17-06-2025
Lem's Bar-B-Q award puts Chicago on barbecue map
Monday night, Chicago barbecue finally got its due as Lem's Bar-B-Q scored a James Beard American Classics award.
Why it matters: The honor may finally elevate Chicago on a national barbecue map that has long been dominated by Texas, Kansas City, Memphis, St. Louis and North Carolina.
Dig in: Chicago's signature barbecue style revolves around tender rib tips cooked in an aquarium smoker with tempered glass walls. Myles and Bruce Lemons popularized the cut at Lem's on 59th where they set up after arriving here in 1954 from Indianola, Mississippi.
In the late '60s, their brother James joined them and opened another location on 75th that his daughters Lynn and Carmen and grandson, William, still run today.
What they're saying:"I just want to continue the legacy of my father and uncles and their hard work, Carmen Lemons tells Axios. "Now we're training up our nephews because as the business gets older, we're getting older too."
What's next: Carmen says they will keep making their meats the old fashioned way in an aquarium smoker with "real charcoal, hickory wood and fire."
