Leon's Bar-B-Q is a chain of barbecue restaurants in Chicago. As one of the earliest barbecue establishments in the city, it played a role in the development of Chicago-style barbecue.

History

The restaurant was founded by Leon Finney Sr., originally of Mississippi, in 1940. It was one of the earliest barbecue establishments in Chicago. Along with other restaurants like

Lem's Bar-B-Q Lem's Bar-B-Q is a barbecue restaurant in the Chatham community of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. The restaurant is known for its rib tips, which ''Eater'' has described as Chicago's "most famous rib tips." History Lem's Bar-B-Q was fo ...

, Leon's popularized the "Delta style" of barbecue that predominates in the South Side. This barbecue heavily features

rib tips Pork ribs are a cut of pork popular in Western and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then ...

, a cheap cut of meat usually discarded by butchers, which are cooked in an "aquarium smoker". Rib tips soon became popular among the city's African-American restaurants, and today the cut has become more expensive. He originally sold ribs for 30¢ an order, but later closed the restaurant after price controls made it difficult to turn a profit. He eventually saved up enough money to open a new restaurant on 83rd Street several years later. The restaurant was successful, and at one point operated four locations in Chicago. Leon's restaurants typically served food to customers through a

bulletproof glass Bulletproof glass, ballistic glass, transparent armor, or bullet-resistant glass is a strong and optically transparent material that is particularly resistant to penetration by projectiles. Like any other material, it is not completely impenetr ...

divider for safety reasons. The restaurant was scheduled to be the largest concession at the 1982

ChicagoFest ChicagoFest was a Chicago music festival established in 1978 by Mayor Michael Bilandic. It was a two-week event held annually at Navy Pier that featured sixteen separate stages, each sponsored by a national retail brand and a media sponsor comp ...

but pulled out of the festival due to an ongoing boycott by African-American activists, led by

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...

, over Mayor Jane Byrne's actions. The restaurant chain closed in 2011, but was reopened by Finney's son Leon Jr. in 2017 after a video of actor

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom". Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Washington ha ...

looking for the restaurant, where he ate as a child, went viral on social media. Leon's is known for its hickory smoked rib tips and

hot links A hot link (also "red link", "Louisiana red hot" or "Louisiana hot link") is a type of sausage used in the cuisine of the Southern United States, and a part of American barbecue, soul food, and Cajun and Louisiana Creole cuisines. It is also ...

, which are served over fries and drizzled with barbecue sauce. It also serves fried

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

References

{{Reflist Barbecue restaurants in the United States 1940 establishments in Illinois Restaurants in Chicago Restaurants established in 1940 American companies established in 1940

History

See also

References