Article and photography by Joshua Fitzwater
Lead photo- pitmaster and owner of The Original Ronnie’s BBQ, Ronnie Logan, Sr.
If memory serves, in 2020, leading African-American foodways scholar and then solo James Beard award winning author, Adrian Miller, posted on his social media that he was traveling from Colorado to Virginia to do research for an upcoming barbecue book, and wanted to know if anyone had any recommendations for Black barbecue joints in Virginia. Immediately upon reading this, managing editor of Southern Grit Magazine, Deb Freeman and I, the publisher of Southern Grit, knew that we needed to find a way to contact Miller and push him towards a visit to The Original Ronnie’s BBQ in Varina, Virginia. Being that the call for recommendations went out to anyone following him online, we were worried that Miller, through no fault of his own, could be directed to barbecue spots by eager fans of his who might want to bring him to places they like, but places nonetheless that have nothing to do with Virginia’s deep barbecue history. A history in part born out of the legacy of enslaved Black Virginians who were the ones in the pits leading the cooks.
Southern Grit Magazine Founder, Joshua Fitzwater (Right) | James Beard award winning author and food historian, Adrian Miller (Right Center) | Food anthropologist, podcaster and writer, Debra Freeman (Left Center) and barbecue cook/ enthusiast, Kyle Sutton (Left) | during Miller’s Virginia barbecue research trip in 2020.
Luckily, we were not only able to contact him and steer him towards Ronnies, but we, along with a select group of his barbecue ambassadors and friends, accompanied him throughout one of his research days where he visited multiple barbecue spots in Virginia. As Deb and I worried, the places other than Ronnies that we visited were void of any Virginia history or tradition, and in some cases also lacked in quality. At worst, we were greeted with dry, reheated, pan-seared brisket, and at best, we were treated to semi-decent Texas-inspired menu options that spoke more to the influence of German and Czech immigrants, the founders of Texas barbecue in the mid-to-late 1800s than the skill and legacy of Black barbecue pitmasters that go back to the beginning of our country. Considering that Miller only solicited a conversation from one pitmaster that day (Ronnie), I think it’s safe to say that he tasted and experienced the difference as well.
Ronnie’s spot is a special place for barbecue in Virginia but still it flies a bit under the radar. This is in part due to the unfortunate fact that Virginia barbecue currently has an identity problem, spurned on either from a loss of memory or a purposeful dismissal of it by pitmasters and restaurant owners in the commonwealth who prefer to chase the trendier and easier to execute Central-Texas style barbecue playbook laid out by the likes of pitmaster Aaron Franklin of Franklin’s barbecue in Austin some years ago.
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Today, some of the most lauded barbecue spots nationally in Virginia are doing Texas-style barbecue, and this isn’t exclusive to White pitmasters, as is the case at say a Redwood Smoke Shack in Norfolk or a ZZQ in Richmond, or even a Sloppy Mama’s in Arlington. One of the most talented pitmasters in Virginia for example, who also happens to be Black, Jayme Campbell, owner of Bar-Q, despite some quite impressive culinary spins, is nonetheless also fully invested in the Texas barbecue model. This is not to knock Texas-style barbecue, any of the previous Texas-inspired restaurants or Campbell, again he is one of the best in our state, but one has to admire and appreciate that Ronnie seems to be both interested in the culinary history of the area he cooks in and in honoring the enslaved Black people that were America’s first pitmasters, who along with indigenous people and European settlers merged their cooking styles in Virginia to give birth to barbecue as we know it today.
Ronnie, who can always be found sweating and smiling the mornings of Friday through Sunday when his spot is open, will share stories with customers of his family’s history in Varina by the pit. His family has lived in Varina for some generations and not far from his barbecue spot today, his family used to own a local market. He also can recall attending whole hog pit dug barbecues in his past in Varina executed by members of the local community.
This is important because part of Virginia’s loss of a barbecue identity, despite being the originators of the genre, is the exceedingly faint memory of those living today of pit dug and whole animal barbecues in Virginia. The contrast of that memory in relation to say areas like Eastern North Carolina where not only does the memory loom large, but the process can still be found in relative abundance is striking. If Virginia barbecue is to reclaim its identity, more families and communities who have ties to whole animal barbecues in past generations need to talk about it, share it, and do barbecues again. Conversely, more people in Virginia food media need to seek out those stories and talk about them.
As it was with Ronnie’s family ties of the past with food and barbecue in Varina, so it is today. From members of his family like Emmanuel “Scootie” Logan who makes the macaroni and cheese, to other family members who help with local press, promotion and front of the house duties, Ronnie’s wood fired barbecue is truly a family affair. It shows in the quality of the barbecue that they care at Ronnie’s, that it is important and personal to them.
Assorted photos from The Original Ronnies BBQ in Varina, Virginia
From their smoked chicken, which is always charred just right, to their tender ribs and juicy minced pork, Ronnie’s simultaneously honors the origins of Virginia barbecue’s past while offering barbecue that more than competes with any Texas or Carolina import that’s made its way back to the founding state of American barbecue.
By the way, Miller would go one to win a James Beard Award for Black Smoke, the book he was doing research for. Without question, this was more than deserved as it is most certainly one of the best barbecue books out there today. In it, Deb recently told me that she and I along with other barbecue ambassadors were credited in a small fashion. A detail I somehow missed. My first thought upon hearing this, despite obviously being grateful, was I wish Ronnie had been credited.
For more on The Original Ronnie’s BBQ, visit theoriginalronnies.com
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