Phantom Review

"LJ’s is hidden away in a quiet, residential neighborhood. It’s definitely worth seeking out"

Atmosphere:	7
L.J.’s is a quiet little place run by a husband and wife. She runs the register and greets the customers, while he does all the cooking in the back. Each table comes equipped with its own roll of paper towels and they’re needed. A neon sign saying, “eat it and beat it,” nicely sums up the café’s philosophy.
Menu:	7
The menu lists take out bulk price suggesting that this barbecue joint does a thriving pick up business. Phantom would certainly like to make a picnic of the various barbecued meats and sides.
Appetizers:	8
Phantom began with a bowl of spicy hot Chili that warmed up his appetite for all that followed. He also enjoyed a big bowl of meltingly tender Mac and Cheese and rich, sating Collard Greens.
Entrees:	9
For the main attraction, Phantom bit into a delectable Pulled Pork Sandwich. The crusty pieces of caramelized pork in a dark, seductive sauce on a toasted bun was the best Pulled Pork Phantom has enjoyed in a long time. Equally good were the lip smacking, no-time-for-conversation, addictive Beef Ribs and Barbecue Chicken.
Desserts:	8
Phantom finished with a Sweet Potato Pie that was a slice of southern happiness.
Portions:	9
The large portions covered the table, while by the time Phantom was finished he was sprawled out on the floor.
Service:	8
Even though it’s only counter service, the owner was as nice as can be and even rushed over a glass of water when Phantom discovered the chili sauce was as hot as she said.
Cleanliness:	8
Phantom was able to see into the kitchen and is happy to report that it was kept neat and clean.
Value:	9

Location and Parking:	7

Projo Review

October 4, 2001
L.J.'S BBQ
L.J.'s: Southern barbecue on (formerly) Douglas Avenue - (currently on East Avenue, Pawtucket)

By MERIDITH FORD
Providence Journal Restaurant Reviewer

PROVIDENCE -- Between the Route 66 sign and the jar of plastic pig snouts on the counter, the kitchen window of L.J.'s barbecue looms -- steam rising from the pots of collard greens and baked beans.

Providence is a bit north for collards, so I asked Bernie Watson, the man cooking behind the counter, if he was from the south.

``Yeah,'' he said, ``South Providence.''

Fair enough.

L.J.'s looks a little like the set of Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. The wall under the kitchen window is made of galvanized steel -- the kind used on tin roofs. Framed along the mustard-colored walls are picture sleeves from Bernie's collection of 45s -- everything from Duke Ellington to Ike and Tina Turner.

Bernie owns the place with wife, Linda Jane, the restaurant's namesake, along with Bernie's grandmother, Leola Jean. They both grew up in Rhode Island, but Bernie has roots in Arkansas and Virginia. He learned the smoking technique from an uncle in Arkansas, and one of the biggest parts of the decor is seen as you sit perched on one of the counter stools and watch him cook.

L.J.'s counter person is more than a counter person -- she's part public relations, part tour guide, part hostess. She'll quickly rattle off the side dishes on the menu and the multitude of ``go withs,'' while Linda gathers the specifics of an order. People come and go, and as they do they're greeted with heart-felt hellos and good-byes from all three.

Hospitality and barbecue go together, and you'll get good doses of both at L.J.'s.

Meaty and tender

The pork ribs are meaty and tender, slathered in a sauce that's sweet, but peppery. It's good on the pulled pork sandwich, too -- a giant grilled bun overflowing with heaps of succulent pork that's laced with a cinnamony sweetness -- and I recommend you drizzle on a little extra.

Extras are easy to come by: There's a small sideboard with lots of napkins, extra sauce, ketchup and hot sauce to spruce things up just the way you want them.

Other extras -- such as the side dishes -- are as good a reason to eat at L.J.'s as the barbecue. First of all, there are those collard greens. Linda says they're fresh, but they taste like the ones my grandmother made, which were canned -- and which I loved. Once you've cooked greens with bits of pork long enough, as Bernie does, it doesn't matter. My only disappointment was that the corn bread -- while fluffy, light and filled with corn flavor -- was too sweet and cakelike to sop up the juices from the greens.

Almost everything at L.J.'s is made from scratch. Even when something falls a little short -- such as the homemade pickles, which just weren't pickled long enough to put a puckery pout on my face -- I still have to give an ``A'' for effort. How many restaurants are making their own pickles?

Barbecued beans are sweet, with lots of onion and bacon flavor. I wanted to add a little more pizzazz to them, and after we left wondered why I didn't take advantage of the mustard and hot sauce to do just that.

One of the best side dishes is an order of the candied yams. Nothing like any I've tasted in the South, they were simple, soft yams sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg and just a hint of sugar. The macaroni-and-cheese is the old-fashioned kind. You remember -- elbow macaroni actually layered with gobs of oeey-gooey cheese and then baked in the oven. They reminded me of every family reunion I've ever been to.

Sweet potato pie

Linda is responsible for a lot of the cooking, too, such as the pickles and the desserts. Dessert is usually a selection of pies and sometimes cakes, although things might change daily.

