Jefferson St. BBQ

If you ever find yourself driving near Converse, Indiana you are probably lost or running away from Jason Voorhees and if you think you've lost him, you should stop.

Converse, IN

We were returning from a weekend up at Lake Wawasee and had a hankering for some BBQ.  We were hoping to find some place by using our sense of smell, hoping that we'd see a place that was doing some Sunday barbequing in a gas station parking lot or something like that.  Luckily, Jefferson St. BBQ has put their name out there on the internet because after a few quick searches on our phones it popped up.  There wasn't a whole lot of information other than they were open and they served BBQ but that was enough for us, so we began heading towards Converse, Indiana.

Converse has a population around 1100, is .9 square miles and of course with a town that large it is in 2 counties, Miami County and Grant County.  My guess is that Converse is sought after so much by both counties that neither could dream of giving any part of her up.  The Converse Bordermen high school basketball team was once like Hickory High from Hoosiers (or the actual Milan HS) in that they were a tiny school and would occasionally beat the Goliaths.  According to Wikipedia they also had a unique dress code for away games but I couldn't dig up anything else on that, Wikipedia is just teasing us with that information.

Back to the BBQ, we arrive in Converse excited to get out and hungry for some food.  Jefferson St. BBQ has an incredibly inviting entrance with large windows in the front.  The inside is charming with wood floors, exposed brick, corrugated tin siding, and tin pails for light fixtures.  There was also a big, new TV in the corner that had the Colts game playing.  There were a few outside tables on the sidewalk which we were eager to use since it was a gorgeous day.  The cashier was smiling as we walked in the door and friendly while helping us decide on entrees and sides.  Jefferson St. BBQ also had a great selection of drinks available including grape soda and red cream soda, which we were super excited to snag out of the refrigerator and start drinking right away.  They had beers too but since most of us were fighting off a hangover, some more than others, we stayed away from the alcohol.

Most of us got the brisket and one got the pulled pork.  They were both quite tasty but I would definitely recommend the brisket.  It was juicy and flavorful with nice thick slices and some fatty pieces that turned to liquid when they hit your tongue.  The jalapeno bbq sauce was perfect, had a little kick but didn't make you reach for the water.  The sweet bbq sauce was good; I rarely use sweet sauces so I am not the right judge but I did squirt a little of this stuff on my platter.

Jefferson St BBQ

As for the sides, the jalapeno cornbread muffin was amazing! Make sure you get a least one, I think two would be better so you can use one to sweep up any excess sauce or meat left on the plate.  The coleslaw was decent and I am a coleslaw snob.  I was leaning towards describing the macaroni and cheese as decent as well because it was tasty but lacked anything special.  The baked beans were the same way, just lacking that one thing to make it amazing.  All the sides were good but they left us wanting something more, maybe bake the mac and cheese so it is crispy or add some extra cheese, add a few spices to the coleslaw, try to make the beans less runny with some brown sugar.

The owner, a young lady, walked by as we were finishing up and she was helpful in taking our garbage and made sure we were happy with our meals, which is always a nice touch, you know caring about your patrons.

As I said, if you ever find yourself lost near Converse, Indiana you can at least know that you won't go hungry because Jefferson St. BBQ can hand you a tray of food that will making you wanting to go back.

Jefferson St. BBQ
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