Jesse Pepper's Smoke Shack is a family restaurant that embodies love and sentiment. Located in White Sulfur Springs once known as Brewer Springs—named after James Scott Brewer, who claimed the springs in 1866—the eatery was started by Melody Redding and her children, Lilli and Oliver Redding, along with her eldest son, Travis Kathan, in memory of their son and brother.
On October 24, 2020, Jesse Redding tragically lost his life in an automobile accident in South Dakota. When the accident occurred, he and his girlfriend, Steph Reece had just returned from Vermont to spend time with family - his mother Melody, and sisters Bailey and Lilli. He was en route to Bozeman to visit his brothers.
"We named it Jesse Pepper's because my son Jesse was a chef and we're honoring him here with our food and what he wanted us to do as a family, start a family restaurant," Melody shares.
"We always called him Pepper. I think it was Hot Pepper. I think he ate a seed off the floor once and got the name when we were making salsa," she says of eating a pepper and burning his mouth.
As you enter the vestibule of Jesse Pepper's Smoke Shack, a large painting of a jovial Jesse welcomes diners. "He always made it his mission to make everyone laugh," says his younger sister, Lilli. Their mom adds, "He was always the life of the room," referring to his spirit and 6-foot-7-inch stature.
In honoring Jesse’s dream and dealing with their grief, Melody and Travis started searching for a place to start their business. Travis was the first to visit the White Sulfur Springs site once Snook’s Diner, better known as, The Truck Stop Café. He encouraged his family to take a look. “By June or maybe even the end of April, I had put a deposit on it and we started the wheels turning on owning and getting out here.”
“I owned a gardening business in Vermont and was still trying to tie up my loose ends there. It all happened really fast because we were grieving. I know I needed to push forward,” Melody shares.
“White Sulfur Springs has a lot to offer. It’s a really nice sized town,” Travis says of the town with a population of over 1000 people. “The community here really supports each other.” Also, the location of the town, between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, and near the cities of Helena, Livingston, and Bozeman made starting a restaurant here appealing.
The restaurant is strategically situated at the corner of a spacious parking lot. The ample space allows for parking large trucks and RVs. The restaurant building features a red metal roof that combines elements from multiple additions constructed over the years. Inside, warm wood paneling creates an inviting ambiance that draws guests in. The generously sized kitchen offers the perfect space for culinary creativity, while the rustic industrial décor adds to the dining experience.
“The restaurant itself was a diamond in the rough. We were really surprised when we started doing the ‘reno’. Once we all got it peeled away, we found a beautiful place,” Travis shares.
The family bonded long ago through cooking and gardening together. Although Jesse “was not a good eater as a kid,” Melody shares of his putting ketchup on everything. Melody’s mother and father had a dairy farm and she remembers her mother as a “force. She made her own bread, her own granola. She taught me the most about gardening.”
Travis remembers “in the fall, harvesting the garden. There were a lot of jellies and jams that required a lot of stirring. We made salsas all the time. We preserved pickles.”
Their upbringing created chefs in the boys while Melody’s daughters, “like to do a recipe and follow it exactly. My boys have always just tasted and added and tried until they got something they were really proud of.”
Travis developed his talents by cooking in many kitchens. “I left Vermont when I was 21 years old. I went down to Durango, Colorado. I worked with a really talented chef named Ken Fusco, who had a nice restaurant downtown.” From here he “moved north through the Rockies and have been working in different restaurants and ski towns and finally made it up to this little ski town near Showdown.” At the restaurant, he heads the effort in the kitchen while taking care of all the ordering.
Younger brother Oliver who moved to Colorado when he was 20 years old, developed skills from working at the Culinary Institute and then cooked at Dave’s Sushi. Both brothers developed knife skills that equipped them to be more meticulous about preparing the meats for their BBQ.
The menu at Jesse Pepper’s Smoke Shack comes from recipes that are “mostly stuff that we’ve brought from our childhood,” Travis says of the dishes coming together organically.
The menu is diverse at Jesse Pepper’s. Appetizers include egg rolls, potstickers, and bao buns along with salad or soup. BBQ offerings include brisket, smoked chicken, and St. Louis-style ribs with sauce options of Carolina gold, Huck BBQ, Trash Panda or Pepper BBQ. Sides range from braised greens, baked beans, coleslaw, and mac n cheese.
For those who do not want BBQ, they can choose from the Tex-Mex style selections that include brisket enchiladas, pulled pork “candlesticks”, and fish tacos. Then sandwich choices range from brisket sandwiches, beer battered chicken sandwiches, smoked Portobello, or Banh Mi.
While the brothers work the back of the house, Lilli serves her guests. “My responsibility at the front of the house and the restaurant is to control the flow of how people come in, how tickets go back to the kitchen, making sure people are happy with their meals.”
“I like being personable with all the locals and getting to know the clientele that comes through here. There’s a lot of connections I make in the front with people who have experienced similar things to us in the sense of losing a loved one. And it’s just kind of funny when people bring their stories in and it gets really emotional and you’re hugging strangers.”
Mother Mel takes care of everything but takes ownership of the baking and the gardening. Upon stepping into the dining room at Jesse Pepper’s Smoke Shack, the diner quickly notices the opening into the kitchen to then focus on the cake pedestals and plates filled with cookies, pies, and pastries displayed on the counter.
Lilli tries to guide her diners through the daily dessert selections. “I have to write a list every morning when I come into work.” To help customers choose the perfect sweet ending, she often allows guests to go back behind the counter to pick out what they want.
After first learning how to bake from her mother, Melody baked professionally. “I worked at a little store. It was called the Warren store in Warren, Vermont.” She learned from Tim Owings who owned the bakery in the market. “He was the one who taught me the laminated doughs and how to work a dough so that I could get the proof on it and get all the layers for a croissant or puff pastry, which I think is a lost art.”
She later worked at the Green Cup on Bridge Street in Waitsfield. Here she baked cakes such as carrot and coconut cakes. Over the years, she collected “all the best recipes” to now share with diners at Jesse Pepper’s.
Melody has several garden spaces. “The raised beds are about 3 feet by 16 feet, so I have 6 of these. And then I have probably a 25-foot by 40-foot garden. And then another between the house and the garage.” From her efforts, there are potatoes, carrots, fennel, rainbow chard, lettuce, and spinach for the restaurant.
Jesse Pepper’s tries to support as many local producers as they can. “We do buy from US Foods and Sysco. There’s no way around that because you just can’t run a business and actually make a profit,” Melody shares.
“We try to buy as much as we can locally. We buy from Castle Grocery right next door, as much meat as we can. Bill Galt does a lot of wagyu. We try to get a lot of his stuff.”
Travis is grateful for growers like Shauna Eagleton, owner of Delpine Farms who supply him with tomatoes and leafy greens. The Springdale Hutterite Colony brings him eggs and potatoes. “The Castle grocery has a really great program where they bring in whole animals, hang them, and age them. We’re able to go in and work with the butcher and actually get custom cuts of meats.”
As Melody, Travis, Lili and Oliver carry on the spirit of their son and brother, they are bringing flavor and deliciousness to those who eat at their restaurant.
“My family and I are so fortunate to have lived in the town that we do. White Sulfur Springs has been so supportive to us. They have welcomed us into their community and treat us like we’ve lived here all our lives. I feel like we are all on a journey. Sometimes it’s really unclear what it is. My son, Jesse, even though he’s not here, has guided us on this journey of our restaurant.”
