JANUARY 2 • 2020 | 35 J ack’ s Roadside BBQ in Clarkston catered a much-talked-about lunch for guests this fall at Durfee Innovation Society, formerly a Detroit public school. On Nov. 7, the first Metro Youth Club in Wayne County was dedicated at Durfee. The club was named in honor of U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, both retired, and Detroit philanthropist James Comer. They joined fel- low Durfee alumni, stu- dents, family members and friends at the celebration. Obviously, the club’ s dedica- tion was a huge deal, but what about that memorable lunch? “ At the Durfee event, we served jerk chicken, brisket, pulled pork, pit beans, slaw and mac and cheese,” said Trevor Aronson, 45, of Clarkston, the owner of Jack’ s Roadside BBQ. He and his wife, Angela, have four children. Aronson’ s barbecue food truck and catering operation is based in Clarkston. His truck, parked on Dixie Highway, is open from April-October. Otherwise, Aronson caters out of his commercial kitchen “for anywhere from 20 to 300 people — from football tailgate parties to weddings.” Describing her meal at Durfee, a guest noted that “his brisket had a really good char with deep smoke lines. It smelled great and was very ten- der. The chicken, too, was very smoky, tender and a bit spicy.” This weight-watching com- mentator added that her one bite of Jack’ s mac and cheese was “very good and had lots of cheese. The meal had a smoky smell you could sense from outside the room.” A FAMILY TRADITION Aronson named Jack’ s Roadside BBQ for Jack Aronson, his father and men- tor. Jack and Trevor’ s mother, Annette, were co-founders in 1998 of Garden Fresh Gourmet. Best known for its salsas, Garden Fresh in Ferndale employed more than 400 employees at its peak. Campbell Soup Company kept the manufacturing facility in place after buying the business in 2015. According to Trevor, “the purchase was part of Campbell’ s ill-fated strategy to diversify its product lines.” In February 2019, Campbell announced Garden Fresh Gourmet would be sold. Three years before founding their company, the Aronsons opened Clubhouse Bar-B-Q in Ferndale. A popular salsa recipe Esther Allweiss Ingber Contributing Writer eats | drinks | sweets eats | d i ri k nks | s Nosh Passion for Barbecue Trevor Aronson honors his dad and serves up delicious smoked meats. COURTESY OF JACK’ S ROADSIDE BBQ Trevor Aronson and his father Jack Aronson continued on page 36