkey sandwiches and platters are as popular as the half-pound grilled burgers topped with bacon and cheese, homemade barbecue sauce or blue cheese and, of course, cheese. The 1-pound Stinger burger, named for the WVSU Yellow Jackets, suits hearty appetites.
A pulled pork salad and pulled turkey sandwich provide lighter options. Customers wash it all down with the lemonade made from freshly squeezed lemons. The lemonade recipe is the same they use when they take their show on the road. During a typical festival, they go through 600 to 1,000 lemons.
To accommodate the strong regional preferences most pulled pork fans possess, two homemade sauces sit on every table. The pulled pork sauce is a compromise of regional flavors with a combination of North Carolina mustard/vinegar flavor and Memphis-style catsup and brown sugar. The sweeter rib sauce contains honey.
The pulled pork is smoked in a 50-gallon smoker for 12 hours and the ribs for 5 to 7 hours.
Jim and Nick do most of the cooking. Jim's grandfather taught him to smoke meat. Everyone plays a crucial role on the well-organized team. Their extended family and friends lend a hand. The girls' father runs errands and their mother babysits the Gohlmann's 7-month-old son, Carter.
Ridge View BBQ fans should recognize the restaurant even before they taste the barbecue. The yellow and black interior mimics the concession trailer's exterior. A flame border surrounds the windows. The colorful tiles on the floor and bar, bright blue walls and tiki tops over the cashier and pick up area all represent design elements found on the trailer and logo.
Yellow Jacket memorabilia covers one of the restaurant's walls, a nod to the students they hope will dine there. The diner/barbecue menu has sandwiches and burgers priced at $6 to $8, platters from $8 to $13, half rack of ribs at $10 and a whole rack at $20. The price range aims to offer options for both budget-conscious students and destination diners.
The concession business is active between April and October and catering jobs fill in many of the gaps, but the couples hope the restaurant will provide steady income. Ridge View BBQ is closed on the weekends to accommodate festival appearances and catering jobs.
"This is an opportunity to get a fresh burger for about a fast-food price," Wendy said.
Ridge View BBQ, 5010 Fairlawn Ave., is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday. Call 304-400-4650 or visit Ridge Viewbbq.com.
Reach Julie Robinson at jul...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1230.
Ridge View BBQ, 5010 Fairlawn Ave., is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday. Call 304-400-4650 or visit Ridge Viewbbq.com.
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- The four owners of newly opened
Ridge View BBQ in Institute obviously enjoy cooking together. They tease each other while they prepare the smoked barbecue and ribs and burgers they've served at fairs and festivals for the past four years.
With the confidence born of their steadily growing catering business, two couples Jim and Wendy Smith and Nick and Nicki Gohlmann opened the restaurant in a newly renovated space across from West Virginia State University. Everyone except Nicki quit their day jobs to give the restaurant their full attention.
The food venture all started in 2007 when the Smiths and Gohlmanns were eating barbecue together at the Smiths' house. Wendy and Nicki are sisters. They sold their barbecue at the Pumpkin Festival in Milton and Bridge Day that fall, and had a good response form customers.
"We thought it was pretty good and decided to get a concession trailer and go to more festivals," Wendy said. "We decided to try it and it snowballed from that."
The business grew as they pulled the trailer to 25 to 30 festivals a year in West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky.
The catering business, which is called Good Stuff Good Times, took off after an initial gig for the basketball team at West Virginia State University.
"We started right here," Jim said. The restaurant stands in a strip of new businesses, just down from the long-lived Andy's Grill, and the famous hot bologna sandwiches served there. The menu includes a hot bologna sandwich in honor of the little restaurant that closed in 2006.
Nick left the Barboursville restaurant he managed in 2008 to handle the business full time. Jim left his job as produce manager at the Cross Lanes Kroger in 2009, and Wendy, who also worked at the Cross Lanes Kroger, joined the team in June.
They'll still hit the festival circuit in their brightly colored Ridge View BBQ trailer, but the foursome agreed it was time to make the leap to a full-time restaurant this summer.
"We considered every sandwich a job interview," Jim said of the concession business. "You never know who you're serving."
The hickory-smoked ribs platters, pulled pork and pulled turkey sandwiches and platters are as popular as the half-pound grilled burgers topped with bacon and cheese, homemade barbecue sauce or blue cheese and, of course, cheese. The 1-pound Stinger burger, named for the WVSU Yellow Jackets, suits hearty appetites.
A pulled pork salad and pulled turkey sandwich provide lighter options. Customers wash it all down with the lemonade made from freshly squeezed lemons. The lemonade recipe is the same they use when they take their show on the road. During a typical festival, they go through 600 to 1,000 lemons.
To accommodate the strong regional preferences most pulled pork fans possess, two homemade sauces sit on every table. The pulled pork sauce is a compromise of regional flavors with a combination of North Carolina mustard/vinegar flavor and Memphis-style catsup and brown sugar. The sweeter rib sauce contains honey.
The pulled pork is smoked in a 50-gallon smoker for 12 hours and the ribs for 5 to 7 hours.
Jim and Nick do most of the cooking. Jim's grandfather taught him to smoke meat. Everyone plays a crucial role on the well-organized team. Their extended family and friends lend a hand. The girls' father runs errands and their mother babysits the Gohlmann's 7-month-old son, Carter.
Ridge View BBQ fans should recognize the restaurant even before they taste the barbecue. The yellow and black interior mimics the concession trailer's exterior. A flame border surrounds the windows. The colorful tiles on the floor and bar, bright blue walls and tiki tops over the cashier and pick up area all represent design elements found on the trailer and logo.
Yellow Jacket memorabilia covers one of the restaurant's walls, a nod to the students they hope will dine there. The diner/barbecue menu has sandwiches and burgers priced at $6 to $8, platters from $8 to $13, half rack of ribs at $10 and a whole rack at $20. The price range aims to offer options for both budget-conscious students and destination diners.
The concession business is active between April and October and catering jobs fill in many of the gaps, but the couples hope the restaurant will provide steady income. Ridge View BBQ is closed on the weekends to accommodate festival appearances and catering jobs.
"This is an opportunity to get a fresh burger for about a fast-food price," Wendy said.
Ridge View BBQ, 5010 Fairlawn Ave., is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday. Call 304-400-4650 or visit Ridge Viewbbq.com.
Reach Julie Robinson at jul...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1230.
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