The mural panels came off the front of the former Johnny Gibson’s Downtown Market late last month, which was probably the biggest hint that the store’s long-awaited replacement was about to open.
But when Gibson Food Hall & Market owners Nick Wayne Eggman and John Hardin put out the “now open” sign on the sidewalk Friday morning, it took nearly 30 minutes before anyone walked in the front door at 11 S. Sixth Ave.
By lunchtime Friday, the story had changed; dozens of people trickled in to try out the loaded potato, fries or mac and cheese at José Ramos’s Don Ribs BBQ, where barbecue has taken on a Sonoran twist. Rubs and sauces are rich in Mexican spices, including chiltepin adding heat to the fiery pineapple barbecue sauce and habanero lighting a burn to the smoked peach…