Past and present meet in Oakland

On MacArthur Boulevard, standby Everett and Jones has a hot, new neighbor in 4505

There’s a sense of ritual around Carrie and Evelyn Bell’s weekly barbecue excursions, especially since they’ve both been eating the same dishes from Everett and Jones for more than 30 years.

Multiple locations of the longstanding barbecue outfit are spread around the East Bay, but the sistersinlaw can usually be found at the one in Oakland’s Laurel District on MacArthur Boulevard. It’s a bluecollar setup sparsely filled with seats and normally has a skeleton crew working the kitchen.

The Bells have preferred orders — ribs and the occasional side of collard greens, candied yams or macaroni and cheese for Evelyn, a rib sandwich for Carrie.

On the opposite end of MacArthur Boulevard is the first East Bay outpost of San Franciscobased 4505 Burgers & Barbecue. The business opened on June 28 with an elaborate mural of the Laurel District on its back wall, as well as a mammoth whole hog smoker.

“Where is it, again? Just up the road,” Evelyn asked while sitting in the Everett and Jones dining room. Carrie feigned interest and said simply: “Hm,” before scrunching her nose.

With a legacy blackowned barbecue operation anchoring one end of the strip and a new outpost of San Francisco’s top barbecue brand setting roots on the other, the halfmile stretch of MacArthur Boulevard between 35th Avenue and High Street is the point of convergence between local barbecue’s past and present.

Everett and Jones was launched in 1973 by Dorothy Everett and remains familyowned. The business does not use much advertising, instead choosing to rely on word of mouth, even in our current digital age.

The menu hasn’t changed over the years, an amalgamation of barbecue styles from across the country, with a particular focus on Alabama, where the Everett family comes from. As is custom in Alabama, the tomatobased barbecue sauce at Everett and Jones has a notably sweet taste.

The flavor of the meats, often smoked, are elevated by sweet, savory and peppery sauces, which can be purchased on the company’s website. And if accolades are accrued through longevity, then Everett and Jones’ age is most apparent on its website section showing celebrity endorsements: There’s a head shot of a young Jamie Foxx and similarly youthful photos of both Whoopi Goldberg and John Madden.

In the barbecue world, loyalty does not follow logic. In fact, a business is embraced by a regular diner over time for its shortcomings with the same energy as the diner would the shop’s successes. Inconsistency isn’t scrutinized. Instead it just breeds patterned dining: Is the brisket better on Tuesday afternoon than Thursday evening? Get the brisket earlier in the week. Is potato salad only good when eaten with the pork ribs because it can mix with the sweetness of the barbecue sauce? Then only devour them as a pair.

Everett and Jones stands in a unique limbo where its past success buoys its current popularity. The privilege is one that can only be accrued through time.

In a cruel shift of fortune, the shop is also one of few remaining pioneers in the blackowned business scene in the Bay Area, especially barbecue operations run by notable black chefs. Nothing seems to last forever in the barbecue world. As such, Everett and Jones has an indelible place in the community.

4505 Burgers & BBQ is run by Kansas City native Ryan Farr and is argu