Grady’s Barbecue, outside Dudley, got its start in 1986, the same year owners Gerri and Steve Grady married.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Having been in business almost 37 years, Gerri Grady admits she might not remember all her regular customers’ names, “but their faces — I’m good at that,” she says.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
In addition to barbecue pork, Grady’s also serves fried chicken, barbecue chicken, hamburger steak, barbecue turkey (on Saturdays only), a variety of vegetables and desserts, and hot dogs and hamburgers.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
When Steve and Gerri Grady started their restaurant, it was take-out only; Steve expanded the building to allow for dining in.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Barbecue, slaw, collards and hushpuppies: Grady’s is known for their whole-hog, pit-cooked barbecue and their homestyle country cooking.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Grady’s Barbecue is located at 3096 Arrington Bridge Road, outside Dudley.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Steve and Gerri Grady didn’t set out to run a barbecue restaurant, but they’ve been doing it for almost 37 years, so it seems to have worked out quite nicely for them and for the many customers who keep coming back time and again for their whole-hog, pit-cooked barbecue and their homestyle, country cooking.
Gerri is emphatic when she declares that both she and her husband love owning and running Grady’s Barbecue, located just outside Dudley. She says, “We’ve been blessed thus far, and why not love it?”
It was actually Steve’s brother and sister-in-law who launched the business, buying and completely remodeling the small building at 3096 Arrington Bridge Road, before opening the barbecue restaurant on July 4, 1986. The very next morning, after just one day in business, Gerri recalls, “Fifteen minutes before they opened, they looked at me and said, ‘We don’t want this.’ I said, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me, as much work as y’all put in this [remodeling].’ They said, ‘No, we don’t want this.’ Steve asked me did I want it; I said, ‘yes.’”
And that was the unexpected way in which the pair entered the restaurant business, despite neither having any prior experience. “We both come from big families,” Gerri says, explaining that they often cooked barbecue for special occasions and holidays. “But when it come to the public, it was entirely different…We had to grow into it.”
When asked to recall the biggest challenge they faced early on, Gerri doesn’t hesitate before responding, “Me, cooking bread, day one.”
Steve takes up the story. “It was kinda funny, you know. We opened up at 10 o’clock that day, and Gerri said she knows how to fix the hushpuppies and slaw and all that kind of stuff, and she had a little black pot about that big…” he indicates a very small pot “…and it came to 11 o’clock and they [customers] piled in here on us the first day, and we sold out [of hushpuppies] by 12.” Most customers did not get any bread that day, he remembers, with a laugh.
There were other challenges, as well. “We didn’t know you had to have a commercial refrigerator,” Steve says.
In fact, none of their appliances met restaurant standards. “We started out with home-type stuff; that’s all we knew,” Gerri explains.
“Then the man showed up from Raleigh down here….” Steve continues.
“And said, you gotta have this, you gotta have that..” Gerri says, noting that they had to replace all their appliances. “So we really learned.”
Challenges aside, the Gradys proved to be natural restaurateurs, although they’re too humble to say so. When asked what makes their barbecue so special, Steve modestly replies, “I suppose it’s come down to we accidentally got it right.”
Barbecue isn’t the only thing they got right. Other meats they serve include fried chicken, barbecue chicken, hamburger steak, and—on Saturdays only—barbecue turkey.
Their vegetables — collards, butterbeans, boiled potatoes, black-eyed peas and steamed cabbage — are so popular that, Gerri says, a lot of customers come in just to get a vegetable plate.
Additionally, they have hot dogs and hamburgers, and desserts. The sweet potato pie, which Steve makes, is a favorite.
Not surprisingly, over the years they’ve come to know many of their customers — and what it is that those customers want to eat. “I might not remember their names, but their faces — I’m good at that,” Gerri says. “And normally I do know about what that want. Once in a while they change up on me, but they’ve got that privilege.”
Gerri is 78 years old and Steve is 88, so you might think retirement is on the horizon. But when asked about it, Steve, who worked at a sawmill when they first opened the restaurant, looks around and says, “This is retirement.”
That’s good news for barbecue lovers.
Grady’s Barbecue is open Wednesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
