At 3423 S. Dale Mabry Highway in South Tampa, just down the road from MacDill Air Force Base, a woman known simply as the mama on the grill carries on her late father's barbecue tradition. April Moreno runs BJ's Alabama BBQ, where smoked ribs, pulled pork, beef, sausage and chicken are cooked over an open fire using oak wood, continuing a tradition her father, Big John Stephens, planted in Tampa generations ago.
Moreno learned recipes from her father, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. She cooks over an open fire using oak wood, and her family continues the Tampa barbecue tradition across generations.
A Sweeter Twist on a Family Recipe
Though she learned her technique from her father, Moreno didn't copy his sauce recipe wholesale. According to Tampa Magazine, she swapped her father's original hot-spicy barbecue sauce for a sweet-spicy version of her own creation, even as she preserved his core cooking methods. The same reporting describes Moreno working up to 14 hours a day overseeing all the pit cooking herself, with pulled pork standing out as her best seller.
The restaurant's current home on Dale Mabry Highway isn't its original location. The Tampa Bay Times reported that BJ's Alabama BBQ reopened at its current, larger South Tampa address in March 2019, just a few blocks from where it previously operated, with loyal customers influencing the decision to remain in South Tampa and close to MacDill Air Force Base.
Roots Tracing Back to East Tampa
The family's barbecue story began well before BJ's existed under that name. The late Rev. John A. Stephens moved to East Tampa from Eufaula, Alabama, and opened the original Big John's Alabama Barbecue on 40th Street. Stephens died in 1994, leaving behind a barbecue tradition that his descendants have kept alive.
Today, that original 40th Street location in East Tampa and Moreno's BJ's Alabama BBQ in South Tampa operate as distinct businesses under the same family lineage. At the East Tampa spot, Rev. Stephens' grandson Corey Miller discusses the restaurant and its specialized marinade, called Alabama water, used to season meat before it hits the open-pit grill, according to FOX 13's separate reporting. Sallie B. Stephens and her children continued the family's barbecue legacy.
Cooking Method Rooted in Alabama Tradition
The open-pit, oak-fire style used by the family branches isn't just a stylistic choice. Traditional Alabama-style barbecue centers on open-pit cooking over hardwoods like oak or hickory, a direct-fire method, according to background compiled on Wikipedia. The two family businesses maintain open-fire barbecue traditions in Tampa.
The recognition has followed. Southern Living magazine readers voted Big John's Alabama BBQ the top barbecue restaurant in Florida in both 2024 and 2026 as part of the publication's annual South's Best awards, as reported by Patch, which highlighted the family's traditional open-pit cooking over hardwood and its giant brick chimney.
Hoodline's own reporting has tracked the family's reputation for value as well as quality, once naming BJ's Tampa's top budget barbecue based on Yelp ratings while ranking the original 40th Street location third on the same list. Today, BJ's Alabama BBQ serves smoked ribs, pulled pork, beef, sausage, chicken dishes and traditional sides, open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay.
