Rib Ranch is through with The Q.
The Marietta barbecue restaurant closed on Christmas Eve after nearly 35 years.
General manager Edward Sullivan told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that they closed because the restaurant couldn’t come to an agreement with the property owner about the lease.
“Those talks have been going on for quite some time and it didn’t come together,” he said, noting that he does not know of other plans for the property.
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Sullivan, manager since 1995, has no plans for himself. But he said that of the 16 folks who worked at Rib Ranch, he has secured new jobs for all in the kitchen and has leads for all the wait staff.
Rib Ranch gave the world a week's notice on Facebook.
Regulars, former employees and those who wanted one last bite showed up on Christmas Eve.
“It was extremely emotional saying goodbye,” Sullivan said.
According to the Canton Road restaurant's website, Cindy Newman opened the place on July 12, 1983 — six months after she moved to Marietta from Idaho.
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When the Democratic National Convention came to Atlanta in 1988, plenty of reporters came from out of town to cover the event. That includes the Wall Street Journal, which (according to The AJC at the time) published this:
"Any time an event of national significance takes place in the South, Northern reporters start arguing — in print and on the air — about where the best barbecue is to be found. An early hint: There isn't any barbecue worth arguing about here."
Bless their hearts.
In response to such drivel, The AJC named four bearers of barbecue as examples of how wrong the WSJ was — and Rib Ranch was one of them.
And upon the inauguration of Texas’ President George W. Bush in 2001, The AJC took at look at metro Atlanta’s real barbecue joints. With Bush as the "Texan-in-chief, it's clear that ranch retreats, boots, bulls and barbecue are back," the paper said
We declared Rib Ranch the favorite Atlanta spot then, adding this: “Among the Rib Ranch’s 10 Commandments, Magic-Markered on plywood: ‘Thou Shalt Wipe the Goobers From the Tabasco Bottle.’ ”
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