By Brad Johnson
The Register-Herald
BECKLEY —
With spring officially arrived, now is the time to start enjoying some of the pleasures of warm weather, including barbecue and ribs, the specialties of the House of Ribs.
“The warmer it gets, people will start craving some good old barbecue, and that’s what we do here,” said the Rev. Rudolph Poindexter, co-owner of the restaurant at 3269 Robert C. Byrd Drive in Beckley.
“Stop by the House of Ribs where the ribs are smoking!”
Poindexter offered a run-through of the menu: “We have barbecue, of course, both pulled pork and pulled beef. We’ve got rib tips plate dinners, babyback ribs plate dinners, chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs. We’ve got great sides: potato salad, cole slaw, green beans, pinto beans, baked beans and hobo beans. We even have fried bologna sandwiches!”
The restaurant also offers full family dinners, such as the baby full rack dinner, which comes with two quarts of sides.
The House of Ribs delivers, as well as featuring in-restaurant dining and a drive-through window. The restaurant also offers onsite catering.
“I’ve got a portable grill that I can take anywhere,” Poindexter said. “We just need people to call ahead and let us know what they want.”
Poindexter opened the restaurant last September, along with his daughter, Ruzettta Williams. A native of Lillybrook, Poindexter’s parents moved to Detroit when he was a boy. As a grown man in the 1970s, he owned a soul food restaurant, Buck & Rudy’s, in Detroit, with his father, whose nickname was Buck.
“My mother was a great cook, and I picked up a lot from her,” Poindexter, who mans the barbecue at his family’s functions, said. “All the family, wherever they were from, would come into town to eat with us because they loved her cooking. She taught me a lot.”
Poindexter moved to Beckley in 2003 to be closer to family here, and has been pastoring at Second Baptist Church since April 2003.
His daughter moved to Beckley three years ago, and it was her idea to open the House of Ribs.
“The name was her idea, her inspiration,” Poindexter said.
The restaurant was an immediate success, although the rough winter weather put a damper on business, Poindexter said.
“That’s why I’m so glad to see warm weather again,” he said. “Still, even in the worst weather, we’ve got our regulars, people who just love our barbecue and ribs no matter what the weather.
“I have people coming from all over the tri-county area, from Mullens, Sophia, Pineville, even McDowell County,” Poindexter said.
“I come all the way from Oak Hill just to eat these ribs,” said Pastor Walter Clay as he was at the counter placing his order.
The House of Ribs is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and during the summer from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Every Monday is Senior Day, with senior citizens receiving a 10-percent discount, Poindexter said.
For more information, call 304-255-1260.
— E-mail: bjohnson@register-herald.com
