About Us

Comfort food sure to satisfy any appetite and complete with all the fixins! Rooted in a secret family recipe and refined over three generations, this local favorite has helped to shape and inform the deep barbecue tradition in our region of the south. Bring the whole family and experience our hickory smoked barbecue, you'll never forget your first time and we know you'll be back for more!

Our signature, award-winning pork and beef are smoked for 8-10 hours in our custom smokehouses, our famous beans and coleslaw are made fresh daily and our best-selling blue cheese dressing adds a dash of zest!

Smoked meat has been a part of daily life in southern Appalachia - here further enhanced by our award winning Ridgewood Barbecue sauce. Based on a secret family recipe, this delicately balanced sweet & tomato-based umami flavor has evolved to become the very definition of "Tennessee-style" barbecue. Tucked away in Bullocks Hollow since the late-1940s and now only somewhat off the beaten path, we locals have long considered it worth every turn.

The hams at Ridgewood come from nearby Bristol, Tennessee. After the fresh hams arrive at the restaurant, they're smoked for nine hours, then rubbed with spices and chilled overnight. The next morning, they are shaved into thin, white slices. As customers arrive for lunch and dinner, the kitchen warms piles of shaved ham on a flat-top grill out front. Handfuls of ham are coated with barbecue sauce and piled on sandwiches or plates for customers.

The recipe for the sauce is a closely-guarded secret known only by two members of the founding Proffitt family. Only written down when it comes time for one Proffitt to teach the next to make it...once the knowledge has been passed on, the paper is burned. One of the managing Proffitts has another job - patriarch Larry is a pharmacist, but daughter Lisa who was once a registered nurse now dedicates her time strictly to the restuarant.

Larry's mother, Mrs. Grace Proffitt, dedicated herself strictly to the restaurant, with her husband Jim working at a local factory to pay the bills until business steadied. The eldest Profitt son, Terry, dedicated much of his life to insure the high quality standards developed by his parents.

The practice of reheating the ham before serving it gives it a unique tender texture with crispy edges. It certainly isn't the pulled-pork eaten to the east and west, or the country ham otherwise found in East Tennessee. Gas cooking has never played a role in this process, like so many current barbecue makers. The painstaking steps required to smoke the meats over hickory wood for hours as opposed to gas cooking is an important factor in creating true smoked meats.

The flavors at Ridgewood are the flavors of southern Appalachia. The most dominant is a deep, comforting smoke that's unfettered by too much spice. Since the beans contain little bits of the meat, they also benefit from the true smoky flavor that makes Ridgewood stand apart.