Reader: I'm always disappointed when a BBQ joint closes

You could hear Jason Sheehan crying back in Philadelphia: The last outpost of Big Papa's BBQ, the place that inspired his "I Believe" essay on barbecue that became a segment on NPR's "This I Believe" series, has closed on East Evans Avenue. Back in 2005, in his review of that...

By Patricia Calhoun

May 6, 2014

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You could hear Jason Sheehan crying back in Philadelphia: The last outpost of Big Papa's BBQ, the place that inspired his "I Believe" essay on barbecue that became a segment on NPR's "This I Believe" series, has closed on East Evans Avenue. Back in 2005, in his review of that Big Papa's location, Sheehan wrote this: "I believe in barbecue. As soul food and comfort food and health food, as a cuisine of both solace and celebration. When I'm feeling good, I want barbecue. And when I'm feeling bad, I just want barbecue more. I believe in barbecue in all its regional derivations, in its ethnic translations, in forms that range from white-tablecloth presentations of cunningly sauced costillas, to Chinese takeout spareribs that stain your fingers red, to the most authentic product of the tar-paper rib shacks in the Deep South."

Says ScubaSteve:

I fell asleep about a third of the way through reading Jason's essay. I just woke up. Sorry, Jason. We still love you anyway. I'm always disappointed when a BBQ joint closes, being the BBQ fan that I am.

Fans of barbecue, rise up and be counted: When you want good barbecue in metro Denver, where do you go?

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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