"For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse is reporting a story about food and farming from each of California's 58 counties. Mike Reddick, who's worked at CJ's for about five years, sharpened knives. Larry Turner trimmed, rinsed and seasoned slabs of ribs, the way he's done for more than 15 years. Nick Gamble took inventory of the freezers. Watching and managing it all was Gamble's uncle, Charles Evans - CJ himself - who's nearly 80."
"Cooking meat with smoke on a fire is something done all over the world, but in the U.S., there are lots of nuances, broad regional differences. "North Carolina, Georgia - they got that vinegary taste. Memphis has a taste of its own. You know, with the sauces and the rubs. Mid-Texas, they have theirs in between," Evans said. "So, I came up with California -Southern barbecue because we're from Arkansas.""
Charles "CJ" Evans operates CJ's BBQ and Fish with locations in Richmond and Vallejo, serving barbecue, seafood and Southern-style comfort food. A small team performs tasks like sharpening knives, trimming and seasoning ribs, and taking inventory of freezers. Evans, who is nearly 80, supervises and works alongside staff who sometimes sing hymns and use nicknames like "Rev." Evans developed a California-Southern barbecue style influenced by regional U.S. barbecue differences and Arkansas roots. The business grew from two or three slabs of ribs a day to roughly 400 slabs per week, and Evans remains deeply involved in cooking and seasoning.
Read at Kqed
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