Mama Jean’s BBQ’s highly anticipated brick-and-mortar brings the heat to Roanoke.
WORDS | Layla Khoury-Hanold PHOTOS | Lisa Archer
There are few foods that Roanokers will wait in line for, especially when the sun is blazing and the line snakes around the parking lot. But Roanoke food truck Mama Jean’s BBQ has earned a loyal following who are willing to wait, rain or shine, to get their fill of sought-after specials like birria tacos and signature smoked meats such as Texas-style brisket, tender pork ribs and pulled pork so flavorful it doesn’t even need sauce. This summer, Madison and Kelli Ruckel will trade in their vintage airstream trailer for a brick-and-mortar restaurant, but you may still have to brave the elements to get a taste. Still, spending time outside and chatting to your neighbor in line is all part of the barbecue experience and underscores the community-centric vibe that Mama Jean’s BBQ hopes to cultivate.
Mama Jean’s BBQ will operate as a fast-casual restaurant with a small inside dining room that seats between 50 to 60 people, including a small quartzite-topped bar. Orders will be placed at a counter near the entrance to allow for maximum seating capacity; the Ruckels have anticipated the line wrapping around the side of the restaurant to the back, so they’ve built a pavilion in hopes of mitigating weather-induced discomforts. Beyond the pavilion, there’s also a large green space that’ll be outfitted with picnic tables, and Madison hopes to add frozen cocktails to help beat the heat and bring the festive vibes.
“I think that’s going to be one of the cool things that we bring, not only the frozen drinks, but the outdoor space that goes along with it,” Madison says. “That’s real few and far between in Roanoke.”
Creating a family-friendly place for the community to gather and commune over top-notch barbecue is one of the Ruckels’ main goals for their restaurant. To that end, they plan to initially be open Thursday through Sunday and then add Monday as one of the first additional days, when many local restaurants are closed. They’ll also fence in part of the outdoor space to make it dog friendly and ensure that there’s ample room for kids to run around, add cornhole boards and book music acts and community events down the line. “When we get a good team behind us, it’d be great to bring in some sort of festival or fundraiser or something for a cause,” Kelli says. “That’s a great way to just have a good Sunday afternoon or Saturday afternoon.”
The Ruckels have operated Mama Jean’s BBQ since 2018, though Madison started his barbecue journey at Home Team BBQ West Ashley in Charleston. Here, Madison learned the fundamentals of barbecue under the mentorship of chef Aaron Seigel, honing his craft to become a pitmaster in his own right. His passion for live-fire cooking has continued to fuel his barbecue game; upgrading to a brick-and-mortar will enable Madison to expand his menu and wood-fired cooking repertoire by employing a direct heat charcoal smoker. Madison typically uses a mix of 80 percent oak and 20 percent hickory for his stick burner smoker, but now he’ll use the locally-sourced wood to make scratch-made charcoal by burning whole logs down in a 50-gallon drum. “It’s a lot cleaner,” Madison says, comparing the smoke of the charcoal grill to a stick burner smoker, which has much more combustion. “When the coals cook down into briquettes, those are extremely clean heat. It’s got more of that full hog flavor, a more natural, clean flavor.”
Madison has already started cooking ribs and chicken over the glowing embers on the charcoal grill and will ultimately use this technique to cook Autumn Olive Farm’s whole hogs. Of course, this is contingent on having the staff to sustain the hogs’ 14 to 16 hour cook time and to refresh the charcoal every 20 minutes. Madison is quick to credit his existing team, including sous chef Alex Pohlman, for giving him the necessary support to evolve his barbecue craft.
“When [Alex] came on board three years ago, that’s when things were able to progress because I had a partner in the kitchen who shared the same values of food that I do,” Madison says. “So having somebody to help me do the day to day stuff like the mac and cheese and the sauce, which he’s now teaching someone else to do.”
With help on the production line, Madison has had more freedom to show off his creative flair in recent years, perhaps best evidenced in his weekly specials. “I can’t not do a special,” he says, half-joking, noting that many of his customers return because of those dishes. Some fan favorites will earn a spot on the permanent menu, including smash burgers made with prime brisket trim and beef fat flour tortillas. The Ruckels envision serving the tortillas alongside a plate of barbecue and offering pinto beans as a side, Tex-Mex style. Other specials will rotate more frequently, such as birria tacos, Reubens, pastrami beef ribs and smoked bologna sandwiches. At the bar, Madison hopes to eventually experiment with smoking water to make smoked ice cubes destined for drinks like Old Fashioneds or smoky tequila tipples.
Although certain dishes have their own notoriety, the Ruckels realize that many folks will be experiencing Mama Jean’s BBQ for the first time, so the menu will remain largely barbecue-centric, along with smoked meats and soulful Southern sides like smoked potato salad, a seriously creamy mac and cheese, and zippy coleslaw, plus the addition of a seasonal salad. “We’re going to do like we’ve always done,” Madison says. “We’re going to execute a few things really well and build off of that. That’s the goal.”
Stay tuned for Mama Jean’s opening date! mamajeansbbq.com @mamajeansbbq
Layla Khoury-Hanold is a James Beard Award nominated journalist who has written for Food52, Condé Nast Traveler, Food Network, Vine Pair, The Chicago Tribune and The Local Palate, among others. She is working on her debut memoir. Visit wordswithlayla.com for more info and follow her dining and writing adventures via her Substack newsletter, Words with Layla, or on Instagram @words_with_layla
