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Catholic-owned restaurant carries on family tradition
By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
September 20, 2007
Technically, Town Talk II has only been open for three months. But for father-and-son restaurant owners Charles and Chris Rideau, it’s the continuation of a dream begun almost 60 years ago.
“My dad opened up the original Town Talk Barbecue in 1949 in a small place on the northwest corner of 12th Street and Washington,” explained Charles Rideau.
Charles Rideau was about 10 at the time and remembers working in the restaurant, cleaning dishes and mopping the floor. He worked at Town Talk through high school and college, but decided he didn’t want a career in the restaurant business. When his father died in 1961, the restaurant closed.
But the cooking never stopped.
“We have family functions and everybody’s jammed in the kitchen and everybody’s got their two cents,” Chris Rideau said.
He loved cooking and began catering across the Valley under the name Town Talk II. When his father, Charles, retired a few years ago, they began to talk about bringing the family back into the restaurant business.
“He knew it was a dream of mine, and I think it was something for him to honor his dad with,” Chris said. “He didn’t ever want to see it go away again.”
The Rideau family has had many ties to the Catholic community over the years. One of Chris’ aunts was involved in the diocesan office of black Catholic ministry.
Most of the older family members are parishioners at St. Mary Basilica in downtown Phoenix. Chris is a member at St. Gregory Parish, which is right around the corner from the restaurant.
The family has graduated 49 members from St. Mary High School.
Now it’s Chris who smokes the meat and prepares the barbecue sauce developed by his grandfather, whom he always knew as “Papu.”
The sauce recipe, which Chris says sets Town Talk II apart from other barbecue restaurants, was developed by Papu and is only known to Chris and Charles.
“We’ve got a couple of kids who worked during the summer for us and I’d make them turn around when I made the sauce,” Chris laughed.
The recipe is in a safe place, though, and one day Chris will pass it along to his sons who work in the restaurant just like Charles did in the original Town Talk more than 40 years ago.
“The emphasis is on the family,” Chris said. “We’re trying to make everybody who walks in this door feel like they’re walking into our house.”
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