There are those places where you go when you can say something like, "Hey, I'm going to Earl's, you want anything?" and when you say that, when you do that, you are immediately met with wild-eyed hungry varmints who can't beat you to the car fast enough! Climbing in all four open doors at once, you find yourself among friends, family, neighbors, even strangers if you say those words loud enough; at least here in Oklahoma City, you can expect that. Co-workers are apt to sneak out and not tell anyone where they're going if they plan on making an Earl's run. They know they'll spend their entire lunch hour just putting in the order and then there may not be enough people in the packed car to bring it all back to the office. You more or less want to just call in that order, and maybe have DoorDash bring a van!
Sure, sure, yeah, there are other BBQ places in the city (we don't write out Barbecue here, we say BBQ), and you know Earl's is well aware of their competition; I think a new guy named Dave is actually making a name for himself on the Southside of the city, off of 149th and Western, but I won't make a thing about it if I go; even if I love it, you find a hole and you stick with it. You don't cheat on your Q. You don't do that! Several retired alumni from OU (OK Univ) football team(s) over the years have tried their hand at starting up a Q either in physical form or just creating and lending their name to the sauce they claim. It's all good. We're in it for the long haul here in the Sooner State; God help you if you shout out "Boomer Sooner" at a new hole; there are some things you don't mess with, and Q is that some thing. You find your hole and you stick with it. If your daddy found a good place to eat at, and you were raised on it, you stand your family ground! You stick with it. We are an EARL'S family!
Before Earl there was a place, (a man) called Leo's that absolutely mastered the tech of Q and his reputation took on many many legends, the smallest of which was possibly a hole in New York City where I found myself in 2006 ordering a 1/4 slab of ribs with mild sauce and a side of coleslaw. I don't do fries - if you eat Q you eat coleslaw, baked beans, even okra, but you leave the fries for burgers; OK? I found myself in the Big Apple ordering ribs and I joking asked for Leo's homemade sauce - - they had it! WHAT? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS right now? They had it. They "imported" it from a dealer out of the Sooner State and yes, they had Leo's. I had to pay an additional $4.00 for a small tub of that nectar, but honey, it was so very worth it. It was HOME!
Go far! Stay near! Whatever it takes, but keep your tongue and your belly loyal to your BBQ hole and spread the word about it. There are families out there who haven't made their choice(s) yet, and the more they know, the more educated they'll be - - I think Earl's has three or four restaurants now; this actually means he may be too big for his britches in our neck of the woods. He may become commercialized and if that happens, if the sauce and smoked meats are ever compromised, we Okies tend to friendzone a place in a heartbeat; and we walk on, walk out, but not without placing an order because that would be stupid. We're still gonna eat your food mind you, but we're gonna only do it if we're really starving and can't make it to our other hole fast enough. Keep it local. Keep it small. Keep it tender. Keep it mouth-drooling smokey; and by all things holy, keep the recipe a dang secret! C'mon now! There is sacred and there is BBQ and that's the way it is. Ya'll know that. (Ha! Ain't that cute? Grammarly tried to autocorrect the word "ya'll" to become "you'll". NOPE!)
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