L & J Mississippi BBQ in Plano serves up soul food, a taste of home

Plano resident Carla Christian loves seeing people smile as they bite into something she just cooked.

“I love cooking and I love feeding people and seeing them happy,” said Christian, co-owner of L & J Mississippi BBQ, which opened in December at 303 W. South St. in Plano. “It’s just a good feeling.”

Christian, who is originally from Chicago, has been living in Plano for 11 years. She co-owns the restaurant with Gail Johnson, who is originally from Mississippi.

“She is passing her family recipes down to me,” Christian said. “I would say that within the past year, I have learned those recipes like the back of my hand.”

Both Christian and Johnson cook at the restaurant and at home for their families. Christian is now following Johnson’s lead in preparing items from scratch.

That includes the restaurant’s peach cobbler.

“I knead the dough,” Christian said. “I put the ingredients together and I knead the dough. She has taught me to do it from scratch, because that’s what they did in Mississippi. They did a lot of their recipes from scratch.”

People can taste the difference.

“A lot of people say that it tastes like their grandmother’s peach cobbler and it makes them feel like home,” she said. “That’s what I like to hear.”

By opening L & J Mississippi BBQ, they are trying to fill a void.

“We found ourselves not finding any soul food places around here or barbecue that we were used to,” Christian said. “So that is what inspired us to open in this area.”

The L and the J in the restaurant’s name stand for something special — Christian’s children. Leilani is 8 years old and Joshua is 10.

“I love cooking and I love feeding people and seeing them happy.”

—  Carla Christian, co-owner of L & J Mississippi BBQ

L & J’s rib tips are among the most popular items at the restaurant along with its banana pudding. The rib tips are served with onions and bell peppers.

The restaurant adds strawberries to its banana pudding. “It definitely adds a different flavor to your banana pudding,” she said.

The restaurant already has seen many repeat customers since opening in December. “Every week we see the same faces,” Christian said. “They know our names. We have so many loyal customers coming back.”

She likes providing her customers with some culinary surprises, whether it is putting strawberries in banana pudding or adding ground beef to baked beans. The restaurant also serves Mississippi sausage links, which is one of her favorites.

“It’s a sausage and we serve it on a bun with grilled onions and peppers,” Christian said. “Or we chop them up with rib tips and we do a combo. Good flavors mixed together.”

They also take customer requests.

“I took customer requests for turkey tips and now we do turkey tips every week,” Christian said. “Because everyone doesn’t eat pork. We’re really open to suggestions. It’s probably been almost a month now since we added turkey tips to the menu and people are coming in now requesting turkey tips.”

On Saturdays, L & J hosts Soul Food Saturday. “We’ve been doing Soul Food Saturday every Saturday to let our community taste what soul food is,” she said. On Soul Food Saturday, customers can try such items as baked macaroni and cheese, collard greens and turkey wings with gravy.

For those who stop by L & J’s this summer, they might see her two children operating L & J Shake Shack, which will be selling snow cones, milkshakes, hot dogs and walking nachos.

Mini pizzas, mini donuts and other kid friendly food will also be for sale.

“We did a test run over the summer with the kids and it was very successful,” Christian said. “A lot of kids don’t eat rib tips and fried chicken. It’s an alternative for kids.”

They also plan to take advantage of the outdoor seating at the restaurant and offer live entertainment.

“It’s very nice to just have the chairs set up and enjoy barbecue and listen to good music,” Christian said.

While they are eating their food, customers can also partake in games such as Uno and chess. “We like to incorporate family time,” she said. “Sometimes we have customers come in and they eat and they play games.”

Future plans are to offer a catering menu. There are also plans to open a second restaurant in Oswego. “We want to start in the Oswego area first and then graduate to other areas,” Christian said.

More information about L & J Mississippi BBQ is available at its Facebook page.