By Gary Lloyd
A new barbecue restaurant will fill the former Legends Smokehouse on Old Springville Road in Clay.
The Bar-B-Que Pit Stop is expected to open in the former Legends location in early March, said Debbie Mortimer, who is opening the restaurant with her husband, Cliff.
The new barbecue restaurant will serve lunch and dinner and may eventually offer breakfast.
The Bar-B-Que Pit Stop will mostly be a carryout restaurant, but there is a small patio for customers wishing to eat at the restaurant. It will also cater, Debbie Mortimer said.
Debbie Mortimer said the restaurant will focus on four meats — pork, brisket, ribs and chicken. There will be three or four side items on the menu.
“We are going to focus on quality instead of quantity,” Debbie Mortimer said.
The Mortimers previously lived in Youngstown, Ohio and Atlanta. The couple got its start in the restaurant business 23 years ago in Atlanta. The Mortimers opened Armadillo’s BBQ in Youngstown, Ohio, when they were in their 20s. Their competition-style ribs won the most outstanding ribs category seven years in a row at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival
. Cliff Mortimer has been cooking competitive-style barbecue since the mid 1990s.
The new restaurant will offer four competition-style sauces with its barbecue. The hot sauce is called Texas Fire, sweet or mild sauce is called Southern Peach, a vinegar-based sauce is Carolina Coast and the smoky-style sauce is Hickory Heaven.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.