Located at the crossing of Cesar Chavez and Figueroa on the way to Silver Lake, it’s just a white building (a bit dirty) with the name painted on the side. They’ve got picnic tables set up outside and what looks like a family rec room in the back. And they have two sauces: a spicy, sweet sauce on their links, ribs, and chicken; and a smokey Texas sauce on their beef and chicken. You can get them in doubles or normal portions, normal is just fine. Try the sampler the first time through for the full effect.

Their links are a mild sausage that works great with the spicy bbq sauce they put on it. The smokey sauce highlights their beef and chicken decadently. Both sauces are great sopped with white bread, although the standard “comfort” wonder bread was far too wimpy for such a great sauce. They normally have corn bread but were out when we ordered.

They have the full selection of sides: collard greens, macaroni & cheese, potato salad, bbq beans, coleslaw, fries. The greens were a bit vinegary for my taste, however, my friend from Virginia pronounced them fine. The sweet barbecue sauce on the bbq beans was exquisite, but the beans were your standard canned wimpo beans, making the whole less than the sum of the parts, so to speak. Like the bread, the beans couldn’t compare to the sauce.

The fries! Thick spears, floppy and soppy with grease just like mom used to make. A tater couldn’t ask for a better end.

Drinks were limited to soft drinks: that’s right, no beer! They’re just an outdoor diner, no liquor allowed. So you need to stick with coke or pepsi or whatever carbonated post-cocaine drink they happen to be licensed for.

Despite the problems, I can’t rave enough about the main event. King’s barbecue is worth drinking coke and eating fake wonder bread. They’re open until midnight Saturdays, and until 10 PM the rest of the week, and if you like barbecue, you need to go.

Try

The sampler: why not just get everything?!

Be Wary Of

The bread. It’s hardly worthy of sopping into the bbq sauce when you’re done.

Rating

Great barbecue, decent sides. Try it at least once.

Address

5309 South Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90037

Last Visited

November, 1997 (back when they were at 867 W. Sunset)