The award-winning chef and pitmaster talks whole hogs, “Rodney sauce,” and disco balls.

Rodney Scott smoked his first hog when he was 11 years old. His family owned a convenience store in Hemingway, South Carolina, and on Thursdays, his father would cook whole hogs over hardwood coals. Years later, James Beard Award-winning Scott still cooks that way—at his restaurants in Charleston, Birmingham, and come April, Atlanta. Rodney Scott’s BBQ will open in the historic MET development in Adair Park (680 Murphy Avenue Southwest), alongside a coffee and cocktail bar and the Mammal Gallery.

“My food is my life growing up,” Scott says. “From the cornbread to the smoked chicken, it’s all based on the flavors I remember as a child.”

These flavors come to life in the restaurant menu, which features everything from ribs and pulled pork to turkey and wings.

“We’re vinegar based, bringing an Eastern South Carolina coast flavor into Atlanta. It’s different than what people will be used to,” Scott says.

Tell us about your sauces.
Rodney’s Sauce is the vinegar, cayenne, and black pepper sauce. It’s loose with some color. The other sauce is apple cider vinegar, ketchup and Worchester. The White Rod Sauce is a white sauce with a touch of Rodney’s Sauce flavored in. The Kathy Sauce is a little thicker and sweeter. Most proteins are cooked in Rodney’s Sauce. The others are served on the side.

What will the space look like once it’s finished?
It’s 4,000 square feet. It will definitely will have a disco ball in it. That’s my signature thing. As a child in the late ‘70s, a mirrored ball always caught my attention. It’ll be similar to the Charleston building—light blue and white with a full bar and a pickup window. There will be a patio, too.

Read the full interview here.

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by Carly Cooper, Atlanta Magazine

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