Legit BBQ from Adam Perry Lang on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' back lot - Los Angeles Times
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Legit BBQ from Adam Perry Lang on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ back lot

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Adam Perry Lang is making serious BBQ with his Serious Barbecue truck just off the alley behind the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!†show. If you’ve walked by recently, he’s the one causing smoke to billow behind the late-night talk show host’s summer concert stage and the smell of meat to waft down Hollywood Boulevard.

On Wednesday around noon, a steady lunch crowd was beginning to line up at the food truck Lang has parked next to his 45-foot flatbed with his BBQ, a chimney and a smoker. Green turf covered the ground and large wooden barrels stood in for tables.

Lang, wearing a name tag with “APL†written in marker, was standing behind a large wooden block, slicing pieces of pork shoulder and large beef ribs for orders. He salted each one with his own seasoning mixture before sending them out.

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Lang, who has worked with Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver and opened Daisy May’s BBQ in New York, is making BBQ in L.A. for a two-month-long project on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!†back lot. He moved to L.A. after a four-year stint in London to pursue his love of BBQ and long-time friend Jimmy Kimmel offered the space behind his studio. He’s already won Grand Champion honors at the World Pork Expo and first place for his pork shoulder at the Kansas City American Royal.

“I put the whole thing together in two months,†said Lang. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.â€

Lang starts his fire at 2 a.m. and keeps it going with charcoal he’s making every day right next to the BBQ he designed. He uses pecan wood, which he has stacked in white bags alongside the makeshift BBQ backyard area. He’s working on a 45-foot flatbed trailer he bought in North Carolina and outfitted with new rims and skirting.

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On Wednesday, he had pork shoulder and beef ribs on the menu. Lang cooks his pork and beef ribs for around 5 hours in the BBQ before finishing them off with what he calls a “kiss†of smoke in the smoker. The only moisture he adds to his meat is a spray of pure apple juice.

If you peek in his BBQ, you’ll also find a hefty hunk of scored mortadella alongside the pork shoulders.

“Oh, that’s for me,†he said with a chuckle. “That’s my dessert on a fork.â€

Lang is living in a small Airstream trailer next to his 2-ton, custom-built Texas burn pit. He has a small bed, plenty of bottles of whiskey and an area to rest his head in between tending to the BBQ and homemade charcoal chimney. He’s also got a small station where he’s making his own line of hand-crafted knives.

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Most of the menu items range from $15 to $35 and will rotate with brisket, beef ribs, pork butt and more. He’s also serving up an iced coffee with smoky, roasted beans.

The Serious Barbecue truck is open every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday through Sept. 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch, with takeaway service from 4 to 5 p.m. He also provides food to local homeless shelters every day around 4:30 p.m.

Lang plans to open a brick and mortar version of Serious Barbecue some time in the future. The reissue of his best-selling book “Serious Barbecue†goes on sale Aug. 12.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!†back lot, 6737 Hawthorne Ave., Hollywood

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