Considered part of the Louisville metropolitan area, the Kentuckiana city of Jeffersonville, Ind., brings a lot to the table, as it celebrates its own Southern cuisine heritage as well as its history as a stop on the Underground Railroad. According to food historian Robert Moss, author of “Barbeque: The History of an American Institution,” in 19th century, the area, along with Cincinnati, became known as “Porkopolis,” due to the industrialization of pig slaughterhouses, meat packing and refrigeration. In an article on Serious Eats, he states that while no region can claim to have invented barbecue ribs, the mass production of one of America’s most iconic foods certainly began along Southern Indiana’s history-laden shores.
With that information in mind, today’s eaters tasting through the area can sample finger-licking bones at the award-winning family-owned Big Ben’s D&M Restaurant at the Depot. The Jeffersonville Main Street organization has honored the establishment for “best barbecue” a record-setting 15 times at the annual “Taste of Jeffersonville.”
Centered in the Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot, Big Ben’s D&M is housed in a red brick building, a former segregated bathhouse. It’s also part of the Indiana African American Heritage Trail Project. Big Ben’s is owned by resident Gary Leavell and his family, who make everything in-house, down to the secret sauce…