A little Southern BBQ in Marysville

Samuel Thompson opened his barbecue eatery, Porkys Hot Dogs and Ribs in Marysville, for a variety of reasons: culinary, financial, vocational and spiritual.

"There are two things I like — hot dogs and ribs ... and Porkys is born," said Thompson. "I wanted something different, to fill a need, something flexible and economically profitable."

"I was tired of going to Sacramento, Chico, Roseville for barbecue. There was no food in this area that catered to my tastes," he said. "(On the other hand), I had my faith that told me that faith without works is dead."

The latter stems from his role as pastor of Good Seed Church in Linda.

"We seem to have two types of businesses in the city: Mexican restaurants and Chinese restaurants. We were without black-owned business," said Thompson, who is African American. "I needed to do something that would not only provide for my family but use my faith in a time of recession to show others they need not be hesitant to dream. I want to help encourage not only Christian entrepreneurship but minority entrepreneurship."

Thompson, a 57-year-old Southern California native, has been pastor of Good Seed Church since 2000. He moved here from Sacramento in 1995. "In 1997, the house we built in Olivehurst two years prior was flooded. We officially became Yubanites," he said.

Although he's a man of the cloth, he is not without extensive business experience. He ran his own computer and office-equipment supply business for 10 years while in Sacramento. He owned the Good Seed Christian bookstore at Sixth and D streets in Marysville until selling it in 2003.

Until 1997, he owned and operated Manna House Cafe at Third and C streets in Marysville, which featured Southern-style cooking. But he shut down the successful restaurant and turned it into a nonprofit arm of Good Seed Church, moving the entity to Linda to serve as a kitchen to feed the homeless and needy.

"(Manna House Cafe) really started to grow, and I didn't want to be known as a restaurateur — I was looking to build a ministry and reputation as pastor of Good Seed Church," said Thompson.

"There comes a time when pastors have to work," he said of his venture into the barbecue business.

"I needed to go back to work. And it was important for me to go back to work with the economy the way it is: foreclosures, the economy suffering, people moving away from the area. You can't build a church without families. We used to rely on military families (from Beale), but they're being deployed," he explained in the evocative cadences of the minister that he is.

Porkys Hot Dogs and Ribs opened in mid-July in what was a storage area of the Java Detour coffee stand.

"It was not a restaurant," Thompson said of the space. He said he made a "considerable investment" to bring it up to code and make it a restaurant. The locally-built iron and steel smoker alone, which he designed himself, cost $15,000.

The staff of five works a quaint dining area with six tables and a counter for two or three, plus a patio out front with a couple of tables.

"It's not designed to be big," said Thompson.

If you thought the business would be an extension of his church, you'd be wrong. The restaurant is done up in a homey style adorned with images and figures of pigs to go along with the Porkys theme. The owner said it was a barbecue joint "similar to those in the South — Texas, Kansas City, Memphis — or in Los Angeles and Oakland."

The place serves up eight gourmet dogs ranging in price from the $3.50 Polish Dog (all beef with mustard, ketchup and relish) to the $4.25 Hoagie Dog (all beef on French roll with mustard, ketchup, pepperchinies, onions, tomatoes and cheese) to the $6.50 L.A. Dog (all beef footlong dog wrapped in bacon with mayonnaise, tomatoes, cheese and covered with Porkys Special Blend BBQ Sauce. There is also a children's menu.

Thompson said the most popular orders are Porkys Rib Dog (tender pork rib in a hot dog bun covered with Porkys Special Blend), barbecued ribs, pull pork and the King's Platter, a $49.95 family meal that includes all five meats available at Porkys: hot links, ribs, pull pork, chicken and tri tip.

Sandwiches and lunch plates are $8 or $9; individual dinners range from $11 to $19.

"We try to give big servings in these economic times — so there's enough to share," Thompson said.

The shop owner said he gets his meats from major vendors such as U.S. Foodservice and Sysco and from the restaurant division of Cash & Carry in Yuba City; through them he can place orders for special meats.

And the barbecue sauce recipe? The sine qua non of the cuisine that is subject to regional variation and savored by connoisseurs like fine wine?

"My mother is from Louisiana and my father is from Texas, so I use a combination of both of those styles, with the dry rub more Texas, and the special sweet and spicy barbecue sauce more Kansas-style, which my mom's family used. You come somewhere down the middle," Thompson said.

"The recipes are handed down," he said. "There are seven or eight ingredients that go into making our sauce."

The sauce, of course, goes on the meat after it is cooked. The dry rub, a combination of seasonings, is applied to the meat before it is cooked. The dry rub is smoked into the meat in the smoker, giving the meat its flavor.

Thompson said Porkys smokes its meats over oak wood in a four- to six-hour process.

Being an authentic rib joint, Porkys offers side orders of collard greens, potato salad, cole slaw and baked beans.

The owner took pains to say how his food varies from mainstream American fare, which is one of the reasons he opened Porkys.

"Even our string beans and baked beans are different, and the way we make cole slaw and potato salad," Thompson said. "We have a Southern twist and a Cajun style — the influence of my mother is greatly here."

To top it off, there are desserts such as peach cobbler and sweet potato pie.

The customers at Porkys are as diverse as the Yuba-Sutter area. On a recent afternoon, two Sutter County law enforcement personnel could be seen getting into an unmarked car after taking their lunch.

On another day, sitting at a table and sharing a plate, Ruth Catlin of Olivehurst said of the food: "It's excellent. We really appreciate the food. It's very authentic."

"I've been all around the world because my husband was in the Army, and this ranks up there with any restaurant we've been to," said Catlin, who is pastor of Gospel Christian Center Outreach in Linda.

Bojana Berak, Porkys dishwasher and table clearer, a Serb who has been here only three or four months, said, "It's friendly place."

It is a friendly place. With Java Detour forming an island only a few feet in front of Porkys, a little enclave of gustatorial delights has been created.

"With Java Detour, we share. We get our coffee over there; they get their food over here. We give each other discounts," said Thompson. "We see the advantages of two entrepreneurs working together. We have a non-compete clause."

"They're the reason I'm here," he continued. He explained that when the owners of Java Detour heard he was interested in locating his business at the site, they arranged to sublet the storage area so Porkys could move in.

Ron Sands, managing owner of Java Detour, felt his business would benefit because Java Detour's heavy business hours are from 7 to 11 a.m.; Porkys, drawing lunch and dinner crowds, would bring in more off-hours business to the coffee drive-thru.

"Being side-by-side, two businesses that complement each other and aren't in direct competition is always a win-win," said Sands.

When asked how Porkys is doing, Thompson replied: "I think we're doing well. We have to say we've been doing well in this recession."

"In the recession, it looks as if people are desirous of comfort food. Barbecue and hot dogs are nostalgic to people in this area," he said.

"Before Gold Sox games, they have dinner here or order hot dogs to take out," Thompson said of fans of the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox baseball team. The eatery is conveniently located on the way from Yuba City to All Seasons RV Stadium.

"We've been getting a lot of repeat customers, a lot of repeat business," he said, adding that he's been asked to cater for several functions — for 75 people at Deluxe Package in Yuba City and for PG&E, among others.

"It's becoming a spot," Thompson said of Porkys. He added that the business offers free wireless Internet for those who want to hang out.

"They're coming across the bridge into Marysville again — for something different, something good, something to enjoy," the restaurant's owner said. "That's what Marysville needs — good product, good quality, good service, prices right, portions good."

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Mike Hatamiya at 741-2400 or mhata miya@appealdemocrat.com