Barbeque is about family. It is about gathering together to create memories and traditions to be passed through the generations. It is also about good food. Honest, simple, real food. There are no shortcuts when it comes to making great food. You have to have the best ingredients. You have to make everything from scratch. You have to control the quality of everything that goes on the plate.

I am very fortunate to have been raised in a family with these traditions. Grandpa Eddie Schanzer was a large part of this heritage. One of the ways he expressed his love of family was through barbeque. He was born in Kansas City, one of the great barbeque regions of the country. Eddie took his love of barbeque with him when he later settled in Mobile, Alabama. Here he experienced a whole new regional take on cooking meats. Eddie liked barbeque so much that back in the 1950's, he had a real pit built in his backyard. There was even an off-set smoker. No one was building pits like this in their back yards, but Grandpa knew that it is the only way to make authentic barbeque. The pictures of him cooking on his pit are on the walls.

When my Dad married into the family, Eddie taught him how to cook the meats low and slow over Hickory. As the first grandchild, I also slowly learned the secrets. It was always simple advice, start with the finest quality you can buy and cook it right. You can't hurry good barbeque.

As a child, my family moved from Alabama, to Texas and then to North Carolina. Along the way, I got to experience the tastes of the different regional styles of barbeque. Whenever there were family gatherings, there was always great food. In addition to the meats, there were homemade salad dressings, desserts and breads. Everyone in our family cooks and most of our memories of family members are associated with what they always brought to the table. Grandpa Eddie passed away in 1985, but he is part of every rib we make.

Now I have children of my own. I am teaching them the same love of family and food. When my wife and I decided to open a restaurant, it made perfect sense to incorporate all of our family traditions and recipes in one place. We have taken the best of the barbeque from Texas, North Carolina and, of course, Alabama. Our beef brisket is Texas-style, with a simple rub and lots of time on the smoker. The pulled pork is pure Western North Carolina, with its own vinegar-based sauce and secret rub. Our ribs are Alabama, with a thicker sauce and a little heat. We make all of our salad dressings, desserts, barbeque sauces and rubs from scratch. Everything on the menu is made fresh in our kitchen. We control the quality every step of the way.

Grandpa Eddie's Alabama Ribs & BBQ first open its doors on November 1, 2005, in Goochland County. Since the moment we started we were an immediate success. Without any advertising, we were so busy the first weekend, we had to shut our doors at 8 pm, because we ran out of food! Since opening, we have won a Virginia State BBQ Championship, catered many events and garnered accolades from every major press outlet in the region. During our first two years in business we grew at an astounding pace. With only 60 seats, we quickly outgrew our first location. In September, 2007, we moved to our current location, which seats almost 300 people. We now offer live music, banquet facilities and a full service bar. In order to keep our history alive, when we moved, we took live coals from the smoker and used them to light the first smoke in the new restaurant.

From our family to yours, we wish you good times and great food!

Carey, Sarah, Sophie and Huck Friedman