Situated in the former Ponderosa building, Roadhouse 2081 opened its doors to the Ripley community on Labor Day and offers steakhouse food and barbecue. (Photo Provided)

RIPLEY — A local family recently opened their own roadhouse in the Ripley community.

For the past 30 years, the Ludwig family owned and operated Ponderosa and when those doors closed in 2020, the family decided to offer a steak and barbecue menu to the Ripley community with the newly opened Roadhouse 2081.

“We decided to move in a different direction. There really isn’t any kind of nice steakhouse or bar around here. We starting putting things together and we came up with 2081,” said Brooks Ludwig, general manager. “It was a good time to open a restaurant because it gave us a chance to get out and start something new.”

Family tradition and legacy is a major theme of the restaurant, even down to the name. The number 20 was owner Scott Ludwig’s (Brooks’ father) basketball number in college and 81 was his father Max Ludwig’s football number when he played West Virginia University in the 1950s.

“We weren’t ready to give it up, we wanted to continue this,” Brooks said.

The Ludwig family who previously owned Ponderosa decided to bring a steakhouse to the Ripley community with their new restaurant Roadhouse 2081. (Photo Provided)

It is described as a casual family steakhouse with several options for food and drinks. The menu itself is also family-centered with dishes named after loved ones.

“Our motto is food, spirits and friends and we take that seriously,” Brooks said.

Roadhouse 2081 has traditional steakhouse food, smoked ribs, salads and appetizers.

Since its opening on Labor Day, Brooks said the community has been supportive and pleased with the food and atmosphere.

“People have been begging for something like this around here to where they don’t have to go to Charleston or Parkersburg,” he said. “We’re very blessed to be here (at a) great location. The town isn’t a huge town but there’s enough locals to support us.”

For more information and to look at the menu, check out the Roadhouse 2081 Facebook page.

Candice Black can be reached at cblack@newsandsentinel.com.