Homestyle Hospitality

By Michaela Bankston
Photos by Lacey Barnwell

Perched atop a stool in his parents’ kitchen, a young Jonathan “Rusty” Tucker leaned over the counter to crack eggs into a bowl. His dad, Jerry Tucker, prepared a holiday feast of turkey, ham and their family additions, jambalaya and gumbo. The Allman Brothers Band sang through the radio as the rest of the family tidied up the house. Later that day, family friends, new acquaintances and fellow churchgoers would arrive for their first Christmas Eve Eve party.

“He was always underfoot in the kitchen when he was little, and then he became a real help as he got older,” Jerry said.

A few years later, the father-son duo migrated outside and spent more time on the patio. Rusty observed his dad hovering over the grill and assisted as he could until he took over himself. Like the Dec. 23 get-together, family barbecues often extended to the entire neighborhood and gave Rusty a taste of entertaining people.

“All of my happiest memories growing up were around big holidays or big meals or gatherings,” Rusty said. “Food is always a big part of our life.”

While he spent many hours cooking with his dad, Rusty felt he could learn more from a variety of people.

“I always thought that my Grandmother Hazel made the best caramel cake, so I made it a point to learn her caramel cake recipe. My Uncle Tim made the best tacos, so I wanted to learn how to make tacos,” Rusty said. “Whoever made the best, that’s who I wanted to talk to and learn from them.”

His developing passion for cuisine combined with a healthy appetite for the newly popular Food Network led him to a catering company where he worked at 15 years old. A year later he began working in restaurants and fell in love with the industry. After high school, he attended culinary school where he fell in love again. In spring 2007 he and future wife, Beth Tucker, graduated and moved back to their respective hometowns.

“I was willing to see where things were going to take me at that time,” Beth said. “I had a couple job offers out west if I wanted them.”

After an engagement a few months later, she moved to Alabama.

The following year the pair married, and two weeks after that, they signed a lease in pursuit of a dream Beth said her husband always wanted. After cleaning out and converting the space, the two 24-year-olds opened the doors to Rusty’s Bar-B-Q, which celebrated 16 years in February. Though many family-run restaurants never accomplish half that feat, Rusty is less than amazed with how they started.

“It was stupid. It was not impressive,” Rusty said in regard to opening a restaurant that young. “The fact that we’re still here is a combination of stubbornness, stupidity and just the ignorance that no one told us that we couldn’t do it, so we did.”

In addition to their obstinance, the Tuckers credit a good group of family and friends, who offered helping hands, gave advice where they could and refused to let them fail. Beyond their support, many recipes have come from or are inspired by his family and friends, including the house barbecue sauce, which is based on his grandfather’s recipe.

While the family-inspired sauce has always had a place on each table, some people had different tastes in mind for what they would drizzle on their pulled pork sandwich. Some wanted sweet while others requested spicy, and still others desired a white sauce. In a quest to give people what they wanted, Rusty discovered he had four barbecue sauces all along.

“It’s better to be lucky than good. I just kind of lucked into having four different barbecue sauces available,” Rusty said of the bases for his spicy and sweet baked beans and coleslaw, which have emerged from the kitchen and now reside next to the house sauce with their new names, spicy, sweet and white.

The menu as a whole features many Alabama barbecue staples such as hickory-smoked pork butts, ribs and Conecuh sausage. To go with one’s meat of choice, they have more than 15 classic sides and seven dessert options.

For the appetite not craving barbecue, try their best-selling cheeseburger.

“It’s a really good cheeseburger,” Rusty said. “We’re not looking to reinvent the wheel here, we’re trying to perfect it. We’re trying to make the best version of the classic cheeseburger.”

The vast menu had plenty of options, but a few people still left less than full. Once a year a man came in with a group. He never complained but only ordered a salad and a plain baked potato.

Though Rusty’s specializes in Alabama-style barbecue, a meal not often sought out by vegetarians, Rusty saw something as missing.

“It was just really sad because everyone else is getting a slab of ribs or a brisket plate or whatever,” he said.

Rusty found and seized a solution when he discovered jackfruit, a vegan alternative to pulled pork.

A couple weeks later a pouty teenage girl shuffled in behind her family and frustratingly stared at the menu. On a hunch he asked if she was vegetarian and offered some remaining jackfruit. He said the simple gesture made her day, and she felt seen.

Since then, jackfruit has had a place on the menu.

“Is it the top seller? No, absolutely not, but for the people that need something that’s a meat substitute, it makes them feel welcome,” Rusty said.

That philosophy drives Rusty. He wants everyone to feel comfortable and have a good time whether they dine in at the restaurant or find themselves at the next Christmas Eve Eve party, which has continued for more than 30 years and most recently hosted around 100 people.

“I always had a passion for feeding people and making people happy with food and providing great hospitality, and so that’s what we try to do here,” Rusty said.

Rusty’s Bar-B-Q is located at 7484 Parkway Drive in Leeds. It is open Monday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m., and Friday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. For catering or to-go orders, call 205-699-4766.