For years folks have flocked to Marshall Barnhart’s Dudley’s Done Right barbecue stand on North State Street.
Sometime in early January — he hopes it’s Jan. 5 — Barnhart will have expanded offerings at 2402 N. State, a building that has held one restaurant or another for 40 years. “It all depends on when we get all the state inspections done,” Barnhart said, which may be prolonged by Christmas and New Years holidays.
The location started as a steakhouse, was a go-to pizza place for years, went back to steaks and traditional fare and then, for a short time before it closed earlier this year, was enveloped by the odor of Italian cooking.
Now, it will be good old American barbecue, Barnhart said, and the decor is a dead giveaway that is what friends — exactly what Barnhart wants them to be — will find.
Once he decided to make the move, Barnhart prowled Ray’s Metal Depot yard, snatching up old license plates and car parts to accentuate the dining area. He found signs and other decorative pieces in local antiques malls.
In a salute to localism, Barnhart pledged from the start to buy everything he could locally for the makeover, “and I have,” he said. “Lyndsay Ellis was a big help with the decorating.”
Regulars gush about his barbecued brisket, pulled pork, chicken and turkey. They’ll have more to choose from in the sit-down eatery. Does barbecued baloney — bologna for purists —and bacon-wrapped meatloaf sound enticing? How about fresh-made Susi-Q or French-fried potatoes? Maybe a helping of onion peels.
Every couple of weeks diners who don’t mind being a little piggish will be encouraged to enter the Dudley’s potato-eating contest. Hefty potatoes, piled with butter, sour cream, chives, what have you, will be placed on one — or more — of three elevated tables decorated with car bumpers and lights. Contestants, with hands secured behind their backs, will mount bar stools and dive in, much like Ralphie’s little brother in “Christmas Story.”
The word “bar,” caught Barnhart’s attention.
“We’re going to serve beer, but no hard liquor,” he said. “We’re not going to have a bar, where a bunch of guys come in, sit and drink and drop F-bombs. The restaurant is going to be family oriented. I’ll keep the kitchen clean and I expect people eating to keep their mouths (words) clean.”
Ordering a meal will be a little different. “It’ll be like Oklahoma Joe’s in Kansas City,” Barnhart said, in that when diners arrive “they’ll order what they want, get their Coke, tea or whatever drink and than find a place to sit. When their order’s ready, we’ll call out a number.”
When weather warms, outdoor seating will accommodate 30 to 40 people.
The restaurant will be open 11 a.m. to 9 .m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. “Later on we may have lunch on Sundays, but only with two (dining) options.”
The restaurant will have close to 20 employees when it’s running full steam, with many of them high school and college students. Barnhart doesn’t want to infringe on their activities and will try to arrange schedules accordingly. Among nine already hired is his son, Cale, a sophomore at Iola High.
His admonition to employees will be Dudley’s Done Right will be done right. “I want a family restaurant that has good meals, good prices and good service.”
SO HOW does a 38-year-old guy with the grip of a stevedore become an expert barbecue chef?
Barnhart was working at B&W Trailer Hitches in Humboldt in the 1990s when he put his metal-working and welding skills to advantage and built several smokers — one for himself.
He didn’t know squat about barbecuing, but wanted to learn. “I watched a lot of TV shows and talked to Lynn Garner,” conceded as being one of the best cooks in the area. Garner shared with the new kid on the block. A couple of weeks before Garner’s untimely death at age 57 in 2007, he gave Barnhart three quarts of his personal sauce. “I’ve been trying to replicate it ever since.”
A year later Barnhart got his catering license. At about the same time a life-changing event occurred.
“My mom (Marsha) died, and that changed my perspective. I had been worrying about the dollar and not friends and acquaintances,” he said. “It’s all about how to treat people, not how much money you make. I don’t care about a person’s race or religion or anything else. Today we need to worry about taking care of each other. We’re all Americans.”
His mother’s death, when he was just into his 30s, was impactful because he hardly knew his father, Martin, a decorated Vietnam veteran who died in 1981.
But, he had his grandfather, Earl Barnhart, quickly became a surrogate father. “He never missed any of my games, rain or snow, or anything else. He always was there for me and he taught me a lot,” including when the sun’s up it’s time to be up and going, and when it’s down it’s time to be home.
Barnhart often mentions he leans on God to help him make the right choices. “I talk to God a lot. I talked to Him a lot about opening this restaurant,” a big step when the stand he had worked from for years had been good to the family. By the way, it now may be found in front of his about-to-open new restaurant.
“I want to make friends, first, then make customers and finally make dollars, not the other way around,” he said.
LAST CHRISTMAS Barnhart walked the walk.
From churches, friends and relatives he learned about 121 families in the area — some as far away as Kincaid, Yates Center, Erie and Bronson — who weren’t going to have much of a Christmas meal. “There’s a lot more poverty in this area than many realize.”
Barnhart fired up his cookers and with the help from Jeff Cook, Cameron Shifflett and Dan Rodriguez put together scrumptious feasts for the beleaguered families. “Some hadn’t had a good meal in weeks.” He also is a benefactor to other folks, including those enrolled in the Circles Out of Poverty, Georgia Masterson’s project through Thrive Allen County.
“Making friends and taking care of others (including wife Jacie), that’s what it’s all about.”
