Excuse to eat with your fingers

Jerry’s Old Town Inn

Since Jerry’s Old Town Inn, W15841 Main St., Germantown, opened in 1978 it has been serving the best barbecue baby back pork ribs in town. Almost. In April of that year, Jerry Grosenick says, “A waitress flat out told me the ribs were not good, relaying a message from the customers. I needed to do something about it.”

He went to a nearby store that night, bought a slew of spices and experimented until morning came. “I got about 98 percent of the recipe that night.” Now, about 70 percent of the customers who walk through Jerry’s doors are there for the tasty rib recipe concocted 26 years ago. “I have to admit, I exceeded my own expectations,” he says. “What was my worst item became my best.”