My Father's Barbeque

🇺🇸 ALABAMA, UNITED STATES / Just south of the LA Galaxy stadium and now ten years old, the home of deeply smoked Alabama-style meats and Texas-sized influences is still going strong.

🇺🇸 UNITED STATES (Alabama/Texas)
📍 637 E. University Drive,
Carson, Harbor
🅿️ Ample parking in plaza
🥤 Bottled beers

📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los Angeles

Just in case you were not looking up at the sign, there is a smoker underneath that is nudged a bit past the sidewalk to grab your attention. As it pokes into the parking lot, you are bound to look up to figure out why. “Where Alabama Meets Texas” is not something you see everyday, unless you happen to be one of many regular customers that are kindly greeted by staff here at My Father’s Barbeque.

California barbecue is and has always been a mashup of styles for decades. Black southerners have made their way to the west coast for at least a century and brought their barbecue with them. New styles formed in the meantime, and often mixed with those from south of the border and beyond. It makes sense that the place where Alabama and Texas barbecue styles meet is in Los Angeles.

Complimentary Texas toast comes to your table.

The name of the game in Alabama barbecue is smoked pork. While not a highly recognized style in the United States especially compared with Texas, if you have ever been to Lannie’s in Selma for one of their pulled pork sandwiches, you know not to take it lightly. This fact makes the back page Alabama burger ($21, below) really pop off the menu.

This behemoth of stacked meat combines an angus beef patty with thick slices of bacon and a pile of that pulled pork. All three meats are pleasantly full of smoke and the addition of the house spicy and slightly sweet sauce is perfect. The burger is great value as it comes with a large basket of seasoned fries, and while the photo does not quite illustrate the heft it is most likely enough to feed two people with normal-sized appetites.

When you are traveling in Alabama and its neighbors, you also get your fill of catfish just about everywhere. On Fridays the restaurant runs fish fry specials, but you can also get a delicious taste with an order of the catfish nuggets ($13, below). The meat of the fish basically melts in your mouth like butter, but is surrounded by an impossibly crispy and tasty layer of batter.