Family-owned barbecue right in neighborhood
Derek Fowler remembers well the large dinners that his grandmother Mamie Hawkins Debnam prepared in her Dorchester home when he was growing up. They were affairs with ribs, sweet potatoes, peach cobbler, and other Southern specialties whose recipes the family matriarch had brought with her from North Carolina decades before.
"Her whole foundation was family. Every Sunday, she'd cook for all her grandchildren, and anyone else that would come over," says Fowler. "It was something she loved to do."
It made sense that when Pit Stop Barbeque, a tiny take-out shack in Dorchester with a loyal neighborhood following, went up for sale, Hawkins Debnam's children and grandchildren saw not just a business opportunity, but a chance to honor her and give something back to the neighborhood. "We knew the reputation," says Fowler, who bought the restaurant in August with three cousins, an aunt, and an uncle. "We were getting into an institution. The building and the customer base were already there." Key kitchen staff stayed on, leaving the six family members to handle business. For her part, Hawkins Debnam became an unofficial inspector of sorts, popping by in the mornings to check the meats and sample the sides and sauces.
Set back behind a chain-link fence and barely measuring 400 square feet, Pit Stop Barbeque seems an unlikely institution. What's more, that's hardly what Lawrence Jeter, the original owner, set out to make it when he opened in 1985. Raised in Spartanburg, S.C., Jeter learned to cook watching his parents prepare for large family outings that drew dozens of friends and relatives. When he came to Boston in 1963, he showed his barbecue skills at picnics and events with a local motorcycle club he belonged to.
He managed to work full-time for the MBTA and run Pit Stop because he viewed it as more of a hobby than a primary source of income. The spot was open Thursdays through Sundays only. "I wanted something small because all I wanted to do was barbecue - just chicken and ribs," Jeter, 65, says. "When I saw it, I thought, 'This is the right place and it's the right size.' But once I got started, I realized I made a big mistake." He explains that a much larger establishment would have made more money.
Helped by word of mouth and the occasional breeze that would send barbecue aroma wafting to cars stopped at the traffic light at Morton and Evans streets, Pit Stop became a hit. Before long, customers who originally came for ribs or chicken started asking for sweet potatoes, cornbread, and collard greens. Jeter obliged. His MBTA shift started at 3 p.m., so he did most of the prep work early in the day, while his wife, Joy, and son Lance, managed the restaurant. "They were my backbone," says Jeter, who insisted that Pit Stop's recipes stay the same. "A customer's taste is sharper than a bloodhound's," he says. "You change the taste, they'll know. Don't think you can slide it through."
Fowler and his family were Pit Stop regulars before they bought it. They kept the restaurant's hours to three days and they didn't even consider changing the recipes. Meats on the menu include beef and pork ribs, beef and pork sausages, chopped beef and pork; yams and macaroni and cheese are among the more popular sides. A tasty peach cobbler heads up the dessert menu.
Most of the meat cooks in a pit that is 5 feet wide and 7 feet deep, and never hotter than 350 degrees. Pork ribs cook for about 1 hour, 40 minutes; beef ribs for 2 hours; chicken for 2 1/2 hours. A second pit was installed outside a few years ago. "The demand was so big," says kitchen supervisor Scott Stewart, who comes from Greenwood, Miss. "Sometimes we still get caught up on ribs."
Fowler also sticks with Jeter's recipe for the tangy, slightly peppery sauce, which includes tomato paste, ketchup, and molasses.
Retired now, Jeter still cooks at the Elliot Church of Roxbury, and drops by his creation a couple of times a week, "just to check on things."
Fowler says that he and his family are considering expanding Pit Stop and opening more days. The family has also established the Mamie H. Debnam Scholarship Fund, in honor of the woman who inspired them to buy Pit Stop, and who died March 22, at age 87. Hawkins Debnam was still coming to the restaurant to check on things until a few weeks before her death, says Fowler.
Between Jeter's recipes and a respect for family and community instilled by his grandmother, Fowler believes his family has what it takes to keep Pit Stop a neighborhood institution.
"We know the legacy and we want to live up to it," he says.
Pit Stop Barbeque, 888A Morton St., Dorchester, 617-436-0485. Open Thurs-Sat 11 a.m.-midnight; Sun 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
