Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2015 - 62

abeduenaS.com
Fred Sauceman

Hush puppies are a popular side item at Daddy Joe's.

Lumber from an old mill house and barn was used to
build Daddy Joe's.

Shelton says the figures add up to
over 1,200 gallons of tea a week,
sweetened with over 3,000
pounds of sugar.
The Beacon took a popular
Southern phrase, "a-plenty," and
turned it into a phenomenon. In
Beacon-speak, it means a sandwich
platter topped with both French
fries and hand-breaded Vidalia
onion rings. Word has it that three
tons of potatoes and three tons of
onions are fried each week.
The Beacon Drive-In, 255 John B.
White, Sr. Boulevard, Spartanburg,
South Carolina
864-585-9387; beacondrivein.com

BarBecue and Blues in
Gaffney
Joe Moss worked in shipyards
during World War II and then in
cotton mills in Gaffney, South
Carolina. And he knew food. People
still talk about his catfish stew. But
Joe Moss likely would have never
imagined that his nickname, Daddy
62 BlueRidgeCountry.com

Joe, would attract people from all
over creation to one of his state's
premiere barbecue joints.
At a fish fry and blues party
every summer, Daddy Joe's Beach
House BBQ features that catfish
stew, overseen by the Gaffney restaurant's owner, David Steppe.
Known as "Shag" because he
picked up golf balls as a youngster,
Steppe is Daddy Joe's grandson.
Using lumber from an old mill
house and an old barn, in 2003
Steppe opened his culinary memorial to his grandfather, a shrine
honoring the history of the
South's barbecue houses and juke
joints. Before he built the restaurant, Steppe studied barbecue all
over the South.
Daddy Joe's is a blend of both
barbecue and beach house architecture, with a message on the wall
common to both: "It's OK to lick
your fingers." In one room,
upside-down minnow buckets
serve as light fixtures.
Boston butts smoke all night,
and during the day, ribs and
chicken take their turn. Seldom are
Steppe's barbecue rigs cool. He
caters often at manufacturing

plants and corporate events. In
December, he will feed close to
10,000 people off-site.
A pork sandwich at Daddy Joe's
comes dressed with a tangy barbecue slaw and a vinegary sauce. Our
server said that for chicken, it's just
the opposite: a sweet sauce and
mayonnaise-based coleslaw.
On the restaurant's patio every
Thursday, live acoustic music is
performed, and the multi-talented
Steppe will often join in, playing
blues on his harmonica. His travels
and research around the South
taught him about the perfect pairing of a soulful blues tune and a
plate of saucy, smoky ribs.
Daddy Joe's Beach House BBQ,
400 West Floyd Baker Boulevard,
Gaffney, South Carolina
864-487-7427; daddyjoesbbq.com
As these people and places
prove, the connection between
food and memory is strong in the
uplands of South Carolina. 
Fred Sauceman's latest book is
"Buttermilk and Bible Burgers: More
Stories from the Kitchens of
Appalachia," published by Mercer
University Press in Macon, Georgia.
http://www.beacondrivein.com http://www.daddyjoesbbq.com http://www.BlueRidgeCountry.com
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