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| North Carolina BBQ NORTH CAROLINA |
Judy Drach And Dexter Sherrod
B’S BARBECUE
751 B’s Barbecue Rd.
Greenville, NC 27834
“I mean sure we’d like to have a nice new fancy building and eight or ten more people working so we can have a day off and that kind of stuff, but, to us, when when you start doing all that, then it’s—you know, it’s like any other restaurant and that’s not what we wanted it to be. That’s not what my dad wanted it to be; he wanted it to be ours.” – Judy Drach
Judy Drach grew up on her parents’ farm in Greenville, NC, until they lost everything. The family bought a local country store in the late 1970s and began running B’s Barbecue, named in honor of her father, William “Bill” McLawhorn. Bill ran the restaurant until his death in 2007, when Judy and her two sisters, Tammy and Donna, took over the business.
Judy acknowledges the transformation of Greenville over her lifetime and takes pride in knowing that the family business has played an integral role in the community. She credits B’s staying power to the importance of family and being true to her father’s vision for the restaurant. She hopes that members of her family will continue to operate B’s in the future, despite the expansion of Highway 43 and competitors in the barbecue business.
B’s holds a special place in the city of Greenville. Even without a phone and keeping no set hours, lines of loyal customers spill out of the door and cars overflow from their parking lot onto both sides of the highway. And every afternoon, B’s sells out of food.
Two interviews, Judy Drach and Dexter Sherrod, are featured on this page. Jump to Dexter Sherrod interview.
NOTE: What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.
Subject: Judy Drach
Date: June 10, 2009
Location: B’s Barbecue, Greenville, NC
Interviewer & Photographer: Alan G. Pike
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Alan Pike: Okay; this is Alan Pike on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. I’m here with Judy Drach—Judy Drach at B’s Barbecue in Greenville. And Judy, if you don’t mind, can you start out by telling me your name and your date of birth?
Judy Drach: My name is Judy Drach and my birthday is Monday [Laughs], June 15, 2009.
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Can you tell me about—can you tell me about growing up in Greenville?
It has definitely changed; when I grew up we farmed. My dad farmed, so we were used to just nothing but countryside, tobacco, corn you know just worked on the farm with my dad. Now Greenville is just unreal how much it’s grown. The little two-lane roads are now four-lane bypasses. There’s you know—the Hospital has—has just grew leaps and bounds; they’ve got heart centers and the Brody School of Medicine. The College has grown tremendously; it’s just really different but there—there are still some areas that I remember looking the same—just different people you know there now. But they started tearing down a lot of the older parts and just rebuilding, so it’s grown—a bunch.
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Was it called B’s when it was the country store or—?
No; it was called Meeks’ Grocery is what it was, so—. And it was just a little store; it you know sold any and everything you—you could want, and kind of a hangout when you know the store was closed after-hours. A lot of the men in the neighborhood would congregate down here and—so when we first opened our store, B’s, you know it was kind of the same way. We actually stayed here ‘til 8—9 o'clock at night and we had regulars that would come and eat and then we’d have some that would just come and just hangout and sit with my dad and talk. And we actually had a man that used to come and play the guitar here at night and then we got a jukebox, so they would all come and have one too many drinks and—and sing. And you know so it—and—and then business started taking off really good, so a lot of that started dying down. And we started going from one pig to like you know six pigs and then from that it just kept growing and growing and growing. And when we first started we had other items on our menu, like pastries, beef stew, and we’d do like a Monday thing or you know Thursday or—and it just got to chicken and the barbeque was just really going crazy. So we decided we started weeding out you know hamburgers, hotdogs, all that stuff until what we have now, which is just the barbeque and the chicken and then the side items, so—.
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So why—why barbeque when you guys started off or was it just—I mean I know you said that was just one of the pieces of meat but why did—why was barbeque kind of your main focus and why do you think it became the main focus?
Well I think that was my dad’s idea; well I know it was my dad’s idea but you know my dad even when we farmed, he would do a lot of cooking. He cooked fish stew and deer stew and pigs and I think it’s just a Southern you know tradition that when you had a big gathering you know there was people cooking hogs. So he you know I think he just thought nobody would want any fish stew you know even though it was good [Laughs]. So he went and you know tried the barbeque and then the chicken of course came later, so—and like I say it was real small so it was just Tammy and my younger sister and myself and my mom and my dad and the guy who actually does our chicken cooking, his grandfather, they—my dad and him were really good friends. So they were the main cookers and choppers and we were kind of the main workers and Donna when—when she would come home from college; she was in college at the time at Appalachian so—.
Is that Arthur’s grandfather or—?
