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I taught in Carter County, TN in the late sixties. While there I "discovered" the Ridgewood Restaurant near Bluff City on "Old Highway 19E" between Bluff City and Elizabethton. The place has been there since 1948 and their barbeque has been (unsuccessfully) imitated by several other restaurants in the area. It is off the main road and not advertised anywhere. There is usually a crowd waiting to get in. If you are still in line at closing time, you are just out of luck, but you will not hear the locals grumble...instead you may hear, "Well shucks, we'll just have to try to get here earlier next time". Hours of operation are a bit strange (I think indicative of the fact that they have all the business they want or can handle): Mon.----- ---- Closed
Tues.- Thur.----- 11:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Fri.& Sat.----- - 11:30 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Sun.----- ----- 11:30 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. The info above is from the back of their card which I keep handy whenever traveling in the region. Phone is (423) 538-7543. I have on occasion seen that I was not likely to make it by closing time and called ahead to have a take out bag ready for my last minute arrival. I recommend a pot of the barbeque beans and a pork or beef barbeque sandwich (or order one of each and split with an accomplice). It comes with the sauce and slaw already on it. Don't change anything until you have tried it the way it is supposed to be eaten. This is sliced barbeque (not chopped or pulled). (There is other stuff on the menu, but I never see anyone eating it.) I stay away from the french fries...they are soggy with oil (a local favorite which I have never learned to enjoy)). I love good barbeque and will try anybody's once. I have found one other place with a sandwich which compares closely and that one is near Silver Springs, FL. My region (Shenandoah Valley of VA) does not know good barbeque except for barbequed chicken (for which it excels) but that's a horse of a different feather. Folks in the tidewater and piedmont regions of the southeast have totally different ideas about barbeque. I have not found any of theirs I would go out of my way for...and I'm sure some of them would not cross a mountain for this. I'm grateful for diversity. Paul I have no commercial connection to the place.
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