For me, the selection couldn't have come closer to hitting the spot -- pecan pie and sweet potato pie. Sweet potato pie is a Southerner's benchmark for a good pie maker, and Linda's filling meets the mark -- it's rich with the flavor of sweet potatoes and cream, with a smooth, velvety texture. Most important, it's not overly sweet.

Both pies would have been much better with a homemade crust, but that didn't stop me from gobbling up bites of the rich pecan filling chock full of enormous pecan halves left on my husband's plate.

Throughout the evening, we had all been watching the teen tournament of Jeopardy! on the television that hangs from a wall in the small kitchen. ``Figures that the only time we can get anything right is when it's a teen tournament,'' commented our counter person, tour guide, and hostess.

Well, you got the barbecue right.

Visit our GREAT NEW LOCATION!!

Phoenix Review -

No sooner do you place your order at the counter at LJ's BBQ than you realize how serious these folks are about helping visitors to enjoy their home-cooked food. There's a roll of rough paper towels on each table for use as napkins and a help-yourself bucket of extra sauce for those slow-cooked ribs and chicken. Customers will probably need both, because the sauce is so tasty you want some in every bite, and the barbecue is so good, you just have to get down and dirty with it.

The intro at LJ's consists of a winding monologue performed by Stephanie, the self-proclaimed "counter wench," as she explains the difference between sides and extras, half and full racks for ribs, and quarters and halfs for chicken. The half-rack has approximately seven ribs, the full, twice as many . The chicken can be ordered as a quarter dark, a quarter white or a half , each with two sides.

The choices for sides consist of potato salad, macaroni salad, BBQ baked beans, or coleslaw. Dinner platters also come with homemade pickles and cornbread. The extras are candied yams, macaroni and cheese, red beans and rice , or collards in small, medium, and large sizes . There's also pulled pork or BBQ beef brisket sandwiches, and pork-and-beef chili, light on the beans . A seemingly simple menu becomes fraught with choices about how to try everything at this cash-only, BYOB establishment.

Bill opts for the full rack with coleslaw and baked beans; I went for the half chicken with collards and macaroni and cheese. Bill exclaims over the amount of ribs, and vows to only eat half of them -- a promise he quickly breaks. He's amazed at the meatiness of the St. Louis-style ribs, which, as co-owner Linda Jane "LJ" Watson explains, come from a lower part on the hog's ribcage. She also details the cooking process, from spices and herbs dry-rubbed onto the meat, which is then smoked for two to 12 hours over apple and hickory wood, to the "wet mop" of sauce applied before the meat is finished on the grill. Our smeared hands testify to the tender, delicious results.

The necessity of the paper towels is even more evident if you want to intersperse your carnivorous frenzy with tastes of the sides, for which your greasy fingers need to be able to grasp a plastic fork. The macaroni and cheese is baked with buttered breadcrumbs, sending waves of comfort food nostalgia up and down the spine. The coleslaw and baked beans produce similar sensations, with the sweet mayo creaminess of the slaw and an earthy, tomatoey complement to the barbeque in the beans. The collards are long-simmered with bits of pork to enhance their natural smokiness. The candied yams, in a take-home version, were also quite wonderful.

The bread-and-butter style pickles, crisp and spicy, are produced during a 24-hour process that LJ regularly repeats to offer a fresher taste than bottled pickles. The cornbread, lighter than any of the Southern versions that I've had, is good in its own right, although unable to sop up the pot liquor of the collards.

Linda makes the cornbread and pies, but her husband, Bernie, (who once cooked at Castle Hill) does the rest. Though he grew up in South Providence, his family hails from Arkansas and Virginia, as do the barbecue and veggie recipes. Linda tries many pie, cake, and cobbler variations, and the treats during our visit were apple-crumb, sweet potato, and pecan pies. The latter two came home with us, and despite the lack of homemade crusts, were terrific.

The walls at LJ's are painted in two shades of mustard with barbeque-red trim. Bernie and Linda's collection of old 45s is well represented by three dozen framed covers of stars from the '50s and '60s, such as Elvis and Aretha, as well as such fleeting performers as the Cadets and the Contours.

Conversation with the staff at LJ's is as friendly as the food. Stephanie tells us she's known Bernie since their freshman days at URI, and after several years in the corporate world, she loves waitressing, because where else could she "get a hug every time I come in and a thank you when I leave?" Where else, indeed? Being a paying customer at LJ's can make you feel just as appreciated.

Two final tips: don't miss the popular pulled-pork, among the best ever, in Bill's opinion, and ask the staff to warm the pie, to bring out its flavor. Then, as the sign says at LJ's, "Eat it 'n Beat It!"

I took my BBQ buddy along when I visited LJ’s BBQ. LJ herself was stunned at the amount of food we ultimately consumed: a full rack of dry rubbed BBQ pork ribs, BBQ beef brisket and lots of sides – macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, baked beans, potato salad and collard greens. Everything, from the BBQ sauce to the pickles, is homemade at LJ’s. The BBQ itself is cooked low and slow over apple and hickory wood. LJ’s is authentic. It’s delicious. It might even be the best BBQ anywhere. –A.H.