Yes; uh-huh.
What was his name?
His name was Arthur also—sure was, Arthur House. Now Dexter just went to school with us and we knew him from farming when my dad farmed. He worked with us on the farm and he lived right down the road where they’ve tore down now and put the nursing home and the hospital and stuff; he—he lived with his grandparents. So once he started working with us on the farm it was like you know he just kind of became—my dad just kind of took, you know started looking after him. So he treated him just like family; so when we started you know Dexter came with us. And he actually was the cleanup guy; after school he’s you know come in and fill the drink boxes, clean, you know the pits, and all that, so—. And as everybody got older you know it just kind of went from one hand to the other and now he is our—our hog cooker and chopper.
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So did they pass—did he get the sauce recipe passed down too or is that something you guys have perfected as you’ve gone kind of thing?
Actually my daddy perfected it; he did. That was his—his thing and he would always laugh because somebody would come in and say William—you know that’s his name, but of course a lot of people called him Bill, which is what the B’s came from.
Okay.
He—they would say I made your sauce, you know so daddy would—would taste a little bit of it and he’d go [Gestures] you’re getting there you know ‘cause he would never tell you, you know what went in it. And then of course mama knew so as we worked more and started dealing more with the food and that type of stuff mama showed us how. So we know and we joke and say when people ask us you know how do you make it, we’re like well you’ve got to marry in the family or we won't tell you. [Laughs] It’s not as hard as it seems, but it’s the same way with our chicken. We’ll have people come in and say I—I grilled my chicken just like you did and it just don’t taste the same you know. What’s the difference? And I don’t know; I don’t know. I can't tell you other than maybe it’s the—the quality of the chicken or the quantity of the number that we fix versus cooking one on a grill you know. So I don’t know; it’s been very good to us—it has. We—we’ve been really blessed by it, and never would have thought it—never in a million years. You know my—my dad started to open it and my mom was like oh Lord; you know [Laughs] here we go again, you know some idea that’s going to just go to the wayside. But it—it’s really done well by us—by all of us, so—.
Well can you describe the sauce? I don’t need to know how to make it or anything like that but what—can you describe what it tastes like or—or—?
Well—
If somebody had never eaten it how would you describe it to them?
The first thing I would say to them is it’s a vinegar-based sauce which is familiar with Eastern North Carolina from maybe Chapel Hill, Raleigh, back you know Appalachian some way. Their sauce is more of a ketchup-type-base. I would tell you that; I would tell you it’s not—it’s not too sweet you know and it’s not too vinegary you know so—and then I’d tell you, you’ve just got to try it. [Laughs]
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Let’s see; what’s it like working with your family and what was it like working with your family when your parents were still running it?
Well you know it’s always a power-struggle. Mama is always right; daddy is always right. [Laughs] But it’s fine; we get along fine. My sisters and I—a lot of people ask you know—‘cause on Monday when we’re off we’re together. And they say aren't you tired of each other? You know what are y'all doing together today, you know and that kind of stuff but we get along. I mean you know once in a while we’ll just kind of have a little blow-up but we’re over it; you know we get over it. And most of the time it’s over something really stupid so it didn’t matter anyway. But we’re—we’re very close and I have three children of my own. I try to instill in them the same—and I don’t know unless you come from a family where everybody has to pitch in and everybody has to work and nothing is really yours; it’s always ours. I don’t know if you could really understand what I was saying and you realize that when it’s all gone the only thing you’re left with is your family. And so it becomes real important.
Now my kids, I have two boys and one girl, so I don’t know if the sexes [Laughs] is what causes such a big difference in them but they’re—they’re pretty close but not anything like my sisters and I, so—.
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So—so you got all your kids working here. Is this something that you would want—would you want them to continue the business or—?
Yes; yes. As a matter of fact my oldest son I think really if—if we were to say Dave, we’re tired, we’re ready to turn it over, I think he would jump on it tomorrow. Now my daughter—maybe not; I mean she’d pitch in and help, but you know. Tammy, my youngest sister also has two boys and one is 14 and one is 10, so they’re a little young but her oldest one I think would—would be very interested also in working and keeping it going. My husband would love to take it and just run wild with it. [Laughs] But we—you know we’re like no; we kind of like things the way they are. I mean it—in some ways it’s—it—it helps us keep our sanity for one; it—it helps us appreciate more our customers and the business that we have. I mean sure we’d—we’d like to have you know a nice new fancy building and you know eight or ten more people working so we can have a day off and that kind of stuff, but to us when you—when you start doing all that then it’s—you know it’s like any other restaurant and that’s not what—what we wanted it to be. That’s not what my dad wanted it to be; he wanted it to be ours. He wanted it to be something we were proud of, something we wanted—as much as he did and I—I think we all have learned that.
