We all have favorite restaurants that closed long ago but you find yourself thinking, "Gee, it would be great to eat there tonight." One of mine was a chain called Love's Wood Pit Barbecue restaurants which dotted the California landscape and seeped into other states, as well.
Some folks believe it's impossible to get decent barbecue in a chain. You need a small, one-of-a-kind restaurant in a building that used to be a welding shop and was converted by some guy who's obsessive about good bbq and has been doing it all his life. I've been to some great places that fit that description and also some where the food was close to inedible.
Love's fell somewhere in-between but they were always conveniently located and there are times you need to eat and you can't find one of the "other" kind of bbq joint, or maybe you're just not in the mood to gamble. Love's had decent ribs, great chicken, terrific sandwiches and easily the best beans I've ever had in my life. I used to go to every Love's I ventured near but they closed the last one in 2017. You can still purchase their sauce (and I do) on this website.
In 1999 when the restaurants were starting to vanish, I wrote an article about them…and it was also about the San Diego Comic Convention back in 1973. I used to have it available here but when I decided to include it in a collection of my writings, I took it off this site. That book is now outta-print so I have reinstated the column and you can read it here. I apologize for the sexist joke at the end but it didn't get single complaint when the article was first printed in 1999 or when it was in a collection that came out in 2003 so I'm leaving it as is.