The Barbecue Spot That’s Giving Back | Eater

"This Northern Nevada barbecue restaurant draws crowds for award-winning, sauce-slicked, smoky ribs that are slow-cooked to perfection, alongside other standouts like a pastrami sandwich made with pork (not beef), shrimp and grits smothered in a Louisiana cream sauce, smoked barbecue chicken, hand-ground burgers, and owner Jay Rathmann’s signature chili. Open nearly 40 years, the operation balances day-to-day quality with deep community commitment: every summer Friday the team hauls their smoker to Reno’s Food Truck Friday, supplying the truck and food while culinary students from local high schools and Truckee Meadows Community College run the kitchen under Rathmann’s mentorship, with proceeds supporting culinary education and the ACF High Sierra Chefs Association. The restaurant has a history of feeding frontline workers in crises—during Nevada’s 2021 fires they prepared and packed thousands of meals (gravy and biscuits, pork loin, mashed potatoes) for firefighters—and was recently awarded a $20,000 grant from the Intuit QuickBooks and Mailchimp Small Business Hero Program to expand support for student training and supplies. Rathmann credits a strong team of employees for keeping quality high and enabling the charitable and educational initiatives that have become central to the business’s identity." - Kate Dingwall