By Josette Keelor -- Daily Staff Writer

STEPHENS CITY — Think you can't find fresh crab legs, honey baked ham, Western-style smoked brisket and sugar-free orange cake all in the same place? Think again.

The Butcher Block Buffet in Stephens City has a unique menu to offer customers, and its three owners want everyone to know it.

The restaurant's location, next to Interstate 81 at 131 Town Run Lane in Stephens City, not only provides a convenient stop for travelers but also space for what owners Benjamin Ritenour, Larry Kincaid and Craig Lord wanted for their business. The Butcher Block Buffet is one of the largest independent buffets in the Northern Shenandoah Valley, Kincaid says, just because of the sheer size of the building.

In addition to the buffet and dining area, the restaurant includes a banquet hall, which can accommodate up to 175 people during regular hours and 300 people after hours.

The buffet, which boasts Southern American cuisine, has been in business for more than nine months, but the owners say spreading the word about their restaurant has been slow going.

"Our biggest challenge right now, other than the economy, is fighting the stigma [of the location's previous restaurants]," says Ritenour, who also owns Roma Casual Italian and Greek Dining in Stephens City.

Though the timing was not what they would have planned — opening their doors last December, just as the economy began to take a turn for the worse — the three friends have been confident about their investment.

They have a clear goal in their sights — to offer a local, family-style restaurant with as much variety as possible.

"When you're an independent [restaurant], you have to step it up," Kincaid says.

"We knew that the building was empty and the potential it had in the area," Kincaid says, explaining that the building used to house Prime Sirloin Family Steakhouse and Western Steer Steaks, Buffet and Bakery among others. "We wanted to do our own concept of a buffet," he says, such as offering mostly "homemade" food.

"I think that's what makes us different," Lord says.

"I would say 90 percent of what we do is made in house," says Kincaid.

Working with their years of experience in the food and restaurant business, the entrepreneurs reworked their best recipes into a menu, which offers a wide range of options, from the 63 items in the salad bar to four flavors of cheesecake and their own peanut butter fudge. The restaurant also offers sugar-free options of cookies, cake and pie.

Lord says he sees a market for more options of food, especially for Americans with diabetes. Accommodating those with special dietary needs is something that a lot of buffets have not explored to a large extent, he says.

Kincaid says the restaurant has gained notice in the area for its Southern-style food, but that it also offers themes throughout the week to please any palate.

Wednesday night is family night, when the restaurant hosts a magic show, and children ages 10 and under eat for $1.99.

On Friday nights, customers will find a seafood buffet of oysters, shrimp, mussels, clams and even frogs' legs. Included are all-you-can-eat crab legs, which are served straight from the kitchen.

"That's one of our biggest evenings," says Kincaid.

Also, every day after 4 p.m., the restaurant provides an all-you-can-eat buffet, which includes items like fried or baked chicken, catfish, pork loin and smoked wings.

"We always carve either ham or roast beef," Kincaid says. Side dishes include mashed potatoes, beans and collard greens.

Because brisket is one of the restaurant's biggest hits, Kincaid says it is limited to weekends. Brisket, he says, is a cut of beef that is normally smoked Texan-style and is slow-cooked more than 12 hours.

"It really makes it nice and tender," Lord says.

"So it's a genuine Texas-style barbecue," he says of the smoked meat the buffet offers, including ribs, which are smoked for five hours.

"It's very different from one of your other buffets," Kincaid says of the food at the Butcher Block Buffet. Customers will taste the difference, he says.

"I think the big thing we want them to know is we do smoke our own meat," says Lord.

"We're probably the only place in the area that smokes its own wings," says Kincaid.

Informing the public of the buffet's unique product is another part of the owners' goal, says Ritenour.

"We want people to have a different perception of what we do," Kincaid agrees. "We do have everything that the others offer, plus more."

The buffet also offers off-site catering for events and businesses in the area.

"That's huge to a place like this," says Kincaid.

Constantly adding to the menu is something that keeps the restaurant changing, he says.

"What can we do better, make it the best that we can?" he says is a question the owners regularly ask themselves.

"We can do anything," Kincaid says. "We want people to know that our capabilities are beyond these doors."

Contact Josette Keelor at jkeelor@nvdaily.com