Lil Red Takeout and Catering

This slip of a place on the side of Rainier Avenue brings big heart and big flavors to Jamaican and soul food. "Big Red" Jackson pulls inspiration for his curry chicken, pork rib tips, oxtails, mac and cheese, plantains from everything around him—his family's soul food roots, his life in the Pacific Northwest, and his wife's Jamaican heritage, and cooks it all with deep care and skill. Years of honing his recipes got the tiny takeout spot named as one of the best Black-owned barbecue spots in the country by expert Adrian Miller, but even that doesn't quite capture the magic of a place that also serves one of the best burgers in the city.

After trying over 200 barbecue places across the country, esteemed barbecue judge and writer Adrian Miller named Little Red’s one of the 20 best black-owned barbecue joints in the nation in his book Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue. Lil Red is a mix of owner Erasto “Red” Jackson’s love of barbecue and Leleith’s Jamaican heritage. The burnt ends plus the pork ribs with jerk sauce is the way to go at Red’s, but it’s impossible to not recommend the escovitch fish, curry goat, and the jerk chicken. It is the only barbecue place in town where you can get these island flavors.