28 Days of Soul Food: Day 10

Jones Bar-B-Q Diner, the oldest Black-owned restaurant in America with only one menu item, perfects the art of pulled pork.

It’s no secret that I love shiny new restaurants, but I also obsess over the history of the classics.

Jones Bar-B-Q Diner, what’s considered the oldest Black-owned restaurant in America, has been around since 1910 in Marianna, Arkansas. But that’s not where all the props come in. The tiny establishment, with only two tables, gets all the accolades — including a James Beard Award in 2012 for “American Classics” — because it serves perfect pulled pork. There’s nothing else on the menu.

The pulled pork, which is smoked in a cinder block barbecue pit for 12 hours, is served between Wonder Bread along with coleslaw or customers may buy it by the pound. Hours at Jones Bar-B-Q Diner are 7am until the food runs out six days a week.

Everything, of course, is a well-guarded family secret: the technique of the pulled pork, the slightly sweet vinegar sauce, and even the creamy coleslaw.

I watched the above CBS News segment with awe and literal tears in my eyes, thinking about how hard owner/pitmaster James Jones works every day at his restaurant and how he’s maintained the quality of the product his ancestors created four generations ago. He’s a one-man show, working the pit and the window to sell the food.

Jones is well into his 70s now and hasn’t missed a beat. My only hope is that his children carry on this rich family tradition, giving Jones Bar-B-Q Diner another generation’s worth of perfect pulled pork.

[Photos courtesy of Jones Bar-B-Q Diner]