Rib Shack Smokehouse, located at 10841 Q St., is more than a family business for foodies Malcolm and Jackie Robbins.
It is the culmination of a bittersweet journey the faith-filled couple’s been on for a decade. That journey began in St. Louis, where they owned and operated restaurants. Jackie did the books and marketing. Malcolm handled the kitchen. They ensured their front of house was on point. She won entrepreneurship awards and mentored other restauranters.
The couple drew on generations of family recipes and techniques. Their original Rib Shacks became must-stops for devotees of St. Louis style barbecue and down-home Southern soul cooking. Things went sour when congestive heart failure put Malcolm on the transplant list. A series of setbacks, including strokes, open heart surgeries and a brain bleed that landed him in a coma made him a poor candidate. Physicians held out little hope. Rather than resign himself to a fate others determined for him, he opted to fight…