Papa’s Bar-B-Que

I’ve been driving past this truck parked on 90^th Ave. between Bancroft and International nearly every day for the past I don’t know how long. The truck says «juicy pig» on it. I started getting obsessed. Mmmm, juicy pig. The truck never moves. And yet, it’s also never open. I called the number and there was no answer, and no machine. Damn, I thought. How dreamy it would be to have BBQ just blocks from my house.
So today, my girlfriend and I were once again driving past the Papa’s BBQ truck. It was warm out and my AC doesn’t work so good, so we had all the windows open. And wouldn’t you know it, as we drove past that truck a divine aroma wafted through the car, leading us, guiding us, compelling us. We pulled up next to the truck, and my girlfriend got out and walked around it. Empty. Nothing. What the hell? We started to give up and drive away. And then we saw an old man calling out to us from a garage next to where the truck was parked. Sure enough, there he sat next to a giant chrome smoker, which, it turns out, was filled with racks of ribs he was making for a catering gig. He told us to come back later and he’d sell us a rack for $ 20.
We went back later and found him surrounded by tubs of ribs he’d just pulled out of the smoker. Damn, they looked good. Clearly, this was a man who loves his meat. He had friends wandering in and out, hanging out, helping out. Everyone was sweet as could be. We left with a rack of ribs, a huge jam jar filled with sauce, and huge hungry grins on our faces. And boy, were our dinner guests happy at what we brought home.
We all agreed: these ribs are magnificent. Smoked with a mildly spicy dry rub, meaty, tender and juicy. I can’t vouch for the other items on his menu. But they include ribs, beef, links, chicken, juicy pig, and peach cobbler. He said he could do a whole pig — he showed us how he could fit it into the smoker. We’re thinking about hiring him for a party. He’ll do 4 cases of ribs (that’s 36 – 40 racks) for $ 250. What a bargain.