King Of Chicago BBQ James Lemons, Founder Of Lem's, Dead At 87
By Kate Shepherd in Food on Dec 16, 2015 5:00PM
via Lem's
Lemons passed away Dec. 13 at the Grove rehab facility in Lincoln Park, according to the Sun-Times.
There's some positive news: he ate his famous slow-cooked, hickory-smoked pork from Lem's for 50 years and still lived to be 87.
Lem's was one of the first places to serve rib tips. It was a common sense choice, they didn't want to throw them away like other restaurants were at the time.
"My brother [said]..."I'm going to take that tip, cook it, and see how it do," Lemons said in 2008.
The South Side rib joint, located at 311 E. 75th St., has been an icon of the South Side since it opened in 1954 with its aquarium smoker and "revolving bulletproof plexiglass Lazy Susan for handing over money and dispensing ribs", according to the Sun-Times. A host of celebrities have visited the restaurant from Aretha Franklin to Scottie Pippen.
Barbecue was a family gift. Lemons grew up in a family of six boys in Indianola, Miss. His father was a farmer who cooked hogs in a brick pit and his mother experimented with barbecue sauces.
"My grandmother and [her son] Myles were just fooling around in the kitchen and they came up with this famous recipe, this sauce," his daugther Carmen Lemons told the Tribune.
Lem's is respected as one of the best joints in the country. A Zagat review said: "Lem's can beat anything the Carolinas care to offer, or Georgia, or KC. And TX isn't even on the map."