{"id":71236,"date":"2025-12-04T16:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T16:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71236\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T16:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T16:44:08","slug":"fort-lauderdales-tom-jenkins-bar-b-q-to-close-after-36-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71236\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale’s Tom Jenkins’ Bar-B-Q to close after 36 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harry Harrell and Gary Torrence\u2019s mighty Southern pit-stop Tom Jenkins\u2019 Bar-B-Q survived for 36 years on Federal Highway in the shadow of Fort Lauderdale\u2019s ever-rising skyline.<\/p>\n

But on Dec. 21, the longtime friends and pitmasters will permanently close their barbecue house at 1236 Federal Highway, known for heaping portions of St. Louis-style ribs, juicy chopped pork and smoky chicken, collard greens and mac and cheese, Harrell told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Calling their retirement \u201cbittersweet,\u201d Harrell, 65, said the tension of \u201cskyrocketing\u201d food prices, catering orders eroded by the pandemic, and the higher costs of labor and insurance convinced them to retire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings have just gotten so much tougher,\u201d Harrell said. \u201cTwo years ago, me and [my partner] Gary looked at each other and realized, \u2018We\u2019re about to turn 65 \u2014 how long do we keep doing this?\u2019 We got to a point where we wanted to step aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pitmaster<\/p>\n

Mike Stocker\/South Florida Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n

Pitmaster Marquis Curry has worked at Tom Jenkins Bar-B-Que for 23 years. The restaurant on Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale will permanently close its doors on Dec. 21. (Mike Stocker\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

This week, the barbecue duo posted their Dec. 21 closing date in goodbye messages taped to Tom Jenkins\u2019 front door and cash register, which Harrell said triggered a flurry of \u201cshocked phone calls\u201d from longtime customers.<\/p>\n

The message states: \u201cAfter two years of careful planning \u2026 we have decided to retire and close the doors of Tom Jenkins Bar-B-Q. We want to thank all our customers for all these years of loyal support. \u2026 This has been a journey full of love blessed by God and we are certainly grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrell and Torrence, Omega Psi Phi fraternity brothers at Florida A&M University, at first picked careers that bore no resemblance to barbecuing. Harrell majored in computer science and worked at IBM for 13 years, while Torrence majored in electrical engineering, designing computer chips for eight years before becoming a middle school math teacher in Broward County.<\/p>\n

That was until the pair decided to open a restaurant together. So in 1989, while still working their 9-to-5 jobs, they opened an 8-by-12-foot barbecue trailer on Federal Highway, in the parking lot of the Inn N Out Oil Change. In 1995, they crossed the street and transformed The Straw Hat, a country and western bar, into the 40-seat Tom Jenkins, named after one of Torrence\u2019s favorite uncles.<\/p>\n

\"1236<\/p>\n

Michael F McElroy \/ Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale barbecue icon Tom Jenkins Bar-B-Que on Federal Highway will close its doors after 36 years on Dec. 21. (Michael F McElroy \/ Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was always the inside joke between us,\u201d Harrell recalled with a laugh. \u201cWe had these STEM degrees working with electricity, and here we are now cooking with wood. Go figure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the decades, Tom Jenkins became a massive fan favorite for its three top-sellers \u2014 ribs, chopped pork and smoky chicken \u2014 slow-cooked in the restaurant\u2019s 6-by-10-foot pit. And they became just as noteworthy for their sides, including potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans, corn on the cob, french fries and onion rings.<\/p>\n

Harrell insists that the recent rise of nearby barbecue competitors \u2014 Fat Boyz Barbecue<\/a> a half-mile north, Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse<\/a> downtown and all-you-can-eat Gen Korean BBQ<\/a> on Las Olas Boulevard \u2014 did not factor into his decision to retire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were never concerned about competition, not to sound arrogant,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s our IBM training: Never disparage anybody else. We just want to present the best product we can, and we knew it could stand up to anyone else\u2019s product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Jenkins Bar-B-Q, at 1236 Federal Highway, in Fort Lauderdale<\/a>, is scheduled to close on Dec. 21. Call 954-522-5046.<\/p>\n

Sun Sentinel writer Phillip Valys can be reached at pvalys@sunsentinel.com<\/a> or Twitter\/X @philvalys<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harry Harrell and Gary Torrence\u2019s mighty Southern pit-stop Tom Jenkins\u2019 Bar-B-Q survived for 36 years on Federal Highway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1593,506,104,1594,28,688,249,251,250,114,687,109,685,106],"class_list":["post-71236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-bars","tag-broward-county","tag-entertainment","tag-explore-florida","tag-florida","tag-food-and-drink","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-restaurants","tag-social","tag-the-eat-beat","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}