Now when we were younger you couldn’t have told us that you know; we wouldn’t have understood it but now you know my husband, he says all the time, let’s—let’s open one in Washington, let’s open one in Raleigh, let’s—and you know I answer to that and other people that have actually came in and said we want to start you in a franchise; we want to buy you, you know and franchise you—and we just look at them and say you know mama and daddy just didn’t have enough children. All they had was three; I’m sorry. That was it, you know [Laughs]. We’re just—I can't go there and run that one and Tammy run this one and Donna run this one and it be—and it be the same; it just wouldn’t be.
So is that part of why you guys have stuck with the whole hog when a lot of people are starting to do shoulders and butts?
Yeah; you know a lot of people will say if you do the whole hog you end up with a lot of waste and you do. You know there’s a lot you have to pick out. But I’d like to say because of the way that Dexter does it you—you cannot, you know you don’t—you do have waste but you maybe wouldn’t have as much as if somebody were to like grind the barbeque, you know. Being hand-chopped he’s able to pick out what’s not good and what is, and you saw Tammy’s husband this morning—Bobby. He was filling in for Dexter because he had an appointment somewhere he had to be but—so Bobby also you know has a hand in—in it sometimes and he’s mainly just there when you know we need something and Bobby will run and go fix it.
My dad’s health got kind of bad, before he passed away; he passed away in July two years ago and he—so Bobby did a lot of stuff here, you know. If the floor needed repairing or the ceiling or whatever, Bobby chipped in and would do that so—. Like I say we look after one another pretty good.
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Why close—why close early and not put more on during the day and have dinners early?
Because it would take too long. You know if we waited ‘til—well let’s just say—and it has happened—we’ve run out of food at 11:30 on a ballgame day. Way too early, and we know it, but we cooked to the capacity of what we could do you know whereas if I throw another one on, well by the time it gets ready it’s going to be 7—8 o'clock at night. Who is going to come eat then you know? And I guess after a while—because like I say when we first opened we did have an evening trade, but as they started coming earlier and more it just started running out a little earlier you know. It started being like well at 6:00 we didn’t have any food left and then 5:00 and then 4:00, you know so but if you threw one on at 9:00 in the morning you know it would be 4—5 o'clock before it was ready and it’s been this way for so long now that it’s like every—like you said earlier, everybody kind of knows it. So it would take a while to build it back up. I’m sure we could. But then you know are we going to want to be here that long? [Laughs]
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What—what does it mean to you guys—everybody I’ve ever talked to about this place it seems like B’s is a big part of the Greenville family. What have you got—what does—does that mean a lot to you guys? Can you tell me—talk to me—talk about that at all?
Oh yeah; yeah it means a whole lot you know. Now we’re—we’re kind of getting in the process, like I say where Greenville is growing and—and that kind of stuff and they’re talking about widening the roads and you know doing away with some stuff. We—we have a lot of people that have come in and you know they’re—they’re really sincere and they mean it when they say please—y'all please don’t shut down. You know we’ve heard rumors that y'all are going to close; the road is going to mow you over, you know this kind of—. Do you need me to call somebody; do you need me to go stand on the courthouse steps? And you know I really think they would; I really do. We’re—we’re like no, but if we need you, you know we’ll let you know. We have—to my knowledge—not ever had a single customer to ever come back and just say you know—well some people would and some people wouldn’t—but just come back and say I—I—I didn’t enjoy it. Our atmosphere I think contributes a lot to it, you know ‘cause you—it’s not many places you can go where you can just go and sit next to a man in a three-piece suit that you’ve never met before or sit next to a family or a farmer or you know a college student or whatever and get to meet them and eat with them and you know so it’s like when they come in here they’re—they are family. They just mingle together and—so it—it means a lot to us. And the college has—has supported us for a long time and so has the hospital, so we got some pretty strong backing if the road does decide to come through or something you know. We’ll have—half of them say girls I can put you in a business over, you know somewhere else or we’ll take up a fund and we’ll buy you a new building somewhere over here you know. I just don’t really think it would be the same.
Is it this Highway 43 that’s—that you’re talking about?
