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E & L
Is it the enticing smells wafting across Bailey Avenue or the tall black smokestack slightly tilted into the sky that draws people from near and far to E&L Bar-B-Que? It’s gotta be the smells, right? Mr. Washington, my personal food guru and fellow employee at Morrison Academic Advancement Center, recommended the combo ribs and links. I opted for the small rib tips without sauce on the fries and sweet tea. Sweet tea that can double as dessert carries a lot of weight with me, even if I am trying to shrink myself these days.
Seated at one of the deep red leatherette booths by 5:15 p.m., I chowed down on meat slathered in tangy sauce, tender in some spots, cooked crispy yet still tasty in others, and enjoyed the show—customer after customer coming through the door, getting in line, some flipping through a copy of the JFP picked up from a stack on the counter, ordering, greeting each other and standing back to wait patiently as the competent staff, including owner Hilliard’s daughter Gladys, called out orders for rib plates, large and small tips, combo ribs and links, baked beans and pan trout. Accompanying their voices was the chop-chop-chop of a really big meat cleaver, wielded by a young man, separating tips from ribs, and the occasional sound of a garden hose spraying forcefully into the bottom of the cooker through a low doorway, dousing flames flaring up almost three feet. There was something symphonic about it. Best of all, no one seemed one bit surprised to see a 56-year-old white woman, all alone, licking her fingers as she enjoyed a front-row seat. Yes, Virginia, there’s hope for my hometown, there really is.
— Lynette Hanson (Best BBQ, JFP Best of Jackson, 2004)
In my opinion, no place in Jackson passes the burp test better than E&L Bar-B-Q, our third-place winner (and first place last year). Best ribs in town, if not the state. If you haven’t been, do yourself a favor, and check it out.
— Stuart Rockoff (Best BBQ, JFP Best of Jackson, 2005)
Location
1111 Bailey Ave., 601-355-5035)
