Danielle Wong Moores

Photos by Jane Kortright

If you’re a longtime Augustan like me, the nostalgia hits you as soon as you walk through the door of downtown’s Bradley’s BBQ.

The polished wood bar on the left side of the new restaurant is built of floorboards reclaimed from Richmond Academy, the alma mater of Fat Man’s Hospitality Owner and Chef Havird Usry and his siblings. Pressed tin panels were sourced from another building on 7th Street. Even the sauce trays have a story, made from slices of wood from trees felled during Hurricane Helene.

Bradley’s is located in the former Sunshine Bakery site, and its second dining room features the slogan, “You Are My Sunshine,” with the last word spelled out in the bakery’s original tin letters, and gears from the bakery’s 10×10-foot oven framed as art. Six-foot-long bread trays have been reimagined as benches, and the bakery’s original tables have been refurbished, ready for new customers.

For Usry, who was born and raised in Augusta, it’s exciting to see the old space come alive again. And nostalgia is in his blood. Usry’s father, Brad, ran the much-beloved Fat Man’s Forest on Laney Walker Boulevard (opened by Brad’s father, Horace) until it closed in 2008. Fat Man’s Hospitality now includes Bradley’s BBQ, Fat Man’s Café and Catering and Enterprise Mill Events on Greene Street, SoSal on the 10th block of Broad Street, and the iconic Sno-Cap Drive-In in downtown North Augusta.

If you’re of a certain age, a core memory is the boiled p’nuts at Fat Man’s Forest on Laney Walker Boulevard. The nostalgic salty snack is back at Bradley’s BBQ, as both a snack and a side.

BBQ might seem like a new venture, but “our roots are in barbecue,” says Usry. “The old Fat Man’s Café in the ‘50s was actually called The Pit. They cooked over an open barbecue pit and were known for hash and rice and pulled pork.”

Today’s Fat Man’s Café serves pulled pork, but Bradley’s BBQ will have a flair and style all its own. Named after Usry’s daughter, who happens to also be named after her dad (Usry’s first name is Bradley) and her grandfather, Bradley’s will feature pulled pork, smoked chicken, pulled chicken, St. Louis Style ribs and Texas-style brisket, rubbed in its signature blend of spices (available for sale in the restaurant) and smoked with oak and fruit woods.

The result is ultra-tender and moist, with a great bark — BBQ lingo for that darkly flavorful crust on smoked meats. A dip into Bradley’s North Georgia-style sauce, a zippy combination of tomato and vinegar, adds a hit of spice — or you could choose its Carolina gold or Alabama white sauce. Enjoy a plate with the creamy, sharp cheddar mac & cheese, perhaps, or the Southern collards, prepared with a lot of savory and a little heat and vinegar during a four-hour process.

For hash lovers, the restaurant’s Kyle’s Hash (named for Fat Man’s Hospitality Executive Chef Kyle Howard and based on his aunt’s recipe) is “better than anything I’ve tasted in this area,” says Usry; order it as a side or enjoy a full plate with two sides.

You’ll leave with leftovers — and a little more, too. “We’ve really leaned into that nostalgia,” says Usry. “We want things to feel like home, like family, like things people remember. And our goal is to make people leave with those same memories.”