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, Chicago, Chatham community of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. The restaurant is known for its rib tips, which ''Eater (website), Eater'' has described as Chicago's "most famous rib ti ...

, 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 cuisine, Western and Asian cuisine, Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking (cooking), smoking, grilling, or baking – ...

, 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, although, like any other material, it is not completel ...

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 compa ...

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

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American Civil rights movements, civil rights activist, Politics of the United States, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a ...

, 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, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles Denzel Washington on screen and stage, on stage and screen, Washington has received List of awards and nominations ...

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 Hot commonly refers refer to: *Heat, a hot temperature *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality Hot or HOT may also refer to: Places * Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand ** Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distri ...

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

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

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