Lexington’s hot but roiling barbecue scene will welcome a new spot this spring, but one sporting a locally well-known name: J. Render’s BBQ Southern Table & Bar.
Gwyn and Ren Everly, who have operated their popular J. Render’s BBQ food truck and catering business since October 2012, have announced they are making the leap to brick-and-mortar. Gwyn Everly said they signed a lease Wednesday to open a barbecue and Southern fare spot at 3191 Beaumont Center Circle.
“It’s the natural next step,” said Everly, explaining that the food truck itself was born out of their initial plan to do catering. “At this point, we are maxed out on what we can do on the truck. There’s just three of us, we have one helper. ... The restaurant will give us more space and we’ll have more workers, so it will allow us to grow our catering business as well.”
Everly said they hope to open the restaurant sometime in April.
The Everlys’ move to brick-and-mortar comes amid a sea change in Lexington’s barbecue scene, with newcomers like Meats BBQ MKT joining now-established stalwarts like Blue Boor Smokehouse and Red State BBQ.
“Everybody else is figuring out what we already knew, which is that barbecue rocks,” said Everly.
The general growth in local purveyors of smoked and rubbed meats has not come without casualty: Just weeks ago the legendary Billy’s Bar-B-Q, one of the older restaurants of any kind in Lexington, abruptly closed its doors after more than 37 years in business. Louisville-based Joella’s Hot Chicken is in the process of renovating Billy’s Chevy Chase spot.
Everly said they were ready to stand out in a competitive market. As the name implies, she said, J. Render’s BBQ Southern Table & Bar will be something different.
“Yeah there’s a lot of barbecue places, but I gotta think we’ll find our niche, just like our truck has,” she said.
“We’re going to have all the favorites from food truck but we’re going to expand the menu,” she said. “It’s going to be a full-service restaurant,” Everly said. “We’ll be a bit different than typical barbecue places in that we won’t have counter service. It’s going to be full service, a full bar. We’ll have a patio.”
She said the offerings, too, will extend beyond barbecue, with Southern fare specialties and other dishes that will incorporate their core expertise in smoking meats.
“We like to experiment. For instance, we’ll do gyros but we’ll use smoked brisket,” she said. “And ‘Southern Table’ is a nod to, this is what we’d serve you at our home.”
Everly said ultimately she’s optimistic about the restaurant because she believes in their food.
“I honestly think that if you make good food, people will come,” she said.