Barbecue and soul food seem like they should go together as harmoniously as Peaches & Herb, but it doesn’t always work out that way. In fact, there’s a bit of a culture clash there. Serious pit masters couldn’t care less about side dishes—fries and white bread are about as elaborate as they bother to get. And soul food places often look at true wood-smoked barbecue as a backwoods prima donna, demanding outsize space and attention while adding only a couple items to an already long cafeteria line. If they do offer “barbecue,” it’s likely to be the oven-baked kind.
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So it’s uplifting, to say the least, to walk into P&P BBQ Soul Food, a month-old spot on Division in western Humboldt Park, and see the squat glass aquarium smoker, full of ribs, links, and jerk chicken, standing kitty-corner to a steam table laden with smothered pork chops, meat loaf, pot-likkery greens, and sweet mashed yams. P&P just might be heaven for those who love south-side Chicago-style barbecue but yearn for a side vegetable that doesn’t start with “Idaho.”
I ask Parker which of them came up with the recipes. “It’s a soul food recipe,” she says, apparently perplexed by the idea that someone who doesn’t know how to cook catfish or grits could ever learn from a piece of paper. “Every cook has their own way of doing it.” After a moment, she allows that the greens are done her way, and the friend who guided her to her seat and is keeping her informed about what’s going on around her suggests that the slightly spiced peach cobbler is hers too.
“I prayed about opening this restaurant, and I believe that God has a hand in everything,” she says. “I believe that if you take one step, God takes two.” Her family and friends busily serving customers, she adds, “Everything’s fallen into place here. Everything just seems like it’s been blessed.”v
3734 W. Division, 773-276-7756