Yeah; yeah they’re—they’re talking about widening it and the State people have come and talk with us and the—what are they—the Department of Transportation, and a lot of them eat with us, so you know they’ve made the comments several times, you know we’re going to do the best by you we can. We’re going to try to you know work with you the best way—we can so I got tickled because they actually started cutting the trees down across the street probably about three—four weeks ago, and they told us they were going to start and they said, and we’re going to not—you know try not to get in your way and all this other kind of stuff. Well about 10:30 they had cut down three or four trees; people started driving up and parking [Laughs] where they were cutting them down. And they were like—and the guy comes to the window and he said we can't move our equipment you know. And I’m like I’m sorry. And he goes is it like this every day? And I went pretty much. And he said okay; well we’ll just take a long lunch then. I’ll get in line. [Laughs] So he did.
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Yeah; well—well what do you think—what do you think—I know you said you wanted the family to carry on B’s but what do you think is the future of like North Carolina barbeque with all these national chains coming in with their Memphis style and the brisket and—?
Well it’s not good; stuff like that is not good. [Laughs] No; you know everybody has a preference and we talked a little earlier about the people who are watching their weight or you know low-carbs or whatever and they can't eat the skin you know heart issues type things. Pork—pork is supposed to not be good for you if you have heart problems or gout or arthritis or any of that other kind of stuff. You know my question would be well is that other stuff good for you? [Laughs] You know I’m sure there’s something in it that somebody would have something to say about. I’d hate to see this style barbeque just end; I would. Parker’s is our—another restaurant here; Abram’s just came here probably—it hadn’t even been a year and you hear people talk around town and they’ll say you know girls, their barbeque is nothing, but they like their chicken—their fried chicken, which is another Southern style food you know. So I—I hope somebody will keep it going you know. Parker’s is similar to ours in the respect that it’s pork; it—they grind it instead of chopping it. They’re more like I don’t know—they’re prepared for bigger orders, bigger business you know freeze-it type stuff, you know what I’m saying? Well we’re not and we don’t really want to be [Laughs] ‘cause we just don’t think it’s as good.
To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.
Dexter Sherrod
B’S BARBECUE
751 B ’s Barbecue Rd.
Greenville, NC 27834
No Phone/Website
“Yeah; it started out just about—just something to do after school—keep me busy ‘cause you know this was basically the country and we didn’t have nothing to do. So I said well I need to make me some money so I started working here cleaning up after school, and I just kind of fell in love with cooking on the grill. And I just stayed right here.” – Dexter Sherrod
Dexter Sherrod was raised by his grandparents in Greenville, NC, right down the street from the McLawhorn family and their restaurant, B’s Barbecue. He went to kindergarten with Tammy, the oldest of the McLawhorn daughters, and started working at the restaurant about the same time as the McLawhorn sisters. He started off cleaning up after school, worked his way up to cooking chickens, and is now the pitmaster at B’s Barbecue.
Dexter reflects on how he got into the barbecue business and the way that he cooks whole hogs at B’s Barbecue. B’s holds a special place in the city of Greenville, with no phone and no set hours, the restaurant sells out of food every afternoon with lines out the door.
Listen to this one-minute audio clip of Dexter Sherrod explaining how he started out at B’s and how he cooks his pigs. [Windows Media Player required. [Windows Media Player required. Go here to download the player for free.]
NOTE: What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.
Subject: Dexter Sherrod
Date: June 10, 2009
Location: B’s Barbecue, Greenville, NC
Interviewer & Photographer: Alan G. Pike
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Alan Pike: Dexter can you tell me how you got into the barbeque business?
Dexter Sherrod: Well it first started—I started needing something to do after school and I just come out here and started cleaning up and from there I just started learning how to cook. And so I started on cooking on like a—just a single cooker; we’d just cook one pig at a time and from there I just started—that’s when I become the head cook after years of learning—and learning and learning, yeah. Well I went from chickens first; I started cooking chickens. And then I ended up cooking pigs. Yeah; so that’s basically how I got started on that.
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So it started out as just a job but once you started working here for a while then it really started to entice you—the cooking aspect of it?
Yeah; it started out just about—just something to do after school—keep me busy ‘cause you know this was basically the country and we didn’t have nothing to do. So I said well I need to make me some money so I started working here cleaning up after school and I just kind of fell in love with cooking on the grill. And I just stayed right here.
Can you tell me a little bit about the process of cooking the pigs?
Well the process is pretty simple. Basically all—all we’re doing here is you’re heating up your charcoal. We—well when we first started we started off with wood and but you know wood got kind of messy and time-consuming, so we went to charcoal. And you just—we got like a metal bucket where we just heat our charcoals up—when they get red, but basically we get—we dress the pigs, cut out a lot of the fat and whatnot and tenderloins and put them on the grill with the skin side up, shut the lid down, and once the coals get hot I just feed it all the way around from the outside. That’s basically—I do that like two or three times through the night, cooking for about six—seven hours; yeah. That’s it.
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To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.
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