When I saw that Jones’ Bar-B-Q Diner in Marianna, Arkansas, made The New York Times’ 2021 Restaurant List (“The 50 places in America we’re most excited about right now”) Oct. 13, I made plans to visit and did a little research.

The most important discovery was that the diner sells one thing – pulled pork – and when it’s gone, they shut the door. So I called and asked owner James Jones how early I needed to arrive to be sure I could get barbecue.

“Be here by 9,” he said.

I didn’t want barbecue for breakfast and said so. I asked him what time he’d sold out that day (Wednesday), and he said about noon.

“Then why do I have to be there at 9?” I asked.

His answer was to the point:

“You just said you wanted to be sure.”

I know plenty of people who do, but I don’t drive for barbecue. I like it fine but don’t crave it; my needs are met inside the 901. But driving to meet Jones sounded like it could be worth the trip.

Marianna is about 60 miles past the bridge and the drive is easy, most of it on a Delta highway with little traffic — but stay on high alert nonetheless. There’s a sign to remind you in case you’re tempted to pull over and give a stranger a ride:

“Penitentiary Area Beware of Hitchhikers” gives fair warning to southbound drivers, though we didn’t spot one as we came back up Highway 79 after a (very) early lunch.

There’s not much to the town of roughly 4,000 people: A courthouse, the Marianna-Lee County Museum, a Sonic, a couple of gas stations and just a few miles away, the Mississippi River State Park. We didn’t visit any of those; this trip was solely about Jones’.

The restaurant reminded me of the original Gus’s in Mason, Tennessee, though brighter and cheerier. Jones’ has two tables inside and a picnic table under an awning out front. Walk in and you’ll find Jones behind the counter, dishing barbecue from the slow-cooker he uses to keep it warm, and above where he stands, a James Beard medal in a shadowbox on the wall.

In 2012, the tiny restaurant received an America’s Classic award from the prestigious culinary foundation and Jones, along with his wife and son, went to New York City for five days. It was the first Beard award to go to an Arkansas restaurant in any category; Lassis Inn in Little Rock received the same honor in 2020.

“We had a ball on that trip,” Jones, 76, said. “It was the first vacation I’ve taken since high school.”

It was the first time he left the state, the first time he’d been on an airplane and today, nine years later, it remains the only time for both.

When the restaurant started is a little iffy. Some written reports say that Jones’ grandfather started selling barbecue from his house, and while Jones says sure, that happened, he also says it was his grandfather’s uncle who started the business.

“Uncle Joe,” he said. “I never met him and that’s about all I know about him. He’s the one who started it.’

The official open date – it’s what’s painted on the sign — is 1910, which makes it one of the oldest restaurants in Arkansas and also one of the oldest Black-owned restaurants in the country. Jones is reluctant to say that his business is the oldest Black-owned restaurant, despite some published reports that give it the credit. But he does point out that it could’ve opened well before 1910; they just know it was open then so they go with that year.

The business moved to its current location in 1964. Jones was working there for his father by that time; he started at age 14.

“I remember when his daddy was running it,” said Evelyn Bearden of Nesbit. She’s from Marianna and on Thursday, she and her daughter made the drive over to pick up two trays of barbecue.

“When we come, we make sure to come early because sometimes he’ll be sold out,” said Virginia Creech of Bartlett, Bearden’s daughter.

“We’ll make a day of it. We come over here, get the barbecue, go to the cemetery.”

On Feb. 28, a pit fire caused extensive damage to the back of the two-story shotgun building. A GoFundMe account, direct private donations and a $25,000 emergency grant from Southern Restaurants for Racial Progress got Jones back in business; he reopened in late May.

“They had that GoFundMe up the very day we had the fire,” he said. It happened on a Sunday and on Monday, the $20,000 goal was met.

The money came from all over, just like the visitors do. Like the old Gus’s in Mason, there’s a guest book and the locations are close – Little Rock, Memphis, Brinkley – and far: London, Chicago, New York, Alaska, China.

“There’s a woman from Yemen, too,” Jones said. “Keep looking. She’s been in a couple of times.”

The barbecue is good, no doubt about it. Jones uses hickory, oak and “even pecan” for smoking, but that’s as much as he’ll divulge of his secret. You buy it two ways: In a Wonder-bread sandwich ($4) or by the pound. Slaw or no slaw, it’s up to you. I suggest asking for extra if you choose it as Jones has a light hand with the simple topping, just cabbage in a thin mayo-based dressing. When he prepares the sandwich, the pork gets a quick douse of the spicy vinegar sauce he makes, and there’s a bottle on the table if you want to add more. (You can also buy a bottle, which I didn’t realize until I was home; you now know better.)

Edward Mooney Jr. lives in Marianna and has been a regular for 30 years.

“I come in twice about every four months,” he said. “I get two sandwiches, extra slaw and also extra meat.”

You can do the math, but that’s a sandwich a month, just eaten two at a time.

Jones, one of 12 children, took over the business with one of his brothers when his father retired. When his brother died, he started running it on his own with an employee or two and weekend help from his son, James Jones Jr. I’d read that he has no plans to take over the business when his father retires.

“Well, he’s busy,” Jones said. “He’s a coach and a teacher, so he doesn’t have much interest and doesn’t have a lot of time for it. I’m not planning on retiring any time soon anyway.”

But who will take it over when that day comes? Jones answers in his matter-of-fact way.

“He will.”

Jones’ Bar-B-Q, 219 W. Louisiana in Marianna, Arkansas, opens at 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday and closes when the barbecue is sold out. Call 870-295-3807. No credit cards.