The Chitlin’ Circuit and Barbecue

In the South, the Black community and barbecue have a relationship that has been intertwined since slavery. While regional styles have evolved over time, barbecue is a cooking method and style of food that predates the state of Florida by centuries. 

Its roots are a combination of Native American, Spanish and African culinary heritage. The word “barbecue” comes from “barbakoa”, a term for open fire grilling used by the Taino people of the Caribbean, adopted into Spanish as “barbacoa”. Prior to their arrival in the Americas, West and Central Africans had already mastered cooking wild game over open pits, and eating the smoked meat with sauces made from limes, lemons and hot peppers. By the 1700s, African Americans were southern, or pit, barbecue’s “go-to” cooks. 

The relationship between the Chitlin’ Circuit and barbecue was deeply intertwined, with people searching for food, drinks, and entertainment. This was true across the state of Florida. By the 1950s, barbecue restaurants that dotted Jacksonville’s LaVilla included A Brown Bar & Bar-B-Q, Bill’s Bar-B-Que, Duck’s, Ivory’s Barbecue & Chili Parlor, and Singleton’s Superior Bar-B-Q. 

In many communities on the Chitlin’ Circuit, a popular menu item just after World War II was the rib sandwich. The rib sandwich is a popular item still served today at Jenkins Quality Barbecue in Jacksonville. Originally located on West Ashley Street during the 1960s, the downtown Jacksonville restaurant was recently crowned (2023) the best barbecue restaurant in Florida by the Food Network. 

Many other early barbecue operations were more taverns, clubs and juke joints than restaurants, catering to night-time crowds with live music, jukeboxes, beer, liquor and dance floors. In Lincoln Park, Baker's Flamingo Grill and Bar, the neighborhood’s primary live performance Chitlin’ Circuit venue, advertised barbecue as its specialty, while also serving cold drinks and hotel rooms rented overnight, weekly or monthly. Other Lincoln Park juke joints and taverns specializing in barbecue during the 1950s and 60s include Little Joe's Tavern, Lincoln Beer Garden, Gollet Drive In, Cozy Corner Cafe, Fuller's Bar-B-Q Drive In, Starlight Cafe, and Red Top Bar-B-Que. 

During the mid-1960s, Benjamin and Broxie Smith opened and operated the B&B Barbecue Inn across the street from the popular Club Eaton in Eatonville. In St. Petersburg's Deuces district, Geech's Bar-B-Q was the place to get a pig meat sandwich. Geech's was known for its trademark yellow mustard sauce and a spicy, smokey aroma of oak-fired barbecue that permeated the Deuces and beyond. 

A major and important part of the Florida Chitlin’ Circuit’s history and legacy, barbecue is a dish that continues to survive as a part of Florida’s Main Street communities business environment and scene today.