Cannon's Rib Express   

A good plan at this take-out barbecue shack is to order a bucket of wood-smoked pork rib tips (feeds three easily) at the window and then head next door to New Seasons, a natural food store, to pick up a couple of healthier sides. Of course, part of the cachet of eating barbecue is the house sides, like cooked mustard and turnip greens, rice, beans and gooey mac-n-cheese. Don't look for typical sandwiches, though the menu calls them that. Cannon's loads a few ribs (beef or pork) onto slices of white wonder bread and smothers the whole thing in tangy-sweet or mildly spicy barbecue sauce. It's not easy to eat this mess sandwich-style unless experience has made you particularly deft at this sort of thing. Ditto for the chopped pork on a bun: it's a runny mess. That's not to say it isn't finger-licking good -- there's a reason there's always someone in front of you ordering. The tasty BBQ chicken is the way to go if you're not a red meat eater. -- Jo Ostgarden