Seattle’s Lil Red’s BBQ named one of 20 best in America

The restaurant in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood is run by Erasto “Red” Jackson and his wife Lil. # k5abend

SEATTLE – Tucked away in a former butcher’s shop on Rainier Avenue South, Lil Red’s Jamaican BBQ and soul cuisine might have landed under the radar – if only the food wasn’t great.

Some customers regularly drive an hour to the oxtail or pork. It’s long been a fan favorite on the Columbia City neighborhood’s Facebook page. And now it is internationally known – thanks to a new book.

Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue by Adrian Miller names Lil Red’s one of the nation’s top 20 black-owned barbeque places.

Nobody was more surprised than owner Erasto “Red” Jackson. He found out about it from a newspaper reporter.

“She says, ‘Did you know you were on the gentleman’s list of the nation’s 20 best BBQ spots?’ I just thought ‘No’, ”he said with a laugh.

Red’s wife Lelieth agreed, adding, “When the article came out it said, ‘Honey, I just wanted my little restaurant. That’s all. I just want to feed the people. ‘”

She is the “Lil” in the name of the restaurant and the Jamaican title refers to her origins. But the recipes are 100% originals by Red himself, who learned the art of grilling as a housekeeper.

He began serving others years ago at an annual event he and Lil held for neighbors, friends, and family.

“Every year we had barbecues and people came by,” said Red. “People actually started planning their summer vacation accordingly.”

Some time later he started selling license plates from the rear of his gray 1991 Volvo station wagon. His cooking skills spread and in 2016 the Jacksons opened the stationary location in Columbia City.

“In all honesty, the Lord has given me great staff,” he said. “We do everything in-house. We make our own bacon, we make our own sausage. “

They grind three types of meat – chuck, brisket and rib eye – to make their popular “butter burgers”.

Each meat is also smoked on site. Sunni Easton is the pit champion and also happens to be Red’s mother.

“He’s fulfilling his dream and doing something he loves at the same time,” she said.

Red’s flavors encompass a bit of everything. It uses salt and pepper the Texas way and is sweet, ala Memphis or Kansas City. Customers also swear by mac and cheese and sweet tea.

“If I had no bills and no staff to pay, just the people who came in and enjoyed the food and told us they liked it would be enough,” said Red.

Lil Red’s is open six days a week and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner menus.

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