Tag Archives: 4 Rivers Barbeque

Let’s Eat! Part 8

4 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Recently, Fred and I celebrated our 63rd anniversary – quite a milestone.  As it happened, we were in Virginia, celebrating the high school graduation of our grand-twins, Connor and Hannah.  And so, while we were there, we made our own celebration.

Photo by Judy Wills

While we like to eat out quite often, this was to be a special meal.  We had a difficult time deciding just where we wanted to eat for our celebration.  We finally decided to eat at Berret’s Seafood Restaurant and Taphouse Grill in Merchant’s Square in Colonial Williamsburg.  We had never eaten there before, so this would really be a treat for us.

Photo credit by Google search and Berret’s website

We had a really nice meal there.  Here is a decoration we found at a window near our table.

Photo by Judy Wills

Since they knew it was our anniversary, just before we left the restaurant, they gave us a SMALL bottle of champagne with writing on the side. 

Photo by Judy Wills

Photo by Judy Wills

Nice gesture on their part.  Neither of us are champagne drinkers, but I tasted it when we got back to Janet and Tom’s house.  It was okay, if you like that kind of thing.  It was the thought that counted.

The last day we were in Virginia, Fred and I had a second meal at one of our favorite eateries in Williamsburg.  It is called Food for Thought – original name, hm? 

Photo by Judy Wills

We thoroughly eating there, and the inside decorations are quite unique.  There are “sayings” and thought-provoking comments from scholars and literary people lining the walls.  A most interesting place to eat and ponder…and the food is good, as well!

Photo by Judy Wills

When we returned home from that visit, on Saturday, we went to our favorite bbq eatery called 4Rivers.

Photo by Judy Wills

Since we eat there frequently, we have become fairly good friends – well perhaps very good acquaintances is a better word – with the servers, managers, and cooks there.  We get waves and smiles whenever we enter the eatery, and the managers come and have conversations with us.  We love it! 

Well, we had told one of the managers, Cara, when our anniversary was, and she planned this surprise there for us.  She said she was sweating bullets that day, just hoping we would go there to eat that Saturday, as usual.  And this is why: They had “reserved” part of a table just for us – in our usual spot to eat!

Photo by Judy Wills

They treated us to the meal (wouldn’t let us pay for it); walked us to the table; gave us a plaque telling about love and marriage, that every employee of this restaurant had signed on the back, and just celebrated with us.

Photo by Judy Wills

Every cook/cashier/server in the place wished us a “happy anniversary” with a smile.  They were aMAZing!  We were amazed and surprised.  This is customer service to the extreme.  But we loved it.  Oh, the memories.  And here is where we’ve hung the plaque in our house – so we can see it and think of those people and the effort they put into making a special time for us.   WOW!  

Photo by Judy Wills

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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A Good Sign

16 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

Frequently, I come across something that peaks my interest. I’ve shared some of those things with you who read my posts. We’ve seen “good signs” in stores and eateries, and even in the hospitals we’ve been in.

All that brings to my mind a sign we have seen in our favorite barbecue restaurant. You see….we were introduced to 4 Rivers bbq some time ago, but their restaurant was far enough away from where we live that we didn’t get there very often – only if we were in that part of town for some reason.

 

 

 

Consequently, when we discovered that a 4 Rivers restaurant was being built about 10 minutes from our house, we were over-joyed! It has become one of our favorite places to eat. Nothing “fancy” about it, but the food is terrific! In previous posts, I’ve mentioned that 4 Rivers catered the meal for the “joint replacement reunion” (please see my post of January 22, 2017).

We are also pleased that the restaurant is closed on Sundays. They believe that everyone within their employ should have the day/time to attend a worship service of their choice, and so they have a Sunday to do so.

They have several “signs” placed around the restaurant, but this one has taken my fancy! See what you think:

 

From the 4 Rivers website:

“4 Rivers had its humble beginnings. Just me, a smoker, and an age-old challenge—cooking brisket.”

John Rivers never set out to create the most successful BBQ chain in Florida. He’s not a classically trained chef or graduate of culinary school. It was in Texas that he found the two loves of his life: his wife and the delicate art of brisket. And it’s been those very two godsends that inspired 4 Rivers as we know it.

