The Rib Masters : Joe Knows ‘Cue

Joe Robbins was not born to barbecue. In fact, the 48-year-old owner of Long Beach’s Mr. Joe’s Barbecue was called to the pit less than 15 years ago. That’s when--working as a shipfitter at the Long Beach naval shipyard--he saw the light.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know how it happened,” Robbins says. “Barbecue was not a tradition in my family. It’s just a God-given ability, I guess.

“Whenever my friends and I would get together on the weekend, someone would ask ‘Who’s going to make the barbecue?’ ” he says. “Somehow, it was always me.”

Robbins was raised on a family farm in Bay Minette, Ala., about 30 miles east of Mobile. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was 10. If you ask him about the foods of his childhood, he’ll tell you about garden-fresh vegetables and his mother’s stews, soups and pot roasts. But barbecue was hardly a part of his culinary landscape.

“I do remember eating at Mr. Jim’s,” he says, recalling the Los Angeles landmark run by the late James Harding. “But really, what I remember is what my mother cooked--plain good food. We always had good fruits and vegetables even in winter because she canned so much.”

And the kitchen was where Robbins usually could be found. “I loved to be in the kitchen,” he says. “I never took any lessons or anything, but I cooked and people liked it.”

During a stint in the military, he was a cook’s helper. When he got out, he went to work in the shipyards, where his father had been a welder. That’s where he began barbecuing. After a couple of years providing party fare for friends, Robbins decided to get serious. He started cooking barbecue in his back yard to sell to workers on the weekend shift at the shipyard. That went so well that he thought about bottling and selling his sauce.

When that didn’t work out, he began looking for a spot to settle. A corner storefront at 533 W. Willow Ave. in Long Beach’s Wrigley District was open and he took it, leaving naval carpentry somewhat poorer, but enriching the world of smoked meat.

Nine years later, Mr. Joe’s is a neighborhood magnet, perfuming the air for blocks with hickory smoke from the 55-gallon oil drum smokers Robbins keeps stoked in front of the restaurant. This is where his meat gets its final polishing. “It’s where you get that back-yard taste, you might say,” Robbins says.

Because, truth be told, there is no pit at Mr. Joe’s. Rather--after a good spice rubbing and overnight marinating--the meats are cooked first on a gas-fired smoker that takes hickory chips, then on the outdoor drums. Ribs take roughly two hours, brisket a little longer, though each piece of meat cooks differently.

“You can’t cook by measure,” Robbins says. “It just doesn’t taste the same. You have to have a knack to cook. Cooking is more a thing of feel and taste.”

The sauce is the result of much experimentation. “I don’t know what you’d call this sauce,” Robbins says. “I think it’s kind of a Southern-style sauce. I didn’t want to make it too tart or too sweet. It appeals to a cross-section of people. If it’s too tart, some people aren’t going to like it. And you know, black people don’t like it if it’s too sweet.”

“When I was cooking in my back yard, I changed the sauce all the time,” Robbins says. “When I got this place, I had to settle down. You can’t be changing all the time.”