Q&A: Richard Gherardi, Owner of Cody's BBQ and Grill

Riverhead Patch recently spoke with Richard Gherardi, co-owner of the new at 65 East Main Street in downtown Riverhead. Cody's BBQ will fully open on Thursday, but is has been partially open for the past week to offer customers a sampling of their full menu.

Gherardi, who owns the Cody's BBQ building and in East Hampton, talks to Patch about nightlife in Riverhead, and learning from a world-renowned barbecue pitmaster.

Riverhead Patch: Why did you decide to open a barbecue grill?

Richard Gherardi: I always wanted to open a barbecue restaurant, so that's what we decided to do. We went out and got the smoker and came up with the theme. Basically, we want this to be a country music bar with TVs for sports, and have good food. A lot of places you go to for sports, for music don't have good food. We want to have a good atmosphere and good times.

Patch: How long has this restaurant been in the works?

Gherardi: We've been doing this since February. It took that long to put everything together, get the liquor license back and all that.

Patch: What kind of food will we find on the full menu?

Gherardi: There'll be ribs and chicken, we have a lot of different sandwiches. We're going to have pulled pork sandwiches and briskets. We have St. Louis ribs and the baby backs. I just tried the brisket. The food is delicious.

Patch: Who taught you the recipes?

Gherardi: We have a pitmaster here that we flew in from the West Coast. His name is Konrad Haskins, he owns the BBQ Insitute and he's actually here today. He's been here yesterday and he'll be here tomorrow. He's won numerous awards for his ribs, his brisket...

Patch: So he's here to work on the menu?

Gherardi: He's here to qualify our guys as pitmasters. When he leaves we're all going to be pitmasters. He came in the top 10 in a competition for the top BBQ sauces in the world. And he's bringing that sauce here. He's already made some.

Patch: Cody's is the latest in a line of new restaurants moving into downtown Riverhead. What are your thoughts about how this will affect the community? 

Gherardi: I think it's a good thing. I think we can see the town start to change, finally. I think it's all positive, I can't see anything negative. The more the merrier in my opinion.

Patch: Are you looking forward to seeing any other changes in downtown Riverhead?

Gherardi: Well, the [movie] theater that'll open, the one they're supposedly remodeling. I would say, just in general, more stores that are empty get filled in. There's no nightlife here. We're going to be the first place to have nightlife in town. I think it'll make a difference... we think there's a big demand for that.