Lil Red Takeout & Catering

"Just like airport TSA agents screaming about portable electronics at the crack of dawn, a great lunch at Lil Red is guaranteed. This Columbia City Jamaican spot serves some of the best BBQ in town, along with soul food and a menu of specials that work together to make the ultimate comfort meal. Whether your order involves spiced mac and cheese or soft brisket that folds into origami meat sculptures, the only wrong move here would be to skip the garlic mashed potatoes." - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley

"It’s hard to go wrong at this casual Jamaican BBQ spot with an expansive menu of comfort food. But we’d direct your attention to the Big Three: brisket, mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese that structurally holds as much velvety cheese sauce as possible. We love this spot for a leisurely weekend lunch, or for takeout when some alone time in your car eating a tub of said mashed potatoes is necessary." - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley, gabe guarente

"Serves soul food including tender beef brisket and Caribbean cuisine like jerk chicken." - Charlie Lahud-Zahner

"Seattle doesn’t have its own “style” of barbecue, and this famed takeout spot from Erasto “Red” Jackson mixes up all kinds of regional influences. The ribs here are cooked with a Carolina-style vinegar sauce and can be topped with a tomato-based barbecue sauce, a la Kansas City, or jerk sauce. The sides are mostly soul food standards but notably include the kind of sweet, melt-in-your-mouth plantains that are annoyingly hard to find in Seattle and a mac and cheese that is unexpectedly smoky and peppery. Thank Red’s wife, Lelieth Jackson, for putting all the Jamaican notes on the menu. We’re not sure who to thank for the lumpia, but who says no to lumpia?" - Eater Staff

"Garlic Mashed Potatoes “For some reason, I grew up with an obsession for mashed potatoes. In fact, I used to (and still do) lovingly call them ‘mashies.’ That said, I hold pulverized spuds to a high standard, and it’s my firm belief that ones from Lil Red are the best in town. They’re seasoned perfectly with a bunch of garlic and spices - which makes them taste just as comforting on their own as they do in the same bite as a mouthful of smoked brisket and cheesy macaroni. Also, forget gravy—just douse the heck out of these garlic mashies with Lil Red’s jerk sauce.” - Aimee Rizzo, Staff Writer" - julia chen 1, carlo mantuano, aimee rizzo