Denver Barbecue Review: Jabo's

The last time I was in Denver was 2003. Brit and I were driving around and for some reason I had a craving for barbecue. This was so long ago, I didn't even have a cell phone, let alone GPS. I'm not sure why I didn't just settle for a burger or something, but I remember insisting upon finding barbecue.

After driving for a while, I went into a Walgreens and asked a cashier if he knew of any places to get barbecue in the area. He had no idea what I was talking about. He didn't understand the concept. I think he thought I wanted to start grilling burgers or something.

And then when I was talking to a friend out there, I mentioned that I was from Kansas City and a big barbecue fan. Right away he told me, "Denver doesn't have any good barbecue."

So the expectations were set.

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I pulled into Jabo's at 7:35pm on a Wednesday.


I guess he didn't want to pay for the apostrophe in the sign. I walk in and the place is empty. I look at the sign and see that they close at 8pm. I ask if it's too late for me to eat in, and they said, "no problem."

Right away I was served a 1/2 ice cube tray filled with 6 different flavors of sauce: regular, mango, cherry, cranberry (seasonal), and two others that I can't remember. Each flavor can come in five levels of hotness, and they rotate up to 30 or something flavors. Pretty wild. It would have been nice if I could have had a couple sauces on the table--I ordered the cherry sauce with level 3 hotness for my food. Though I bet I could have asked for an extra side of sauce.

I couldn't decide between the pork or beef sandwich so I asked the waiter which one I should get. He told me the pork was the top seller. The a la carte sandwich was 6.75, so I added a side of beans and beer-battered fries.

To say the sandwich is enormous is an understatement.

(not my food--those are sweet potato fries, not the beer-battered fries)

It came on a challah roll about the size of my Illinois mini-basketball. Not my nerf ball, the outdoor ball.

And it was delicious. The pork was solid and the sauce was unique but good. I was glad I went with a hot sauce, since the beans were sweet and provided a nice contrast. And the fries were on point as well. I enjoyed everything and had almost half a sandwich leftover.

Jabo himself came out of the kitchen toward the end so I went up to tell him how good everything was. I explained that this was my first time in Denver in a while, and that hopefully I'll get to come back. He was super-nice and said he'd pray for it--not in a creepy Borello way, but in a genuine, soulful way that I felt like he was really listening and wanted the best for me.

The only downside to the sandwich is that the bread almost dominated the action. But I still think the sandwich is the way to go, great value. Next time I'll try the beef.

Pork Sandwich: A-
Fries: A
Beans: A-

Overall: A-

(all pictures not taken by me, found on yelp.com)

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For The Record:
Gates, eat-in, Overland Park (11/22/10): A+
Arthur Bryant's, eat-in, Kansas City (4/21/10): A+
Gates, eat-in, Overland Park (2/13/09): A+
Jack Stack, eat-in, Overland Park (11/21/10): A
Jack Stack, carryout, Overland Park (10/6/07): A
Gates, stadium, Arrowhead (10/7/07): A
Jabo's, eat-in, Denver, (12/1/10) A-
Oklahoma Joe's, eat-in, Overland Park (10/6/07): A-
Oklahoma Joe's, eat-in, Kansas City (4/23/10): A-
Corky's, eat-in, Memphis (5/24/08): A-
Carsons, eat-in, Chicago (2/7/09): A-
Jack Stack, carryout, Overland Park (2/13/09): A-
Smokehouse BBQ, eat-in, Overland Park (2/14/09): A-
Smoke Daddy, eat-in, Chicago (5/23/09): B+
Rum Boogie Cafe, eat-in, Memphis (5/25/08): B+
Neely's, eat-in, Memphis (5/25/08): B
Famous Dave's, eat-in, Peoria (11/26/10) B-
LC's, eat-in, Kansas City (4/24/10): B-
Blues City Cafe, eat-in, Memphis (5/24/08): C