John spent 20 years in the healthcare industry before retiring as president of a billion-dollar company. During that time, he had the opportunity to travel the country, honing his taste and talent for brisket perfection. As he soaked up the flavors and practices of ‘cue fare countrywide, John’s dream of de-regionalizing BBQ was born.

 

“This was never supposed to be a restaurant. My definition of helping meant doing what felt most natural when comfort was in order—feed those in need.”

4 Rivers Smokehouse began with the launch of the “Barbecue Ministry” in 2004, when John hosted a cookout fundraiser to support a local family whose young daughter was battling cancer. This one event resulted in a passion for supporting local schools, churches, and charitable organizations, and a few years later, smoking thousands of pounds of meat out of a garage just wouldn’t cut it anymore.

 After trials, tribulations, and a whole lot of burnt ends, we finally flipped that “Hot Brisket Now” sign on in October of 2009. Within the first hour, a line had formed out the door…and then around the corner.

 Today, we have several locations across the state of Florida, with plans for continued expansion and more than 1,000 amazing folks on our 4 Rivers team. Most importantly, the Barbecue Ministry remains our foundation and focus, and will until the cows come home.

 

So the “sign” we find there goes right along with their beginnings and policies. We enjoy the food, the atmosphere…and their signs!

Also from their website:

FUN FACT:

 Why four Rivers? In short, it represents our family, John, Monica (wife), Jared (son) and Cameron (daughter). But they also appreciate the serendipitous double meaning with Genesis 2:10, where four rivers branch from that which flows out of Eden. Now you know!

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The Reunion

22 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

Have you ever been to a family reunion? Ever heard of families having a reunion? My family has never really had one. Our little family gets together quite often, and so we don’t consider it a “reunion” as such. My father was one of 13 children, but most of them lived close to each other, and there wasn’t any need for a reunion.

But there are other kinds of reunions. Fred and I attended one just this week. In August of 2015, I had a total knee replacement at Celebration Health in Kissimmee, Florida.

 

 

 

I was in the hospital for four days, under the care of the nurses there. While there, they told me about the “Joint Replacement Reunion” that the hospital sponsors each year. Now that I am included in the “joint replacement” crowd, I am always and will be forever eligible to participate in the annual reunion. Included in the reunion are those with knee, hip, shoulder replacement, and any other “joint” that has been replaced.

 

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Our first reunion was in January 2016. We were eager to experience this – but turns out that a MAJOR storm was passing through! Everything was under the tent – and the wind and rain blew so hard at times that we were afraid the tent would blow down! Fortunately, it didn’t. The advertised event was to be held rain or shine.

 

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One of the “events” is a walk around part of the hospital complex. That didn’t happen last year! But this year, it did. It was a nice walk, and some of the sports orthopedic doctors were in attendance with those of us walking. Nice to converse with them along the way.

Last year, since the walk didn’t happen, some of the nurses set the music, and got a “conga-line” going. Quite a few of the reunion participants joined in that dance. It was fun to watch. My new knee was only five months old, and I wasn’t up to that.

There were people running around, helping out, that had on dark blue t-shirts that proclaimed the reunion. I was amused to see the back of the shirts, and asked one lady if I could take a picture of it. Here it is. Cute, huh?

 

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After the walk, a meal was served. Last year, we were pleased to see that the hospital had the meal catered by 4Rivers Smokehouse – one of our favorite bbq places!! And they catered it again this year. Yay!

 

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Credit Google search and Adam J.V.

 

We thought 4Rivers was just a local Mom-n-Pop place that had expanded a bit (there is now one near us in Kissimmee). But to my surprise, I found online that there are 14 restaurants, with one coming to Atlanta later this year. The rest are in Florida.

Here is a short tidbit from their website:

FUN FACT:

Why four Rivers? In short, it represents our family, John, Monica (wife), Jared (son) and Cameron (daughter). But they also appreciate the serendipitous double meaning with Genesis 2:10, where four rivers branch from that which flows out of Eden

Here are a few pictures of this year’s event:

 

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Debra – one of my favorite nurses manning a registration table

 

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The big tent

 

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The starting line for the walk

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