Dave Roberts, the owner of beloved Decatur barbecue restaurant Community Q and a longtime fixture of the metro Atlanta dining scene, has died unexpectedly.
Roberts was born in Indiana and moved to Atlanta at age 5.
According to a 2007 story by former Atlanta Journal-Constitution dining critic Susan Puckett, Roberts honed his appreciation for barbecue, greens and other Southern classics by participating in his annual church barbecue fund-raiser and mastering the art of the Lowcountry boil and oyster roast while attending college in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
“Food was always great, but the time spent together creating these feasts was what it was really about,” he told Puckett.
After studying pre-med and computer science, he started his culinary career in fine dining in the early ‘90s at the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead under famed chef Gunter Seeger. He later spent time at several now-shuttered Atlanta institutions including Mumbo Jumbo and Brasserie Le Coze. He also worked in restaurant consulting and brokering organic vegetables.
Shaun Doty, who owns Bantam + Biddy and previously co-owned eateries including the Federal and Best Sandwich Shop, said he developed “a lifelong bond” working with Roberts at the Ritz and Mumbo Jumbo, along with a group of other chefs in the Ritz kitchen.
Doty said Roberts took him under his wing when he first arrived at the Ritz as an intern.
“He could have hazed me, but he really helped me,” Doty said. “He was so generous and put in extra time to help me as a young person fresh out of culinary school.”
When Doty was sick with the flu, Roberts came by with a bowl of hot congee. “He was always doing those random acts of kindness,” Roberts said. “He was just so kind.”
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
In 2004, Sam Huff and Dave Poe brought Roberts on as a full-time manager, and later, partner, when they opened Sam & Dave’s BBQ in Marietta (a second branch opened in 2006).
Five years later, Roberts opened Community Q with Stuart Baesel, with whom he worked at Seeger’s and Sam & Dave’s, and Jim Laber, formerly of Inland Seafood.
The restaurant is, of course, known for its smoked meats including pulled pork, beef brisket, St. Louis-style ribs and bone-in or shredded chicken. But Roberts took particular pride in Community Q’s sides.
“There are a number of things that I’m super proud of, and the consistency of the sides and the freshness of the sides is big part of that,” Roberts told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2020.
The star of Roberts’ stable of sides was his mac and cheese. The recipe was inspired by one that his mother made when he was a child and which he perfected during his time at Sam & Dave’s and recreated when he opened Community Q. He used a three-cheese blend of Parmesan, sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack, along with heavy cream and salt for the sauce, and fat noodles instead of traditional macaroni.
Others, including Robert Owens of Grand Champion and now Owens and Hull as well as Steven Hartsock of Socks’ Love Barbecue, were inspired to put that recipe on their menus. “People talk about how unique the rigatoni noodle is. And how rich the sauce is,” Hartsock said of what continues to be the best-selling side dish at his restaurant. “I owe that to him.”
“Talk about mac and cheese. Nobody cared about mac and cheese until Dave Roberts’ mac and cheese,” Owens said.
Owens credits Roberts for far more than an award-winning mac and cheese recipe. Roberts was his mentor, taking Owens under his wing and getting him his first cooking job when he was a teenager. Their friendship spanned nearly 30 years.
Roberts is also “the whole reason I got into barbecue,” Owens said. “He brought the thought, the care to the recipes, methods of cooking, preparation and consistency.” In Owens’ estimation, the Atlanta barbecue scene “wasn’t there until Dave Roberts.”
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Terry Koval, chef and co-owner of the Deer and the Dove, developed a friendship with Roberts when Koval moved to Atlanta in 2000.
He remembers Roberts as someone with a “big personality, big heart.”
“Dave was always down to help with any farm dinners. He was incredibly generous with his donations,” said Koval, whose wife Jen worked for Community Q for two years before the couple launched the Deer and the Dove. When the Kovals opened doors in 2019, Roberts brought family meal during the first two weeks of service.
”We just lost another brother,” Koval said. “He was part of Atlanta chef culture. Someone you knew that had your back if you needed something. His restaurant says it all: Community Q. He was about community.”
Justin and Jonathan Fox, who co-own Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q with several locations in metro Atlanta, paid tribute to Roberts in a post on the restaurant’s Instagram account.
“If there was a Mount Rushmore of Atlanta Barbecue, Dave Roberts would be on there,” the statement read. “Dave was a truly unique guy, working at his own pace. He would often call on a Sunday, asking if we were stocked up because he felt like closing and was going to put a note up saying to go to Fox Bros.”
After more than 15 years in business, Roberts told Decaturish earlier this year that he and Baesel were planning to expand with a second location on White Boulevard off Lawrenceville Highway.
“I think we have the opportunity to reach even more people and make even more friends,” Roberts told Decaturish. “I mean, I think that’s kind of the nature of a good barbecue place.”
Information about services for Roberts have not been announced.
