Jones Bar-B-Q Diner

At Jones Bar-B-Q Diner, located at 219 W. Louisiana St., it’s all about barbecue. The barbecue, the slaw or the sauce has not changed in over a century…the preparation and the recipes remain the same. In a recent article in Saveur magazine, culinary writer John T. Edge described Jones as, “one pitmaster I’ll always go out of my way to visit.” Edge knows his food. He’s a former contributor to Gourmet magazine, writes a monthly food column for The New York Times, and serves as director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at Ole Miss. Edge is not a newcomer to Marianna’s barbecue of choice; he wrote an award-nominated article about Jones for the Oxford American in 2009. Rex Nelson discovered Jones’s in the early 1990s, on one of his many trips through the Arkansas Delta during his time with the Delta Regional Authority. Nelson is a friend of Edge, and frequently would suggest restaurants to Edge, including Jones Bar-B-Que Diner. Both Edge and Nelson have visited numerous times. Nelson has a well-known love for the Arkansas Delta and the region has featured prominently in his columns and blogs.